Northwestern Medicine
Pulmonary & Thoracic Surgery
Year in Review: 2022
G.R. Scott Budinger, MD
Chief, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care, Northwestern Medicine Ernest S. Bazley Professor of Airway Diseases, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Ankit Bharat, MD
Chief of Thoracic Surgery Surgical Director, Northwestern Medicine Lung Transplant Program Harold L. and Margaret N. Method Research Professor of Surgery, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine |
We are proud to highlight the remarkable accomplishments our program has achieved in the past several years, in large part thanks to your efforts as physician leaders.
Below are some outstanding highlights from the past year.
These achievements have helped make us the highest-ranked Pulmonology and Lung Surgery program in Illinois by U.S. News & World Report, 2022 – 2023. We look forward to the accomplishments of our dedicated physicians and skilled surgeons in 2023. |
Ambulatory Precision Lunch Sparing (A-PLUS) Surgery Program
Ankit Bharat, MBBS, and colleagues have created the A-PLUS surgery program, a highly precise, minimally invasive, lung-conserving, robot-guided outpatient surgery. If the results of a biopsy show that a patient's lung nodule is cancerous, surgeons are able to clinch the diagnosis and simultaneously treat the cancer in under a few hours — and on the same day, safely discharge patients who would have otherwise remained hospitalized for days. |
Northwestern Medicine Performs First Successful Lung-Liver Transplant
In 2022, Northwestern Medicine physicians successfully collaborated on and performed the health system’s first successful combined lung-liver transplant. |
"Lungs in a Box" Offered at Northwestern Medicine
Amidst the global shortage of donated lungs in 2021 and 2022, Northwestern Medicine helped to expand the donor pool by using a device from XVIVO called XPS™ which is used for ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) – nicknamed “lungs in a box” – to rescue potentially viable lungs and those initially deemed “unacceptable” for transplant. |
First Positive Crossmatch Lung and Kidney Transplant at Northwestern Medicine
On May 15, 2022, our thoracic surgeons performed the health system's first lung and kidney transplant. In the 2022 year, this procedure was performed on five additional Northwestern Medicine lung transplant patients. |
$25 Million Gift Endows Simpson Querrey Lung Institute for Translational Science
Northwestern University Trustee Kimberly K. Querrey and the Louis Simpson Trust have made a gift to the Feinberg School of Medicine to significantly expand the University’s biomedical research enterprise. A portion of this gift will create and endow the Simpson Querrey Lung Institute for Translational Science. |
Most Common Lung Function Test Misses Lung Disease in Many Black U.S. Adults
The most common test to measure a person’s lung function—spirometry—may be missing many people with impaired lung health, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study published in Annals of Internal Medicine. |
First-Ever Millennial Lung Health Study Launches in Chicago Amid COVID-19
Northwestern University and the American Lung Association have begun recruitment in Chicago for a first-of-its-kind longitudinal study to track and analyze lung health in millennials at the peak of their lung health. In this national 40-site study, scientists will follow 4,000 adults (aged 25-35) for approximately five years after their initial interviews to evaluate how their environment, lifestyle and physical activity habits affect respiratory health. |
Telehealth and CFTR Modulators Accelerating Innovative Models of CF Care
The pandemic accelerated the use of telehealth, revealing tradeoffs from new configurations of care delivery. Michelle Prickett, MD and colleagues review the implications of these recent shifts and offer recommendations to improve the quality of care coordinated across the interdisciplinary teams and an expanding field of subspecialists, while supporting the ability of the patient to take on greater responsibility in disease management. |
Therapeutic Approach Could Prevent Injury to Fragile Transplanted Lungs
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered a potential therapeutic target in the donor lung that can prevent primary graft dysfunction (PGD) in lung transplant recipients, according to findings published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI). |
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