Illustration by Josh Cochran
Brainiacs
Exploring Alzheimer’s: Two physicians with Washington University School of Medicine whose research was featured on HBO’s The Alzheimer’s Project in 2009, Dr. Randall Bateman and Dr. John Morris, are conducting the first-ever clinical trials to prevent the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Wide Awake: Roughly a dozen times a year, neurosurgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital perform brain surgery while a patient is still awake during a procedure called awake craniotomy. The procedure is used for select patients with brain tumors and epileptic seizures whose surgery sites are near areas of the brain that regulate speech and motor function.
Monitoring Epilepsy: In late January, the SSM Neurosciences Institute at SSM DePaul Health Center opened a two-bed advanced Epilepsy Monitoring Unit to assess epilepsy patients around
the clock.
Matters of the Heart
Get a Rhythm: At St. Anthony’s Medical Center, Dr. David Dobmeyer is using a stent recently approved by the FDA for those with diabetes, more effectively treat-
ing narrowed coronary arteries.
Robot Surgery: This spring, SSM Heart Institute’s Dr. David Theodoro performed the greater St. Louis area’s first robotic-assisted surgery to repair atrial septal defects by using the da Vinci Surgical System.
Valvoline 2.0: Physicians at Mercy Heart and Vascular Hospital St. Louis use a catheter to implant a replacement heart valve for patients with aortic stenosis, a disease that leads to narrowed or damaged aortic valves. The procedure is called transcatheter aortic valve replacement—and for many, it beats open-heart surgery.
Freezing Arrhythmia: Last December, Dr. Karthik Ramaswamy, medical director of Missouri Baptist Medical Center’s Arrhythmia Center, performed the region’s first CryoAblation balloon catheter procedure, freezing areas around pulmonary veins that cause erratic heartbeats.
Pump It: Barnes-Jewish Hospital is the region’s only hospital to implant a ventricular assist device that sits in a heart patient’s abdomen and helps pump blood throughout the body. The hospital has gone from implanting an average of 12 a year to 60 in 2011.
Measuring Cholesterol: Mercy Lipid Center offers the region’s only advanced NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) test for those with a family history of early heart disease, which helps doctors assess a patient’s high cholesterol and respond accordingly. The best part: The test is free.
Joint Session
Knee 3-D: Orthopedic surgeons at Barnes-Jewish Hospital use “weight-bearing 3-D imaging” before and after surgery to observe patients’ hips, knees, and spines. The new technology uses quicker scans and less radiation.
The Surgeon–Inventor: Dr. Leo Whiteside, an orthopedic surgeon at the Missouri Bone & Joint Center, has invented three total-hip prostheses, three total-knee prostheses, two unicompartmental knee prostheses, and many surgical instruments. In all, he holds 30 U.S. patents at last count.
Curing Cancer
Go West: In January, Alvin J. Siteman Cancer Center broke ground on a new facility in South County, but it’s also expanding to the west: Radiation oncologists at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital now provide radiation therapy at Siteman’s West County facility.
Starring Role: In late March, St. Luke’s Hospital launched the region’s first STAR (Survivorship Training and Rehabilitation)–certified cancer rehab program, focusing on both physical and emotional healing for cancer patients.
Child’s Play
Nourishing News: Funded by an $8.3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wash. U.’s Dr. Jeffrey Gordon is leading an international team of scientists to fight childhood malnutrition.
Reduced Radiation: New FLASH CT scanners at St. Louis Children’s Hospital—the first pediatric hospital in Missouri to acquire the technology—will reduce children’s radiation exposure by up to 75 percent.
Cardio Collaboration: SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center recently introduced the region’s first pediatric hybrid cardiac catheterization suite, where cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons can collaborate while operating on children with congenital heart defects.
Cutting the Fat: Dr. Esteban Varela leads the area’s only adolescent bariatric program at Washington University School of Medicine, providing gastric weight-loss surgery for select teens with otherwise-untreatable extreme obesity.
Wonders for Women
Scarce Scars: SLUCare physicians Dr. Brigid Holloran-Schwartz and Dr. Patrick Yeung Jr. at SSM St. Mary’s Health Center perform single-incision hysterectomies through the belly button, meaning a shorter recovery time with no new scars. Yeung also directs the new SLUCare Center for Endometriosis, where he’s the only surgeon in the region to perform complete laser excision of endometriosis.
Get With the Program
Canine Comfort: Once a month, members of Touched by a Canine bring therapy dogs to Alton Memorial Hospital to comfort patients in the Geropsych Unit.
RoboDoc: A telemedicine robot at Progress West HealthCare Center in O’Fallon, Mo., allows physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital to diagnose emergency-department patients with potential strokes. And at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital, telemedicine allows health professionals to monitor patients in the intensive-care unit around the clock.
Try MRI: Last fall, Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital added a new MRI technology—the first of its kind in Missouri—that can accommodate a wide variety of body sizes and conditions. It even has adjustable mood lighting and aromatherapy patches available.
Goodbye, Wait Time: Last December, SSM Health Care–St. Louis launched InQuicker, an online tool that allows emergency-department patients with minor emergencies to check in at one of five area hospitals before arrival.
Under Construction
Modern Mercy: Mercy’s newest building on Zumbehl Road in St. Charles marks a new chapter in the company’s architecture. The facility will incorporate a central seating area with a kiosk for registration, a covered entrance, and larger exam rooms—a prototype for future Mercy facilities.
Fresh Air: Last fall, St. Anthony’s Medical Center’s Wound Treatment Center added two state-of-the-art hyperbaric chambers, which deliver 10 to 15 times more oxygen than a normal atmosphere, decreasing swelling and promoting development of new blood vessels.
An Urgent Addition: In January, SSM Health Care–St. Louis opened its first urgent-care center at SSM St. Joseph Medical Park in St. Charles.
Study Time
Fixing A-Fib: Mercy Heart and Vascular Hospital is the only Missouri facility participating in the national CABANA study, comparing drug therapy with catheter ablation (using catheters to remove abnormal tissue) for patients with atrial fibrillation. The study is also examining the costs of care for each treatment.
Miracle Mice: Using mice, researchers at Wash. U. found evidence to explain the origins of kidney stones. Most stones form when urine becomes too concentrated; drinking too little water or eating too much salt increases the risk. But researchers also linked a specific gene to increased risk.
A Well-Oiled Brain: Dr. Susan Farr, a research professor with Saint Louis University School of Medicine, confirmed via animal research that extra-virgin olive oil can reverse memory loss and improve learning.
