Brigham and Women's Hospital

When Rose Landry, 66, found out she needed an aortic valve replacement, she assumed her recovery would be long and difficult - but when Landry first spoke with cardiac surgeon Tommaso Hinna Danesi, MD, everything changed. Dr. Danesi joined Brigham and Women’s Hospital last fall to establish an endoscopic aortic valve replacement program. In January, Rose Landry became the first person in New England to undergo the procedure. The surgery is far less invasive than the traditional open-heart method, and Landry was pleasantly surprised by the rate of her recovery. “By the time I left the ICU, I was off all pain meds, including Tylenol,” she said. “Three weeks after the surgery, I couldn’t believe how good I felt.” Read her story here:

On Friday, we were honored to host Chelsea Clinton, DPhil, MPH, Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation, as our keynote speaker at our 18th annual Women’s Health Luncheon focused on health equity! Sitting down with WBZ | CBS Boston News anchor Lisa Hughes, Clinton stressed the importance of making high-quality healthcare more accessible and equitable for women worldwide. This message was further underscored in presentations by two pioneering Brigham radiologists: Catherine Giess, MD, who is improving access to breast cancer screening for vulnerable patients, and Bharti Khurana, MD, MBA, who developed a tool to identify people at risk for intimate partner violence. This year’s Women’s Health Luncheon drew a large crowd and raised over 1 million dollars, the highest fundraising total ever, for the Mary Horrigan Connors Center and the Division of Women’s Health at the Brigham.

Boston Globe Media sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy started out Tuesday, February 6th, just like any other day, with a mile jog around his neighborhood. He and his wife, Marilou, had a plan to come into the Brigham later that day for an elective cardiac catheterization to investigate some recent symptoms he had been having. Also known as a coronary angiogram, this visit would be the latest in a series of doctor's visits over the past few months. Dan had had some unusual symptoms, including numbing in his elbows and tightness in his chest during one of his daily jogs. This led him to discuss his symptoms with his PCP, Michael Levin, of Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Dr. Levin recommended a stress echocardiogram. Back at Newton-Wellesley for the stress echo, cardiologist Giulia Sheftel, MD, didn't like what she saw in the results. This led to her ordering an angiogram at the Brigham's Cardiac Catheterization lab for a more detailed look. What Dan thought was going to be a short visit turned into an 11-day stay and an emergency quadruple-bypass surgery. George Tolis Jr., MD, section chief of Coronary Surgery and General Cardiac Surgery, shares, "What we discovered on the cath was extremely surprising: He had a near-total occlusion of the artery that feeds the left side of the heart." Swift action was taken, and Dan went into his bypass surgery the very next morning after his visit. During a coronary artery bypass grafting, surgeons create a new path for blood to flow to the heart. For the procedure, Dr. Tolis opted to use the internal thoracic arteries from each side of Dan’s chest. This is a more complex procedure, but has considerably improved outcomes. It is typically used in younger patients. “While using the bilateral mammary arteries can be associated with more complications, we have such a good track record at the Brigham because of the team approach that I don’t fear using this technique in older patients,” Dr. Tolis says. Dan's surgery was a success, and today, Dr. Tolis says that he has a clean bill of health and that he will never need another bypass operation. Reflecting on his care at the Brigham, Dan shares that the attentiveness and compassion he and his family experienced left a lasting impression. He says, "I think of this as a gift,” adding, “I dodged a bullet and didn’t have a catastrophic event, so now it’s on me to run with that and stay on the right side of healthy living.” Photo credit Milo Stewart Jr. / National Baseball Hall of Fame

Recognizing the emotional strain parents in the Brigham NICU often experience, a team of nurses resolved to create a more family-centered process around recruitment and education for clinical trials. #NationalNursesWeek

We are busy celebrating #NationalNursesWeek! As a pop quiz, can you guess how many nurses work in our hospital? The answer will be posted in our comments later today! Is it: A) 5,008 B) 4,102 C) 2,348 D) 4,562

At Mass General Brigham, patients have access to a system of world-class heart care that is trusted for delivering a total patient experience: from research breakthroughs and best in class outcomes, to a team approach marked by personalization and integrated patient care for the entire journey. Our specialists ensure that you get the comprehensive care you need throughout your heart health journey, and that you can live life with confidence. Learn more: http://spklr.io/6042UDrw

New research has shown that hormonal changes during menopause can affect mood and mental health. “Women should be more attentive and vigilant about taking care of themselves at this critical stage of life,” says Hadine Joffe, MD, a Mass General Brigham psychiatrist and women’s mental health specialist. “We want women to feel like they have the knowledge and information to do the things they need to do to care for themselves and navigate this life transition without feeling like it’s overwhelming. They will get through it.” More on common menopause symptoms and how to take care of yourself during this transition here:

Today marks the start of #NursesWeek2024! Please help us celebrate our nurses by tagging your favorite nurse in the comments below!

In this NPR interview JoAnn Manson, MD, MPH, DrPH, chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at the Brigham, talks about how research has changed related to menopausal hormone therapy. "Among women below the age of 60, we found menopausal hormone therapy has low risk of adverse events and would be safe for treating bothersome hot flashes, night sweats and other menopausal symptoms," Dr. Manson says. Learn more:

Alexander Lin, Phd, the director of the Center for Clinical Spectroscopy, has spent his career studying multinuclear magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy, a noninvasive way to measure the biochemistry of the brain. “I’d had this idea in the back of my mind for years. I wanted to make spectroscopy easy.” Lin shares. That’s why Lin pitched BrainSpec, a software-based platform that leverages MR spectroscopy to support evaluation and diagnosis of brain tumors non-invasively, without surgery. Learn more: