LookHealth and well-being news from North Shore UniversityNorth Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center Back to normal PAGE 32 Pancreatic cancer in retreat PAGE 6 Feel-good food PAGE 17 Volume 3, 2019 CONTENTS H Hospitals F Feinstein Institutes Care where Imaging Centers Urgent Care Centers you are Ambulatory Surgery Centers Cancer Centers Northwell Health is more than your local hospital. Dialysis Centers We’re a world-class health system with all the Lenox Health Greenwich Village services your family needs at 23 hospitals and Lab Patient Service Centers Donald and Barbara Zucker 750-plus outpatient locations. Our care ranges School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell from checkups to transplants and everything in Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing between. We’re also changing the future of medicine and Physician Assistant Studies Elmezzi Graduate School with biomedical research, and educating the next of Molecular Medicine at Northwell Health generation of clinicians. 2 Look North | Volume 3, 2019 CONTENTS 30 36 32 New horizons for treating pancreatic cancer 25 Better ways to care for your back. 6 Fresh ways to treat a once- 26 Surgery gave a hand up to a Long Islander intractable disease. with Air Force dreams. 7 The surprising link between pancreatic Life after 9/11 cancer and a rare form of diabetes. 28 One hip, two unlikely friends: a World Trade Beating cancer’s odds Center story. 8 Whole again after lung-cancer surgery — at 30 A retired FDNY inspector preps for a 33 years old. lung transplant. 9 Stage 4 renal cancer didn’t stop his hope Spine surgery or healing. 32 After a shocking spina bifida diagnosis, Promising prostate news surgery gets her back on her feet for good. 12 A more accurate, less painful prostate 36 Miracle man: A dentist learns to walk again biopsy. after an accident nearly paralyzed him. 13 The tests a man can get: what you need to Here’s to your health know about urodynamic testing. 4 Four-legged friends on the job: How therapy We’re all heart dogs make everyone feel better. 14 A holistic look at heart health. 10 Are CBD products a cure-all, or just hype? 16 The Northwell Health Lipid Center offers 17 Foods that boost your mood. a new tack on treating cardiovascular 21 Breastfeeding success for “older” moms. conditions. 29 Count the ways to love your liver. 18 An 87-year-old periodontal surgery assistant becomes young at heart again. 34 Give your meals a new spin with six ancient grains. 20 How to choose a cardiac surgeon. 38 Community resources. Good bones 40 Senior-friendly emergency departments. 22 Ambulatory hip replacement means minimal down time. 24 Avoid years of pain with hip arthroscopy. Family health and well-being news, delivered Subscribe to any Northwell magazine by visiting bit.ly/health-wellness-news or emailing [email protected]. There’s no obligation, and you can unsubscribe at any time. Northwell.edu 3 HERE’S TO YOUR HEALTH Going to the (therapy) dogs How these specially trained pups help improve physical and emotional healing 4 Look North | Volume 3, 2019 Learn about volunteering opportunities, such as pet therapy visits, at northwell.edu/volunteer. Is your dog up for the job? Their mere presence boosts levels of Study after study proves their worth: Think your four-legged friend feel-good brain chemicals. They offer According to a 2018 study by Johns has what it takes to be a therapy their wagging tails and lolling tongues Hopkins researchers published in dog? Temperament — not breed and — most importantly — their Critical Care, emotional support dogs or size — matters most when unconditional love in exchange for a can ease the pain and emotional upset applying for certification. Several cuddle, a pat or a scratch behind the of critically ill patients in intensive care different national and state ears. They’re emotional or therapeutic units. Animal-assisted therapy helps organizations certify emotional support dogs, and they’re increasingly children who have experienced abuse support dogs. Because a tester or afoot in hospitals, nursing homes, and patients who are undergoing observer needs to see your pup rehabilitiation centers, schools and in chemotherapy; it also reduces anxiety actively engaging with people the aftermath of disasters to provide in people diagnosed with schizophrenia and following your commands, the comfort that only they can. and helps nursing home residents feel you should search online for a Therapy dogs aren’t your everyday less isolated. certifying organization closest neighborhood pups — they’re specially A 2017 study by the American Humane to you. Some organizations to trained to offer specific types of Society found that weekly visits with consider include the Alliance of comfort. More than a distraction, an emotional support dog were a Therapy Dogs, Pet Partners and therapy dogs may offer some of the therapeutic salve for children with Therapy Dogs International. best medicine for cancer and their Handlers must complete a people in ill health or parents: The background check as part of the emotional distress. More than a distraction, families had lower certification process. Your dog The act of petting a levels of disease- should be at least one year old pooch releases mood- therapy dogs may related anxiety and and possess these qualities: elevating hormones offer some of the best worry compared to – Calm, gentle disposition that can lower families who didn’t – Friendly blood pressure and medicine for people in have the comfort – Good with groups of people heart rate, diminish ill health or emotional of an emotional – Heeds commands discomfort and pain, support dog. – Attentive and calm anxious distress, research shows. Service dogs – Well-groomed thoughts. For these provide another – Up to date on all vaccinations reasons and more, kind of animal- – Easily trained Northwell Health and assisted therapy. medical centers across the country now Trained to help individuals with specific routinely bring in certified therapy dogs disabilities, such as seizures, diabetes to interact with patients. or PTSD, these dogs perform tasks like Emotional support dogs with their opening doors, fetching medications handlers visit hospitals and other and pushing emergency alert buttons. locations. Any therapy dog must be up Service dogs act as their handler’s aide to date on vaccinations, well-groomed — but like any other animal companion, and certified by a reputable national they provide love and plenty of comfort, therapy dog organization before they too. No wonder that in a 2019 study in can be “hired.” the journal Disability and Rehabilitation, individuals with physical disabilities who were assisted by a service dog had significantly better psychosocial health than others who were still on a waitlist for their own four-legged helper. Northwell.edu 5 NEW HORIZONS FOR TREATING PANCREATIC CANCER Hitting the brakes on pancreatic cancer Emerging treatment options provide a most precious gift — more time Pancreatic cancer has offered a dire people with advanced metastatic Dr. Nealon. “Traditionally, doctors would prognosis, but recent advances are cancer (disease that had spread to the only operate if chemotherapy shrank beginning to turn the tables on this liver or other organs) received this the tumor enough to minimize surgical once-intractable disease. treatment, Dr. Nealon said. “Once we risk. Now, as long as the tumor doesn’t saw a significant increase in length of “In the past six years, there’s been grow, we can perform surgery.” survival, we began offering FOLFIRINOX a dramatic change in the way we Matthew Weiss, MD, deputy physician- in earlier stages.” treat pancreatic cancer,” said William in-chief and director of surgical Nealon, MD, codirector of the recently People whose pancreatic cancer would oncology at Northwell’s Cancer opened Pancreatic Cancer Center at the have been diagnosed as inoperable also Institute, was recently recruited Northwell Health Cancer Institute. benefit: FOLFIRINOX keeps their tumors from Johns Hopkins. He revels in from growing. One significant game changer, these complex procedures. “I do love according to the National Cancer “It is highly complex to remove the technical aspects of pancreas Institute, is a chemotherapy regimen pancreatic tumors that are intertwined surgeries,” he said. “They are technically called FOLFIRINOX. A decade ago, only with blood vessels and arteries,” said challenging operations.” Following these successes in treating advanced pancreatic cancer, current studies are looking at neo-adjuvant chemotherapy for resectable, or More than 56,000 Americans will receive a operable, pancreatic cancer. Those who received FOLFIRINOX after tumor pancreatic cancer diagnosis this year. resection benefited from a median survival rate of nearly 20 months longer 6 Look North | Volume 3, 2019 NEW HORIZONS FOR TREATING PANCREATIC CANCER Diabetes and pancreatic cancer: A surprising link Our nationally recognized cancer experts can help People with Type 2 diabetes have age 60, according to a study by the with pancreatic conditions, a slightly higher risk of developing University of Surrey, UK. pancreatic cancer than those who “People with chronic pancreatitis including Type 3c diabetes. don’t have the disease, according to [inflamed pancreas] have an Call the Pancreatic Cancer research. Furthermore, researchers increased risk of pancreatic cancer,” are seeing a potential link between noted Dr. Nealon. “Some people Center at (833) 762-7327. resection for pancreatic cancer and a inherit genetic mutations that make rare form of diabetes called Type 3c. them more prone to a familial form than people who received the standard “Type 3c diabetes most commonly of pancreatitis. These genes also chemotherapy regimen, according to occurs when insulin production is raise the lifetime risk of developing a recent study from The ASCO Post, a affected due to surgical removal pancreatic cancer.” Since Type 3c newspaper from the American Society of a diseased, cystic or cancerous commonly occurs in patients with of Clinical Oncology.