Media Coverage
The work done by Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine faculty members (and even some students) is regularly highlighted in newspapers, online media outlets and more. Below you’ll find links to articles and videos of Feinberg in the news.
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Yahoo! News
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Olivia Munn and John Mulaney froze embryos in hopes of having another baby after her breast cancer diagnosis. Here’s how the process works during treatment.
Olivia Munn was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer called luminal B in February. While Munn had previously had her eggs frozen, at age 33 and again at 39, she and Mulaney wanted to increase their chances of having more children, with the help of a surrogate. Embryos are eggs that have been fertilized with sperm. As with egg freezing, the first step in the process of freezing embryos is to give a woman hormone injections (usually over the course of about 10 days) to prompt the ovaries to make multiple eggs in a single menstrual cycle. Another drug prevents ovulation, the process by which an egg is released from the ovary into the fallopian tube, where it would normally wait for fertilization, Kara Goldman, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and infertility specialist at Northwestern University. Instead, doctors then use a minimally invasive procedure involving a long needle and suction to gently extract the eggs from the ovaries. After that, the eggs themselves are either frozen, or fertilized with sperm (becoming embryos) and then frozen. The embryos can also be tested to be sure they’re sufficiently healthy and viable before freezing. Some cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, can affect fertility. “Even if you’re not having chemo, in anyone with an estrogen-positive tumor, like [Munn] has, there’s long-term ovarian suppression,” says Goldman. Ovarian suppression prevents the ovaries from making estrogen and fueling tumor growth, and can be done with medication or surgery to remove the ovaries. Munn initially tried medication but ultimately opted for surgery. “If a patient needs chemo they have two hits to their fertility: They’re at risk of loss of fertility due to chemotherapy and [also] due to time,” because fertility declines with age and may be lower by the time someone finishes treatment, Goldman explains.
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Yahoo! News
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5 Common Habits That Fuel Erectile Dysfunction
Having erection troubles every now and again is a normal part of having a penis. But when these issues are ongoing, they can interfere with the enjoyment of your life inside and outside of the bedroom. Drinking alcohol is one of the things that may have a major effect on erectile problems. Not only that, chronic alcohol use can lead to or worsen symptoms of depression and anxiety, both of which can have a negative effect on your sexual health, said Nelson Bennett, Jr., MD, professor of urology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Another is not getting enough sleep. “High cortisol levels lead to increased stress and anxiety, weight gain, moodiness and decreased mental performance,” Bennett said. “Chronic sleep deprivation can lead to fatigue and a diminished interest in sexual activity.”Plus, “poor sleep can lead to high blood pressure and poor circulation, which will lead to and exacerbate ED,” Bennett added. Overall, staying fit, getting proper sleep and maintaining a healthy diet are all important for good urologic health.
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The Washington Post
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Racism, other social factors may affect Asian Americans’ heart health
Immigration status, structural racism and other social factors may contribute to disparities in cardiovascular health among Asian Americans, according to a statement prepared by a group of clinicians and researchers and published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation. Asian Americans are less likely than White adults to have or die of heart disease, according to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health. But researchers in the Circulation article note that cardiovascular health can vary widely between subgroups of Asian Americans, and warn that combining different subgroups of people into a single “Asian” category could mask important differences. Socioeconomic factors, lack of English language proficiency and structural racism also may uniquely affect cardiovascular health among Asian Americans, the researchers note. “All of these social determinants of health are likely interrelated, and the cumulative impact of these structural and social risk factors contributes to suboptimal cardiovascular health in Asian Americans,” Nilay S. Shah, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of cardiology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago and the statement-writing group’s chair, said in a news release. “There is an urgent need to understand these challenges and address them with effective prevention strategies to help improve their long-term cardiovascular health.”
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WebMD
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Beyond Survival: Why Many Women Opt for a Double Mastectomy
A recent study published in JAMA Oncology hammered that point home. For patients with cancer in only one breast, their choice of surgery — whether lumpectomy or single or double mastectomy — made no difference in their risk of dying of the disease over the next 20 years. Many women with cancer in one breast opt to remove both. Double mastectomy rates began rising in this population in the late 1990s and have remained high, even after research in the late 2010s began to show that the more extreme surgery did not improve survival rates. Despite that data, a double mastectomy may offer some women a greater feeling of safety. For others, there’s the physical, mental, and financial toll of ongoing screenings and possible biopsies. And some women also prefer the aesthetic symmetry of removing both breasts. It can be hard to understand why a patient would want more surgery if it’s not necessary to treat the cancer, said Seema Ahsan Khan, MD, professor of breast surgery at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. But “I do think we really underestimate the burden of screening” and other issues, she said. Improving survival depends on other factors, including the use of hormone therapy, which has been shown to reduce the risk for recurrence and death from breast cancer in women with early-stage estrogen receptor–positive disease, the most common type. There are also potential risks associated with undergoing the more invasive procedure, with some data indicating that double mastectomies come with higher rates of adverse events. “The longer the procedure, the longer the recovery, and there’s the possibility of increased complications,” including infection, Khan said. Still, the data on this remains mixed, and other research has found no significant differences between the complication rates. It’s ultimately breast reconstruction surgery that more definitively bumps up a patient’s risks for complications.
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TIME
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Why Does Everyone Seem to Have IBS Now?
We’re in the midst of a weird cultural moment involving people’s bowel habits. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has been trending on social media, including TikTok videos and posts about the disorder on Instagram, X, and other platforms. Billboards proclaiming that Hot girls have IBS have popped up over the past few years in Los Angeles and other cities. The increase in IBS prevalence also could be related to COVID-19 because “viral illnesses can induce disorders of the gastrointestinal system,” says Darren Brenner, MD, a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine and surgery at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Indeed, a 2023 review of studies on the subject found that COVID-19 infection was associated with new IBS diagnoses; this was especially true among women and people with depression or anxiety. While IBS isn’t life-threatening, it can be a miserable experience and negatively affect someone’s quality of life. “With IBS, a lot of people change their behavior to work around their symptoms,” Sarker says. This may lead them to decline invitations to parties or other social events because they’re worried about having a flare-up. Or, it may spur them to avoid physical activity for the same reason.
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Crain’s Chicago Business
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Northwestern scientists make first steps in delaying menopause — and the ills that come with it
Northwestern Medicine researchers have found a way to lengthen ovarian function, offering promise for delaying menopause, extending fertility and avoiding risk from hormonal loss. Northwestern Medicine researchers have found a way to lengthen ovarian function, offering promise for delaying menopause, extending fertility and avoiding risk from hormonal loss. While the drug used in experiments, pirfenidone, is commonly used to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, it would not be a viable option for human use because of the damage to the liver it can cause. But the prospects of using such a medicine bring up a multitude of opportunities, said corresponding author Francesca Duncan, PhD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Ducan said that as the average age of humans has increased over recent decades, the age of menopause — on average, it hits around age 51, she said — has stayed constant for hundreds of years. Medical science, Duncan said, has been focusing more on “healthspan,” how to live healthier for longer, than just lifespan, but it needs to consider the advantages of living longer with fully functioning ovaries. “We’ve changed the landscape of how we live,” she said, “and our ovarian function needs to catch up so that we have an organ that functions proportionately to maintain women’s healthspans longer.”
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US News & World Report
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What Is Syphilis? And Why Are Rates Rising?
“Syphilis is curable in all stages, but there’s a lack of awareness about the causes of the disease, the symptoms of the disease and the availability of testing and treatment,” says Michael Angarone, DO, an infectious disease specialist at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Syphilis is a common curable sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum. Syphilis can cause serious health problems if not treated early. It’s transmitted through anal, genital or oral sexual contact, or from a mother with syphilis to a fetus. Without treatment, which consists primarily of penicillin shots, syphilis can cause serious problems, including damage to the brain, the heart and other organs. It can also cause blindness, deafness, paralysis and sometimes death. About 10% of patients who are not treated for syphilis end up dying from this infection. In addition to better educating patients to be open and honest with healthcare providers about their sexual activity, healthcare providers need to learn how to speak with patients about STIs.
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HealthDay
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Ischemic Stroke: What It Is, Symptoms, Causes, Treatment & Recovery
Ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke. An ischemic stroke occurs when there is a blockage of blood flow to part of the brain. This blockage leads to decreased blood flow and prevents the brain tissue from getting the oxygen and nutrients it requires, resulting in temporary or permanent brain injury. The blood vessel blockage in an ischemic stroke can be thrombotic (where a blood clot forms in an artery going to your brain) or embolic (where a wandering blood clot, called an embolus, is formed elsewhere in your body — usually the heart or neck — and travels up to the brain to block an artery). As a doctor specializing in vascular neurology and stroke at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital, some of the potential causes for ischemic stroke Kristin L. Miller, MD
sees include: long-standing high blood pressure, plaque or cholesterol buildup in the arteries, abnormal heart rhythms, blood clots caused by cancers, injury to the arteries leading to the brain, drugs of abuse, infection of the heart valves, genetic disorders that make people more susceptible to certain types of strokes and unknown causes. -
WebMD
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Help Children With Mental Health Issues Before They Escalate
In the Georgia shooting, the alleged shooter, 14-year-old Colt Gray, “had been begging” his family for help with his mental health, according to the account his aunt shared with The Washington Post. While that help never came, law enforcement officials said Colin Gray bought his son an AR-15, a semiautomatic assault rifle, for Christmas. It is that rifle that Colt Gray is accused of using when he allegedly killed two students and two teachers, while wounding nine others, at his high school. Suicidal and homicidal behaviors rarely develop overnight. But parents aren’t given an instruction manual for how to treat their child’s mental health issues, and many of them are left in the dark, said Jessica L. Schleider, PhD, an associate professor in the departments of Medical Social Sciences, Pediatrics, and Psychology at Northwestern University. Unfortunately, denial of a child’s mental health challenges is a natural response that in some ways parents have to fight against, Schleider said. Parents are prone to blame themselves for anything that’s going wrong with their child. It’s a painful experience even when it’s not accurate because mental health troubles can happen regardless of what a parent is doing or how supportive they are of their child. Still, parents need to understand that acknowledging mental health challenges doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It simply means you’re opening up a line of communication. “The desire to think that everything is OK in part comes from the desire to think that parents haven’t done anything wrong,” said Schleider.
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NBC 5 Chicago
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High doses of ADHD drugs linked to a greater risk of psychosis
Taking a high dose of ADHD drugs is linked to more than five times greater risk of developing psychosis or mania, according to a new study published Thursday in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The research is among the first to find a relationship between escalating doses of the drugs — amphetamines, in particular — and a greater likelihood of psychotic symptoms. The link between amphetamines and psychosis isn’t new. Amphetamines increase levels of dopamine in the brain. The neurotransmitter plays a number of roles in the body, including in memory, motivation and mood, but it’s also implicated in psychosis. What hadn’t been established was that the risk of psychosis rose with higher doses, a phenomenon known as a “dose-response relationship.” “That’s what this study provides,” said Will Cronenwett, vice chair for clinical affairs in psychiatry at Northwestern Medicine. “The United States is having sort of an amphetamine moment right now,” Cronenwett said. “The popularity and use of amphetamines is high and getting higher.” Cronenwett said the risk of developing psychosis from an amphetamine remains rare, around 1 in 1,000. Still, people taking high doses should be aware of the risks. “I would counsel patients who have a personal or family psychiatric history of serious mental illness, including things like bipolar disorder with mania or schizophrenia,” he said. “If these sorts of illnesses are in the family tree, then that’s somebody who might want to be very careful about how much of these medicines they use and in what doses.”
