South Nassau Communities Hospital has named prominent lung cancer surgeon Shahriyour Andaz, MD, director of thoracic oncology. Andaz joins South Nassau following his tenure at the prestigious University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Thoracic Surgery, where he was a clinical assistant professor."Our commitment is to provide world-class specialists, peerless technologies and advanced therapies so that Long Islanders don't have to leave their neighborhoods to access the services and care they need and deserve to fight this dreadful disease," said Akram Boutros, MD, executive vice president of administration and chief medical officer. "Dr. Andaz is a reflection of that commitment and is known for being at the pinnacle of his specialty. I am certain that under his direction we will establish a first rate thoracic oncology program."Dr. Andaz specializes in complex chest cancer procedures and minimally invasive thorascopic surgery. His expertise includes chest wall sarcomas resection and reconstruction, mesothelioma, tracheal resections and reconstruction, endobronchial surgery, esophageal resection and lung volume reduction surgery. Eliminating the need for large incisions and painful rib resections, the minimally invasive approach offers faster healing and shortened recovery time. This is a result of extensive training with elite thoracic surgeons at some of the world's leading medical institutions.Before joining UCLA's thoracic department in 2003, Dr. Andaz was an attending cardiothoracic surgeon from 2001-03 at Brookdale, Coney Island and Lutheran Hospitals and Maimonides Medical Center, where he was a cardiothoracic fellow from 1998-2001. Andaz moved to the U.S. after serving as the rotating surgical registrar in general and vascular surgery for Basingstroke District Hospital, University College Hospital and Mount Vernon Hospital in the United Kingdom from 1988-93. From 1993-98, Dr. Andaz completed his U.S. surgical residency training at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital, an affiliate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.Dr. Andaz is active in research, lecturing and publishing papers on thoracic oncology. While at UCLA, he completed three research projects. He also held a research post in cardiovascular surgery for the Department of Physiology and Surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital from 1995-96. He has presented at prestigious national and international conferences, including the Royal Society of Medicine, Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, European Congress of Surgery, and the American College of Surgeons. The author of more than 20 papers, he has been published in the British Journal of Surgery, Archives of Surgery, Journal of Vascular Surgery and the Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery. Andaz is a resident of Staten Island.
Mercy offers back pain treatments
In a move designed to address the chronic pain of thousands of local residents who face lower back woes, Dr. Alexandre B. de Moura of the New York Spine Institute in Garden City has introduced state-of-the-art disc replacement surgery in Mercy Medical Center's new operating suites. One of only a few doctors on Long Island trained in this new procedure, de Moura says this surgery is considered to be far more progressive than previous procedures with far better results. It is minimally invasive, decreases post-operative pain and researchers have found better post-operative results for the long term. In addition, because there is no fusion of the discs the patient does not need to be mobilized in a brace."By working in close partnership with Mercy we have created an operating environment where we can offer a type of surgery where there is less pain, shorter hospital stays and a far better expectation of results," de Moura said. "Disc replacement saves adjacent levels of the spine by not immobilizing one level and forcing adjacent levels to support the resulting stresses."
LBMC offers diabetes support group
The Diabetes Support Group of Long Beach Medical Center will feature a lecture, "New Year Goals and Resolutions" Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the medical center's Goldstein Auditorium.Guest speaker Lucille Hughes, a certified diabetes educator, will ring in the new year by helping individuals with diabetes develop realistic goals and resolutions for better self-management and improved health.For more information, call the diabetes education center at LBMC at 897-4354.
