Physicians at the Mount Sinai Health System are among the first in New York State to offer a promising new surgical treatment for people with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, a common disorder characterized by the recurrent narrowing and closing of a person’s upper airway during sleep. Moderate-to-severe sleep apnea—defined as 15 or more episodes of disturbed airflow per hour—is often associated with excessive daytime sleepiness and an increased risk for diabetes and heart disease. Read more
Pulmonary hypertension is a condition of increased pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs. Because of this increased pressure, the heart has more difficulty with effectively pumping blood throughout the body, which can lead to symptoms of shortness of breath and leg swelling. While there are a number of effective medications to reduce the pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs, limiting salt intake is an important measure to help alleviate this pressure and reduce symptoms. Read more
Several hundred people received free blood pressure screenings at different locations throughout the Mount Sinai Health System in May, during National High Blood Pressure Education Month. Regular screenings are an important step in helping to control high blood pressure, which is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and stroke, but often has no warning signs. Mount Sinai Heart hosted the screenings and distributed educational information at Mount Sinai St. Luke’s, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, The Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel Brooklyn, and Mount Sinai Queens.
The Laser Vision Correction Center at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai—the first refractive surgery center within the Mount Sinai Health System—recently celebrated its opening. Located at 230 Second Avenue, the new facility offers photorefractive keratectomy, custom LASIK, and IntraLASIK—the first blade-free laser technology that enables physicians to customize vision correction for each patient. Laser vision correction, also known as refractive surgery, treats nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, helping to eliminate the need for eyeglasses and contact lenses for many patients. The surgery corrects vision by changing the shape of the cornea, the transparent layer that covers the outer surface of the eye.
Mount Sinai researchers—leading the largest clinical trial on peanut allergy desensitization—have concluded that a skin patch that gradually exposes the body to small amounts of peanut allergen appears to be safe and effective, and holds promise as a potential treatment for peanut allergies.
Research results from the Phase IIb clinical trial were presented at the 2015 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology by Hugh A. Sampson, MD, Dean for Translational Biomedical Research and Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mount Sinai, who served as the Co-Principal Investigator of the study. Dr. Sampson is also Professor of Pediatrics, and Immunology, at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Read more
The American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM) has named three physicians from the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at The Mount Sinai Hospital “Inspiring Hospice and Palliative Medicine Leaders Under 40.”
Laura Gelfman, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine; Amy Kelley, MD, MSHS, Assistant Professor, Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine; and Cardinale B. Smith, MD, MSCR, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology/Medical Oncology), and Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, were among 40 award recipients honored at the 2015 AAHPM & HPNA (Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association) Annual Assembly in Philadelphia. Read more
Urgent care specialist Crissaris Sarnelli, MD, left, and Judah Fierstein, MD, Medical Director of the Mount Sinai Health System’s Urgent Care Centers, are among the physicians caring for patients at Mount Sinai Urgent Care Inwood, which recently celebrated its opening at Broadway and 213th Street in Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhood. The facility—part of Mount Sinai Doctors Faculty Practice—specializes in walk-in care for nonemergency injuries and illnesses for adults and children, seven days a week, including holidays.
Four-year-old Gabriela Espinal, sits with her mother, Monica Espinal, and enjoys a high-five with nurse Dana Annese, RN, following a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE). The brightly colored patient rooms are part of a major renovation and expansion that was recently completed at NYEE’s Pediatric Surgery Unit that included the addition of glass walls to enhance light, a new waiting room, new restrooms and lockers, and a storage space for strollers. The expansion will enable NYEE to meet growing demand for pediatric clinical and diagnostic care. NYEE performs more than 3,500 pediatric operations annually, most of which are same-day surgeries.
Sean Pinney, MD, is Director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Transplantation Program at The Mount Sinai Hospital. He shared his answers to some of the most frequently asked questions of heart failure patients.
1. My health practitioner thinks I may have heart failure. Why did my health practitioner order so many different tests? Read more
The common cold is a viral infection that affects the nose and throat with associated sneezing, headaches, and cough. The rhinovirus is the most common type of virus that causes colds; however, there are more than 200 viruses that may cause the common cold. Antibiotics are not effective against viruses and are used to treat bacterial infections.
One of the largest misconceptions is that the color of the mucus suggests a bacterial infection. A patient can have yellow or green mucus and still have the common cold. The most important sign that would indicate a bacterial infection is present is the duration of symptoms. The American Academy of Otolaryngology guidelines for acute sinusitis require the presence of symptoms for greater than 7 to 10 days before being considered a bacterial infection. In addition, symptoms of the common cold may last for up to two weeks with cough and post nasal drip being the last symptoms to go away. Read more