Media Coverage

Ozempic prescriptions can be easy to get online. Its popularity for weight loss is hurting those who need it most

Telehealth and social media are playing a significant role in driving demand for Ozempic, a prescription drug that treats Type 2 diabetes, experts told CNN. The current drug shortage has limited access for patients with diabetes who rely on it to control their blood sugar.
Digital health companies make medications like Ozempic easier to get by providing prescriptions online. Many advertise quick and easy — sometimes same-day — access.
“Anecdotally, it’s almost easier to get medication [via digital health companies],” said Dr. Disha Narang, endocrinologist and director of obesity medicine at Northwestern Medicine, Lake Forest Hospital. “But not always the safest.” People who put in average weights on the online intake forms were still offered the antidiabetic drug, Narang told CNN.

Fertility Treatments Pose No Danger to People With MS

“These results are exciting, as MS is common among females of childbearing age, and those with MS are more likely to be diagnosed with infertility but have been less likely to receive fertility treatment than those who do not have MS,” said study co-author Dr. Edith Graham, an assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University in Chicago.

2 non-smokers with advanced lung cancer saved by new double lung transplant technique

“If all the options have been exhausted, only then are we going to consider this,” said Dr. Ankit Bharat, the chief of thoracic surgery and the director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute.

Lung transplants for cancer patients have historically involved replacing one lung at a time. The technique comes with some pretty hefty risks: The remaining cancerous lung can contaminate the new lung with cancer and the incisions can cause cancer cells to leak into the bloodstream.

Bharat and his team at Northwestern had a different approach.

Northwestern unveils program to perform more double lung transplants for terminal cancer patients, after successful surgeries

Northwestern plans to begin regularly performing double lung transplants on patients with terminal lung cancer, after successfully transplanting lungs into two patients who would have otherwise died of the disease, the health system announced Wednesday.

Northwestern surgeons successfully performed a double lung transplant on Albert Khoury, then 54 of Chicago, in 2021, after he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Northwestern then performed a second similar transplant on Tannaz Ameli, 64, of Minneapolis, last July. Moving forward, Northwestern hopes to do at least 10 to 15 such transplants a year. The outcomes of the first 75 patients to participate will be tracked in a new research registry available on ClinicalTrials.gov.

“Am I dreaming?”: Double lung transplants save Minnesota woman with late-stage cancer

Two people with stage IV lung cancer who had been told that they had only weeks or months to live are breathing freely after receiving double lung transplants, Northwestern Medicine in Chicago said Wednesday.

Northwestern Medicine to share update on first Double Lung Transplant patients

First two patients to receive double lung transplants at Northwestern Medicine will share their stories of hope.

Both of these patients had Stage 4 lung cancer, at the time of their life-saving surgeries.

Back in the fall of 2021, 54-year-old Albert Khoury of Chicago became the first patient with Stage 4 lung cancer to receive a double lung transplant at Northwestern.

What parents need to know about shigella – an antibiotic-resistant bacteria affecting children under 5

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning about an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria kown as shigella, and according to the CDC, the majority of infections happen in children under the age of 5. Shigella can cause bloody diarrhea, fever and stomach pain, among other symptoms, making this an illness no one wants to have. “Shigella can be spread routinely among young children with poor handwashing, and outbreaks can be seen in daycare and schools,” said Bessey Geevarghese, DO, assistant professor of pediatrics in infectious diseases at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In general, “the main danger from this illness is dehydration,” Geevarghese says. And if your child is struggling, they may be given oral antibiotics for three to five days. Also keep in mind, per Geevarghese: Most anti-biotic resistant strains detected in the U.S. so far have been in adults.

Study: Poor sleep decreases vaccine effectiveness, especially for men

Sleeping less than six hours the night before a vaccination may limit your body’s response to the vaccine, reducing protection against the virus or bacteria, according to a new study. However, the findings present there are differences according to sex. “There are known sex differences in immune response to foreign antigens, like viruses, and also to self antigens, like in autoimmune disorders, said Phyllis Zee, MD, PhD, neurology professor and director of the Center for Circadian and Sleep Medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “In general, women have stronger immune response, including (to the) flu vaccine,” said Zee, who was not involved in the study. “The evidence is that these differences reflect hormonal, genetic and environmental differences, which can change over the lifespan, so these differences may be less prominent among older adults.”