Enzaime Health Stories

After feeling a tickle in his throat for about a month, Victor visited the University of Chicago Medicine campus in June 2010 for a check-up. It had only been a very quick tickle, which caused him to clear his throat a half dozen or so times a day, but he wanted to make sure his health remained stable. “That’s how it all started,” said Victor, a plastic surgeon in the suburbs of Chicago. Medical center physicians took X-rays and diagnosed him with non-small cell lung cancer, one of two main types of lung cancer. His cancer too advanced for radiation, Victor underwent two courses of chemotherapy. But Victor wasn’t sure how he got to that point. Having only smoked very briefly for a few months during college 40 years ago, he could not say what caused his cancer. Yet, an increasing number of genetic tests are enabling doctors at the University of Chicago Medicine to see far beyond patients’ physical symptoms and into the root cause of their diseases. Such visi...

In November 2011, when a pediatric surgery team from Cedars-Sinai traveled to Maria's Big House of Hope, an orphanage in Louyang, China, the focus of the mission was on the children. The future looked bleak for the infants and toddlers, born with anorectal malformations in a culture that believes such birth defects bring a family bad luck. They had all been abandoned by their parents within days of their birth. In 2012, following up on the success of that mission, in which 11 children had operations and several were adopted, the Cedars-Sinai team returned to Louyang. Led once again by pediatric surgeon Philip Frykman, MD, PhD, the group's mission expanded. They worked with the orphans again, but this time, they also educated the local surgeons about how anorectal malformations can be corrected. On the 2011 mission, surgeries were conducted in the medical facility at the orphanage. Shiwei Zhai, MD, a local surgeon, scrubbed in on every case. "This time, we did all of our su...

Michelle Hazarak donated a kidney to her stepfather, Ron Egger, in June 2012. Standing before 500 colleagues at an annual meeting in Florida, beauty salon manager Michelle Harazak struggled through tears to finish her presentation. The 40-year-old from Tampa told the gathering of Hair Cuttery stylists that she recently donated a kidney to her stepfather in Chicago. "I explained that I was a match and that I needed to do the right thing," Harazak said. She described her journey -- from watching her mother go through two organ transplants to becoming a donor for her stepfather, Ron Egger. And she thanked the stylists from her salon and the company for their tremendous support. "My goal was to increase awareness and to encourage other people to think about donating," she said. The audience gave her a standing ovation. Transplant surgeon Piotr Witkowski, MD, PhD, and living donor coordinator Jeanine Elkin, RN, CCTN, CCTS. The surgery took place at the University of Chic...

Families of children who suffer from fecal incontinence, a condition that causes embarrassment and often hinders social and emotional development, can seek help from Cedars-Sinai's Pediatric Bowel Management Program in the Division of Pediatric Surgery part of the Maxine Dunitz Children's Health Center. Using an interdisciplinary approach of treatment, medication and behavior modification techniques, the program has seen a success rate of 90 percent in helping patients manage fecal incontinence. "We want to improve the quality of life for these children, and for the families of these children," said Philip Frykman, MD, PhD, associate director of Pediatric Surgery at Cedars-Sinai. Most children with fecal incontinence suffer from colorectal problems, anorectal malformations or Hirschsprung's disease, a condition in which nerve cells in the intestines are missing. Some children with anorectal malformations that have been surgically repaired lack the muscle tone for ...

For one of every three kidney failure patients, a transplant is not possible even if a potential donor's tissue and blood types otherwise match perfectly. This is because they have a highly sensitized immune system that would attack the transplanted kidney or pancreas. At the Cedars-Sinai Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Center, an innovative procedure -- intravenous immunoglobin (IVIG) therapy -- is being used to give new hope to kidney failure patients. IVIG therapy was first adapted for use in transplantation by Cedars-Sinai researchers led by Stanley C. Jordan, MD. Cedars-Sinai holds the U.S. patent for this therapy. Causes of Sensitization One of the ways that our bodies protect themselves from infection is the ability to recognize and destroy foreign cells. When the blood meets a foreign cell, it produces an antibody to fight the invader. Tissue compatibility issues exist for all patients receiving transplanted organs. Rejection risks rise dramatically for those with a high exp...

Kevin Riepl arrived at Cedars-Sinai in October 2010, suffering from sudden heart failure that left him fighting for his life. Surgeons swiftly installed a heart pump and later transplanted a new heart, saving his life and turning him into an unexpected ambassador for organ donation. Now the 38-year-old Winnetka man is preparing to represent Cedars-Sinai's Comprehensive Transplant Center on the 2013 Donate Life Rose Parade float on Jan. 1. With his wife, twin sons and parents watching from the grandstand, Riepl hopes his presence on the float will send a message about the importance of donating organs. "It's the best gift anybody can ever give," he said. Riepl's doctors say they are pleased with his recovery after seven surgeries over 2½ years, and that his new heart is stronger than ever. Riepl, they say, is an inspiration to other transplant patients. "Kevin's case shows how important organ donation is, especially these days, when there are thousands of ...

At age 90, Gus Snare, a World War II veteran, became the oldest patient ever to undergo a Whipple procedure at the University of Chicago Medicine.  Photo by Joseph P. Meier, Sun-Times Media; Courtesy of The Southtown Star As a young soldier, Gus Snare stopped through the University of Chicago medical campus in 1942, on his way to the South Pacific, to process paperwork on a physical exam. He had no reason to revisit this or any other hospital for the next 68 years. He came home from World War II, married a nurse and went back to his job at a stone quarry south of Chicago. He was so active and healthy, he almost never even caught a cold. Older patients who are independent and healthy can recover from difficult operations. So when he had a sudden loss of appetite last fall, the Crete, Illinois, native was puzzled. "I was feeling bad. Even water didn’t look good to me," he said. His physicians at the University of Chicago Medicine soon found a mass on his pancreas that they late...