Rounding at Rush

Cardiac PET Perfusion at RUSH with Rupa Sanghani, MD

Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) perfusion with flow quantification is the latest advancement in nuclear stress testing and is used to examine how well blood flows to the heart muscle. RUSH is the first and only hospital in Illinois to offer this technology.

Dr. Rupa Sanghani, a cardiologist in the RUSH University System for Health, discusses the ways RUSH incorporates cardiac PET perfusion in its complement of cardiac diagnostics and care, the benefits of using it and when cardiac PET should be implemented. Dr. Sanghani is the director of RUSH University Medical Center’s nuclear cardiology and stress laboratory and the associate director for the RUSH Heart Center for Women. Her clinical expertise is in cardiac imaging, cardiovascular risk assessment and counseling, coronary artery disease and with women who either have heart disease or are at risk for it.

“It's a huge boon to offer our patients and referring physicians cardiac PET perfusion. We can use information from it to provide patients with a comprehensive risk assessment for their cardiac health. Flow and flow reserve is what people are most excited about with PET. The advantage to cardiac PET is that we’re not just looking at relative perfusion, but we can actually quantitate the myocardial blood flow.”

CME credit link: https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/483393

Advanced Stroke Care at RUSH with Michael Chen, MD

The RUSH System for Health excels in stroke prevention and care. RUSH University Medical Center is certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and RUSH has two certified Primary Stroke Centers in Oak Park and Aurora/Fox Valley. Given the time-sensitive nature of stroke care, RUSH seeks to expand current treatment windows and improve technologies used to treat emergency strokes as quickly and effectively as possible to minimize damage to our patients.

Michael Chen, MD, a professor of neurology, neurosurgery and radiology at RUSH University Medical Center, discusses the ways RUSH is efficiently diagnosing stroke, how it is differentiating actual cases of large vessel occlusion stroke with false positives and how RUSH handles the benefits and challenges of using thrombectomy. Dr. Chen has authored over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications and also serves as a senior editor for the Journal of Neurointerventional Surgery. Dr. Chen currently serves as President-Elect for the Society of Neurointerventional Surgery.

“There’s strong evidence that highly effective therapies exist for stroke and they’re also very time sensitive. If you have a large vessel occlusion stroke, 75% of the time patients are not going to do well. Thrombectomy can reduce that chance of a horrible outcome by half. The question is not necessarily whether you can make the diagnosis and what you do, but what work you have done ahead of time to prepare for the event when that patient does come into your emergency room.”

CME credit link:
https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/483128

Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at RUSH with Peter Revenaugh, MD

The head and neck cosmetic and reconstructive surgery specialists at RUSH University Medical Center treat patients whose appearance, ability to speak, swallow or smile has been affected by cancer surgery or radiation therapy. They also provide a wide range of in-office facial cosmetic procedures and surgical rejuvenation techniques.

Peter Revenaugh, MD, the head of the section of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at RUSH University Medical Center, joins the podcast to talk about how RUSH’s comprehensive approach translates to excellent patient care, the research RUSH is conducting around reconstructive procedures and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the demand for cosmetic procedures.

“What makes RUSH stand apart is the expertise of our physicians. We can help patients with facial paralysis. We can offer microvascular procedures to help with facial movement. We’re pioneering procedures for synkinesis or abnormal facial movements after paralysis that aren’t being done anywhere else in the country.”

CME credit link: https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/482889

Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Program with Mia Levy, MD, PhD

Launched in 2020, RUSH’s breast cancer risk assessment program systematically assesses the risk of breast cancer, offering patients who qualify opportunities for supplemental screening in order to improve their breast cancer detection rate.

Mia Levy, MD, PhD, the director of the Cancer Center at RUSH University Medical Center and the system vice president for cancer services at the RUSH University System for Health, joins the podcast to talk about RUSH’s program, what she sees as the evolution for this type of learning system at RUSH, and what are some of the early findings--and questions--that have come up thus far.

“We want to learn from the experiences of every patient who’s coming through our breast cancer screening program--not just the patients who are participating in clinical trials. In this way, we are optimizing our workflows and data collection to evaluate the outcomes of the program and continuously improve on our screening guidelines and our workflows in order to optimize the best outcomes for our patients.”

CME credit link: https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/482640

RUSH’s State-of-the-Art Infusion Program with Thomas Shoemaker, MD

As pioneers in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and other neurologic conditions, RUSH delivers life-changing treatment for patients in its state-of-the-art infusion program. Thomas Shoemaker, MD, a neurologist in the RUSH University System for Health, joins Rounding at Rush to discuss RUSH’s infusion program, what he and his colleagues have learned about infusions during the COVID-19 pandemic and where the future of neurologic treatments is heading at RUSH.

Dr. Shoemaker specializes in treating neuro-immunologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, neurosarcoidosis and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis. The RUSH Multiple Sclerosis Center has been recognized as a Center for Comprehensive Care through the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Rush’s Neurology and Neurosurgery programs, which include the MS Center and infusion program, are ranked number four in the nation and best in Illinois by U.S. News and World Report.

“For our MS patients, it seemed like our only treatment was IV corticosteroids for the longest time, which would often require inpatient admission for three to five days,” explains Dr. Shoemaker. “In the infusion center, we can quickly administer corticosteroids and IV immunoglobulins to many patients on an outpatient basis so that they can go home for the day and return again on an outpatient basis to finish their treatment. Infusing patients this way naturally makes it less cumbersome on them.”

CME credit link: https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/482333 

 

Spinal Tumor Care at RUSH with John O’Toole, MD

Rounding at Rush welcomes John O’Toole, MD, to the show to discuss spinal tumor care at RUSH University Medical Center. RUSH is known for its use of minimally invasive procedures, interdisciplinary nature that streamlines care and success in creating better quality of life outcomes for its patients.

Dr. O’Toole is a neurosurgeon in the RUSH University System for Health, specializing in spinal oncology, minimally invasive spine surgery, complex spinal reconstruction and spinal radiosurgery. He is the Co-Director of the Coleman Foundation Comprehensive Spine Tumor Clinic and a Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at RUSH Medical College.

“We reduce morbidity, recovery times and blood loss through the use of minimally invasive surgical techniques,” says Dr. O’Toole. “For the cancer population we treat, that’s incredibly important. These patients don’t have a lot of time to recover from major operations before they get on to radiation treatments and other systemic treatments for their cancer. We’ve been leaders in the use of these techniques, making a big difference in both the short-term and long-term outcomes for patients with spinal tumors.”

CME credit link:

https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/482099

His-bundle Conduction System Pacing with Parik Sharma, MD, MPH

Parikshit Sharma, MD, MPH, joins Rounding at Rush to discuss His bundle and conduction system pacing, which involves placing permanent leads anywhere along the AV conduction system to maintain biventricular pacing and synchrony.

Dr. Sharma is a cardiac electrophysiologist at RUSH University System for Health who specializes in managing rhythm disorders of the heart. He is the section chief of cardiac electrophysiology, the director of the electrophysiology lab and an associate professor of medicine at RUSH Medical College.

“We can decrease heart failure hospitalizations in patients with His bundle pacing compared to right ventricular pacing,” says Dr. Sharma. “And while right ventricular pacing can be associated with adverse clinical outcomes, such as cardiomyopathy, heart failure hospitalizations, atrial fibrillation and associated mortality, His bundle pacing can essentially prevent a lot of them from occurring.”

CME credit link:

https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/481815

MR-guided Focused Ultrasound: Essential Treatment for Essential Tremor

Sepehr Sani, MD, joins Rounding at Rush to discuss MR-guided focused ultrasound, a safe, incisionless treatment designed to reduce hand tremor in patients with essential and parkinsonian tremor. It targets a specific area of the brain with high-intensity focused ultrasound, guided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Dr. Sani is a neurosurgeon at RUSH University Medical Center and an associate professor of neurosurgery at RUSH Medical College. Among his many clinical interests, Sani focuses on deep brain stimulation, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and vagal nerve stimulation.

“MR-guided focused ultrasound represents a paradigm shift,” says Dr. Sani. It is a “really life-changing treatment without having to have any anesthesia, without having to have a single incision … they literally walk in and walk out. In the neurosurgical realm, … to be able to offer a treatment to a patient without using a knife, is a first. It’s pretty amazing."

CME credit link:

https://cmetracker.net/RUSH/Publisher?page=pubOpen#/EventID/481403/