HJNO Jul/Aug 2019

Healthcare Journal of New Orleans I  JUL / AUG 2019 31 For weekly eNews updates and to read the journal online, visit HealthcareJournalNO.com such as athletics director, head or assistant coach, director of sports management, director of sta- dium events, sports facilities manager, or team programs and operations manager. Cardiovascular Institute of the South is First to Use Cardiac PET Scanning in Baton Rouge Region Cardiovascular Institute of the South is the first in the Baton Rouge region to offer cardiac posi- tron emission tomography (PET) scanning at the CIS Zachary clinic located at 6550 Main Street, Suite 1000. This advanced cardiac testing offers clearer and sharper imaging, allowing physicians an improved tool for accurate patient diagnosis and the selec- tion of the most appropriate treatment options. Other benefits of PET scans include: * Faster than a traditional nuclear scan * Decreased radiation exposure * Increased sensitivity to limited blood flow * Increased sensitivity for those with large body mass * Less interference from soft tissue CIS also utilizes cardiac PET scanning in the Houma and Lafayette regions. LSUHealth NO Tumor Registry Earns Top NCI Honor LSU Health New Orleans School of Public Health’s Louisiana Tumor Registry is the recip- ient of a 2019 Data Quality Profile First Place Award from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program of the National Insti- tutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute. Only seven of SEER’s 15 eligible registries received first place data quality awards this year, and 2019 is the 10th consecutive year that LSU Health New Orleans has earned the first-place award. The SEER Program is one of the most authoritative sources of information on cancer incidence and survival in the United States. The SEER Program evaluates a number of mea- sures of data quality annually, including the com- pleteness and timeliness of cancer cases, the percentage of unknown for key demographic and tumor characteristics, and patient follow-up rates. LSU Health New Orleans’ Louisiana Tumor Registry data exceeded the goals in all of the measures. The primary function of a cancer registry is to record the occurrence of cancer in a population. Information collected includes demographics, tumor characteristics, stage of disease at diag- nosis, treatment, and survival. According to the SEER Program, the importance of cancer reg- istries lies in the fact that they collect accurate and complete cancer data that others can use for cancer control and epidemiological and clinical research, public health program planning, and patient care improvement. Ultimately, all of these activities reduce the burden of cancer. The SEER Program collects cancer incidence and survival data from LSU Health New Orleans Louisiana Tumor Registry and its other 18 popula- tion-based cancer registries in the United States. It is considered to be the standard for quality among cancer registries around the world.  Qual- ity control has been an integral part of SEER since its inception. Student-Athletes Score Free Physicals at NorthOaks Sports Medicine Physical Day Champ Cooper Elementary School Basketball Coach Casper Jackson attended North Oaks Health System’s 28th Annual Sports Medi- cine Physical Day with five of his players before they competed in a tournament an hour later. “They got in quickly. I observed them (get- ting physicals) and it was a thorough job,” Jack- son shared. “I was very pleased. When you combine good service with efficient service, it’s great!” Champ Cooper was one of 31 schools through- out Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes receiving free physicals for 1,187 student-athletes. Nineteen doctors and eight nurse practitioners, along with 120 employees, volunteered for the event on the North Oaks Medical Center campus. In 1991, North Oaks began sponsoring Physical Day with the goal of helping students fulfill Lou- isiana High School Athletic Association require- ments for participation in school athletic programs. The free physical screenings offered annually are just one benefit of enrollment in the North Oaks Sports Medicine Program. Cardiovascular Institute of the South is First in Southeast to Use New Endovascular System Dr. Pradeep Nair, interventional cardiologist at Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS), is the first in the southeastern United States to utilize the Tack Endovascular System, a first-of-its kind implant used to repair dissections following bal- loon angioplasty to treat patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) above the knee. Balloon angioplasty, also referred to as percu- taneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), is a min- imally-invasive and effective treatment for PAD. During this treatment, there is a risk that the artery wall will become damaged or torn. These tears are called dissections, and occur frequently; yet are often overlooked, undiagnosed, or untreated. Dissections can lead to clotting and blood flow obstruction, lowering the likelihood that the ves- sel will remain open and increasing the risk that a repeat procedure will become necessary. Made to repair dissections and leave behind less metal, the Tack® implant is uniquely designed to pre- serve the vessel, minimize inflammation, and enhance blood flow. “With the Tack Endovascular System, balloon angioplasty results are improved,” said Nair. “This innovative therapy has been proven to safely and effectively repair dissections, meaning less risk of complications for the patient going forward.” LSUHealth Research Finds New Rx Target for Common STD Research led by Ashok Aiyar, PhD, associate professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Par- asitology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Pradeep Nair, MD