NorthShore knows that you’re always thinking about what’s next, and so are we. To help you prepare for what’s next this year, the experts at NorthShore share innovative trends that are happening across our system.

What’s Next in Orthopaedics

• According to Jason Koh, MD, MBA, Director of the NorthShore Orthopaedic Institute and Chairman of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, innovations in pain management and surgical techniques have allowed patients to recover at home instead of spending the night in the hospital with same-day joint replacement surgery.
• Biologics is an exciting field of science, especially in orthopaedics where surgeons are using stem cell therapy to repopulate tissues or joints with the patient’s own cells. Using the body to heal itself has shown great promise with impressive restorative results in joints.
• Robot-assisted surgery has revolutionized the way surgeons perform procedures and is rapidly advancing in orthopaedics. The robotic arm enables surgeons to be precise, accurate and safe in the least invasive way possible so the patient can resume normal life sooner.

What’s Next in Oncology

• Physicians and researchers at NorthShore’s Kellogg Cancer Center are helping drive advancements in immunotherapy, an innovative treatment that stimulates the body’s own immune system to fight disease. While it may not work on everyone and there are side effects, it is keeping some people alive for months and years longer than their projected prognosis.
• Another innovative procedure from William Bloomer, MD, Radiation Oncology at NorthShore, involves a new way to use the PET scan to detect metastatic prostate cancer in bone and soft tissue. It is identifying metastatic disease in patients where they couldn’t have before, and then targeting that with radiation.

What’s Next in Cardiology

• Drs. Feldman, Interventional Cardiologist at NorthShore’s Cardiovascular Institute, is doing groundbreaking work in repairing and replacing heart valves. Dr. Guerrero is doing a new TAVR (transcatheter aortic valve replacement) – where NorthShore is one of five places in the world that is attempting this new technique.

What’s Next in NNI

• In pediatric neurology Takijah Heard, MD, is looking forward to a possible new avenue with medical marijuana to treat rare and severe, early onset drug-resistant epilepsy syndromes.

What’s Next in Personalized Medicine

• With personalized medicine, we are continuing to use DNA to detect a patient’s risk of cancer and determine personalized treatments to fight cancer. Lifestyle changes can lessen the risk of developing certain cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer’s
• Pharmacogenomics helps patients learn how their DNA affects their drug response.