Harper University Hospital opens Michigan's only center for Sarcoidosis 

Michigan State Representative Artina Tinsley Hardman joined leaders of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) and Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Sarcoidosis Awareness Foundation to announce the development of Michigan's most comprehensive center for the diagnosis and treatment of Sarcoidosis.  The announcement was timed with Hardman's Michigan House Resolution No. 275, which recognized National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day on Sept. 24.

"The Center for Sarcoidosis at Harper University Hospital represents a partnership between the DMC's Harper University Hospital, the Wayne State University School of Medicine and the Sarcoidosis Awareness Foundation," said Rep. Hardman.

"This center is one more step toward improving the health status of our local community," said Mike Duggan, CEO, of the DMC.  "It will demonstrate the best of our research, education and physician care working together to benefit patients.  We have the infrastructure, physicians and programs in place at Harper to move this forward.  We will bring it all together under one comprehensive virtual system by the end of this year.  Harper expects to treat more than 800 patients with the disease annually."

"Sarcoidosis is an autoimmune systemic disease with no known cause or cure that can affect any part of the body.  The disease affects 20 to 50 of every 100,000 individuals in the United States.  Most victims are between 20 and 40 years of age and while anyone can contract the illness, African Americans are affected at least 10 times more often than Caucasians," explained Safwan Badr, medical director of The Center for Sarcoidosis at Harper University Hospital and professor of internal medicine at WSU. 

The Center will offer diagnostic services, testing and evaluation, treatment, research, support groups and education for both the general public and medical community.  One of the multiple goals of The Center is to educate physicians and healthcare workers about the disease.  While diagnosis dates back to 135 years, Sarcoidosis often goes undiagnosed in many patients because too often health care providers are not trained to recognize the symptoms.

"This center demonstrates once again that when research, education and quality physician care are combined, the patient is the one who benefits most," siad John Crissman, dean of the WSU School of Medicine.  "We are looking forward to watching Dr. Badr and his team improve the lives of those who suffer from Sarcoidosis by establishing the gold standard in patient care."  Through grant support, WSU pulmonary physicians will conduct research to meet yet another goal of The Center.  Physicians hope to investigate environmental and hereditary factors of the disease, as well as develop new diagnostic approaches and therapies.

Janie Chuney, founder of the Sarcoidosis Awareness Foundation said, "The Center also will host seminars and support group functions for those wishing to share and gather more information about the disease.  The Sarcoidosis Awareness Foundation has been hosting support groups throughout the community for the past year.  The burgeoning attendance at each subsequent function reaffirmed for all parties the need to expand programming and services for those afflicted with the disease."

To schedule an appointment with The Center for Sarcoidosis at Harper University Hospital, call 1-888-DMC-2500.  More information about Sarcoidosis is available at the Sarcoidosis Awareness Foundation website at www.sarcoidosisfoundation.org.

 Harper University Hospital's Solid Organ Transplant Program addresses growing healthcare need in Detroit  

African Americans are four times more likely to suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease than Caucasians, but wait twice as long as whites for living-donor and deceased-donor kidney transplants.  Detroit's large African American population is home to an extraordinary number of high-risk kidney and pancreas transplant candidates.

Ninety-two percent of patients treated by Harper University Hospital's Solid Organ Transplant Team are African American and have high-risk factors.  Eighteen percent of these patients have had previous transplants and 15 percent are Hepatitis C positive.  Despite serving one of the nation's highest-risk populations, Harper's Organ Transplant Program has had remarkeable success.

"Harper's Transplant Program has had outstanding patient and graft outcomes while treating patients with cutting-edge anti-rejection protocols who may not have been considered candidates by other centers due to the risks.  In fact, Harper recently became the first hospital in Michigan to perform kidney transplants in HIV-positive recipients - with excellent outcomes," says Harper's Transplant Program Director and Professor and Chief, Transplant Surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine, Scott A. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, FCP.

Currently, Harper is raising funds to renovate the Transplant and Nephrology unit, in order to provide world-class facilities for its already world-class program.  This renovation will include a new Transplant Acute Care Unit, new private and semi-private patient rooms, new outpatient treatment areas and a new central charting and nursing station.

For more information about Harper University Hospital's Solid Organ Transplant Program, call 1-888-HRC-2588.

For an appointment or more information, call 1-888-DMC-2500 .

 Harper joins 20 other U.S. sites in new procedure to reduce the risk of stroke
Harper is the only FDA approved site in Michigan to train physicians in carotid stenting with emboli protection

Detroit Medical Center officials announced that Harper University Hospital has joined 20 premier medical centers across the country, including Cleveland Clinic and Chicago's Mercy Hospital, to train physicians in a new treatment option for the prevention of stroke in patients with carotid artery disease.

Harper is the only location in Michigan to be designated as a training center where physicians will be able to learn to perform the new procedure.  Harper will participate in an ongoing clinical trial designed to evaluate the value of carotid artery stenting compared to carotid endarterectomy surgery in preventing stroke.  According to a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine, the minimally invasive procedure, carotid artery stenting with emboli protections, is as effective as traditional surgery.

"Providing this new procedure, underscores our ongoing efforts to be the national leader in offering a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary endovascular program," said Mike Duggan, DMC president and CEO.  "We continue to be a leader in research and treatment, offering advances that improve the quality of care while reducing patient recovery times at the same time that we are reducing the cost of healthcare."

Carotid artery stenting is an alternative to endarterectomy, a traditional procedure that is performed on approximately 170,000 patients each year.  This procedure leaves a large scar and causes a much longer recovery time for patients.

"This is an important new therapy in stroke prevention that provides an excellent alternative for high-risk patients who might not be candidates for the traditional surgical procedure to restore blood flow through the carotid arteries," said Dr. Thomas Davis, vice chief of DMC clinical cardiology.

Dr. Davis, along with Dr. Theodore Schreiber, vice president, DMC cardiovascular development and division chief of clinical cardiology; and Dr. Richard Fessler, director of Harper neuroendovascular surgery; are involved in training other physicians and ongoing research into the new procedure.  Schreiber and Davis recently relocated their research to Harper University Hospital to continue clinical studies with approximately 40 patients before offering the procedure to others.  Fessler, who heads the fifth largest endovascular program in the country at Harper and has extensive training in endovascular procedures joins this respected team.

During the new carotid artery stenting procedure, the physician uses a combination of balloon angioplasty and a stent implant to unblock the carotid artery.  A catheter is inserted in a blood vessel near the groin and fed to the carotid arteries.  The embolic protection system is deployed in advance of the stent and is used to collect plaque that could become dislodged and potentially cause a stroke.

"It is quite possible that in 10 years this procedure will prevent nearly half of the strokes that we see today," said Schreiber.  "It is definitely a procedure that is moving cardiology to the next level."

Approximately 25 percent of strokes are caused by carotid artery disease from atherosclerosis, which is characterized by the build-up of plaque on the inside of the carotid arteries.  Patients with carotid artery disease are at risk for stroke, the third-most common cause of death in the U.S. and the number one cause of disability in adults, according to the American Heart Association.

Clogged carotid arteries can cause ischemic stroke, the most common type.  An ischemic stroke can occur when small particles of atherosclerotic plaque become dislodged from the diseased artery wall.  This embolic material can travel through the bloodstream and block vessles in the brain.  More than 700,000 Americans will have new or recurrent ischemic strokes each year.  Of those, 160,000 die. 

For more information call, 1-888-DMC-2500.

 Healthcare providers gather to combat illness that kills more people than breast, prostate, colon/rectal and pancreatic cancer, combined

The CDC recently ranked sepsis as the tenth leading killer in the United States.  Every year, severe sepsis takes more lives than breast, prostate, colon/rectal and pancreatic cancer, combined.  In 2001, these top ten killers accounted for 79 percent of all deaths in America.

"One in every three people who develop severe sepsis will die within a month and the incidence of sepsis has nealry doubled over the last ten years," said Dr. Joseph Bander, chairman of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign in Michigan, vice president of medical affairs and intensivist at Harper University Hospital and professor of Medicine at Wayne State University.  "It is vital that the critical care community in Michigan, as well as the rest of the country takes a serious look at ways to enhance diagnosis and treatment."  According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, sepsis occurs in two of every 100 hospital admissions.

Sepsis is a severe illness caused by an overwhelming infection.  It often develops in patients with infections associated with pneumonia, trauma, surgery, burns and cancer.  Common sites of infection include intravenous lines, surgical wounds, surgical drains and bedsores.  Hospitalized patients, infants, children and the elderly are most susceptible to Sepsis.  As the leading cause of death in the non-coronary ICU, Sepsis has prompted many healthcare providers to increase awareness of the disease and reevaluate its diagnosis and treatment options.

The Surviving Sepsis Campaign in Michigan recently hosted a symposium with experts from around the country to address the issue.  Intensive Care Unit (ICU) phsycians, nurses and pharmacists discussed strategies to enhance early diagnosis, potential treatment options and prevention.  The event was sponsored by the Michigan Chapter of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wayne State University.

Sepsis survivor Vadie Strozier is also supporting this campaign; she was on the panel at the symposium.  "Sepsis nearly took my life," said Strozier.  "I am grateful to be alive today and so I want to help out any way I can, to let people know about this illness."

Strozier was rushed to the Emergency Department at Harper University Hospital in 1999 for fatigue and severe stomach pains.  That night, Strozier was diagnosed with Sepsis and underwent emergency surgery.  Her blood pressure drastically dropped and she entered a coma.

With the help of life support systems, Strozier made it through the night and survived for the next two months in Harper's ICU.  She spent an additional three months in the hospital before being discharged.

"The doctors said I'd be in rehab for six weeks, but I just pushed myself and pushed and I was out in 17 days," Strozier said.  "I was determined to walk.  I give glory and praise to God for helping me.  I was walking like a Raggedy Ann doll, but I was walking."

Today, Strozier is doing much better.  "I went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane," Strozier said.  "They said I might be on oxygen for the rest of my life, but I don't need it now.  I just want to help others know that this could happen to anyone."

For more information on Sepsis, visit the Society of Cricial Care Medicine web site at www.sccm.org

 Neurology study to use 'positive reinforcement' to improve the speech of stroke victims

Nearly four million people living in the U.S. have been disabled by stroke.  It is the leading cause of long-term disability.  A groundbreaking research study is examining an innovative treatment to improve the quality of life for stroke survivors.

A team of researchers at Wayne State University and the Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital is using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), a non-invasive method of stimulating the cortex of the brain, to help stroke survivors regain their speech.

Researchers use magnetic coils to stimulate the damaged phonetic areas of the participant's brain during speech therapy.  During therapy, the phonetic areas of the brain are rewarded with high frequency stimulation when participants respond appropriately to the therapist.  Over time, researchers expect this positive reinforcement of correct responses to retrain the phonetic areas and improve long-term functioning of the neural network.

Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), researchers map brain activity, before and after six weeks of therapy to identify changes in the neural network.  The results of the TMS treatment are measured against a controlled group receiving sham TMS.

TMS is already used clinically to treat depression, Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.  Most recently, it has been proven to improve cognitive and linguistic tasks.

The three-year study is only being conducted at Wayne State University and the DMC's Harper University Hospital.  Randall Benson, M.D., assistant professor of Neurology at Wayne State University and neurologist at Harper University Hospital, is the principal investigator.

"Language breakdowns, even mild ones can be catastrophic for patient and family with major adjustments required to accommodate a lower level of functioning," said Benson.  "If we are successful, this will mark the first significant advance in the treatment of aphasia and possibly contribute to a major shift in the approach to treatment of deficits caused by stroke."

Researchers are still screening volunteers for the study.  Participants must be right-handed, have aphasia caused by stroke and over age 30.  To participate in this groundbreaking research, call 1-888-DMC-2500.

 Harper University Hospital is first in Michigan to earn the Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval for Bariatric Surgery

April 1, 2005 - Detroit Medical Center's Harper University Hospital has received a designation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the premier healthcare accreditation association.  JCAHO has awarded Harper University Hospital disease-specific care certification for bariatric surgery.

"The bariatric surgery program at Harper has clearly demonstrated a commitment to excellence that differentiates it from similar programs across the country," states Brooks Bock, M.D., president of Harper University Hospital.  "The Gold Seal of Approval is a coveted healthcare indicator that our bariatric surgery program effectively employs established clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care for the clinically severe obese.  This program complies with a national set of standards, utilizing an organized approach to performance measurement and improvement activities."

The bariatric program at Harper has helped thousands of patients successfully lose both weight and body fat.  This program takes a comprehensive approach to managing weight loss before and after surgery through education, support, proper nutrition and exercise.  Harper clinicians also provide effective pain assessment and management during recovery, resulting in early mobilization and a short length of stay.

To earn JCAHO accreditation, Harper disease-specific programs for bariatric surgery underwent extensive on-site evaluation reviews by the Joint Commission, which will be repeated once every two years.

"This certification means that this organization does the right things and does them well for bariatric surgery patients," says Charles A. Mowll, executive vice president, Business Development, Government, and External Relations, Joint Commission.

Harper's bariatric program was evaluated against JCAHO standards through an assessment of the program's processes, the program's ability to evaluate and improve care within its own organization, and interviews with patients and staff.

The Joint Commission launched its Disease-Specific Care Certification program in 2002.  It is the first program of its kind in the country to certify disease management programs.  A list of Joint Commission bariatric-certified programs are available at www.jcaho.org.

Founded in 1951, the Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of healthcare accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations.  The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States, include more than 7,800 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 7,300 other healthcare organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral healthcare, laboratory and ambulatory care services.  The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks and other managed care entities.  In addition, the Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs and primary stroke centers. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare.

  First-of-a-kind implant device give new hope to people with drug-resistant high blood pressure:   Harper University Hospital is one of five FDA-approved centers nationwide and the only Michigan hospital participating in the clinical trial

(Detroit, MI - July 20, 2005)  For Cynthia Wardlaw, a 35-year-old Detroit mother of three, a new implantable device give her new hope to avoid a third, life-threatening stroke.  Like 25 percent of the 65 million Americans who have high blood pressure that resists treatment by medications, Wardlaw is left vulnerable to strokes.  Harper University Hospital is one of the only five FDA-approved centers in the U.S. and the only Michigan hospital participating in the clinical studies of the device.  Wardlaw is the first Michigan recipient and only the sixth nationwide to have this device implanted.

The Rheos Baroreflex Hypertension Therapy system, which was developed by CVRx, Inc., works by mimicking the body's natural sensors to lower blood pressure.  The minor surgical procedure implants the device under the skin below the collarbone with two electrical contacts to the primary blood pressure control points in the neck.  Rises in blood pressure send impulses that are interpreted by the brain and messages are sent to the body's natural blood pressure-lowering system.

Wardlaw developed hypertension during her second pregnancy and, in spite of a variety of drug therapies, her blood pressure never returned to normal.  She suffered her first stroke at age 27 and the second at 30.  She is no longer able to work, and the six medications she currently takes have proved to be inadequate in bringing down her blood pressure.

A nurse, Wardlaw understands the risks of high blood pressure, which is estimated to cause one in every eight deaths worldwide.  I'm tired of taking all of these pills and knowing that they're not working," Wardlaw said.  "I want to see my children graduate and get married.  I'm hoping this [device] makes it so that I will be around for my kids."

Wardlaw underwent the implant surgery, which has been performed fewer than 20 times throughout the world, on July 20 at Harper University Hospital.

At Harper, John M. Flack, M.D., M.P.H., interim chair of the Wayne State University School of Medicine's Department of Internal Medicine and director of the Cardiovascular Epidemiology and Clinical Applications Program is the principal investigators for the clinical studies of the new device.  "This device should give those who suffer with hypertension that is resistant to drug therapy a much better chance of living fulfilling lives without complications like strokes, heart attacks or heart failure," Flack said.  Drug-resistant high blood pressure is, Flack added, a serious medical challenge for physicians and patients.

Charles Shanley, M.D., chief, division of vascular surgery at the DMC and associate professor of surgery at WSU School of Medicine, will perform the surgery.  Dr. Larry W. Stephenson, chief, division of cardiothoracic surgery at Harper and Ford-Webber professor of Surgery at WSU will serve as the surgical consultant.  Samar Nasser, P.A.-C., M.P.H. is the lead study coordinator and co-investigator on the trial.  Ms. Nasser is responsible for the participant enrollment and coordinating of all aspects of the clinical trial between WSU, DMC and CVRx - the clinical trial sponsor.

To read the article in the Detroit Free Press, click here .

For more information or to find out if you meet the criteria to participate in this important study, call 1-888-DMC-2500.