USC hospitals rank highly among those in L.A. metro area USC University Hospital ranked third among 44 hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties in a new survey published by U.S. News & World Report. The rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/hospitals. The new rankings recognize 622 hospitals in or near major U.S. cities with a record of high performance in key medical specialties, including 132 of the 152 hospitals already identified as the best in the nation. Children’s hospitals were excluded. USC University Hospital ranked third behind Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center (first) and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (second). USC Norris Cancer Hospital ranked 21st in a four-way tie. “Our physicians, nurses and staff work tirelessly to give the best care to our patients, with a commitment to safety, excellence and continuous improvement,” said Mitch Creem, chief executive officer of USC University Hospital and
USC Norris Cancer Hospital. “Ranking so highly in these first-ever metro area rankings is an indication of the value our hospitals have to the community.” USC-affiliated Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center also was ranked, at number seven. Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center was ranked 36th, in a nine-way tie. The new metro area rankings use existing data from the 2010-11 “Best Hospitals” rankings published in U.S. News last July. In those rankings, USC University Hospital ranked in six specialty areas: • Eighth in ophthalmology (USC Department of Ophthalmology at the Doheny Eye Institute) • 16th in urology • 20th in neurology and neurosurgery (up 25 spots from last year) • 28th in pulmonology • 29th in gynecology (up one spot from last year) • 31st in orthopaedics.
In a new U.S. News & World Report ranking, USC University Hospital ranked third in the Los Angeles metro area. According to U.S. News & World Report, the new metro area rankings are relevant to a much wider range of health care consumers. They are aimed primarily at consumers whose care may not demand the special expertise found only at a nationally ranked “Best Hospital.” Patients and their families will have a far better chance of finding a U.S. News-ranked hospital in their health insurance network and might not have to travel to get care at a high-performing hospital. To be ranked in its metro area, a hospital had to score in the top 25 percent among its peers in at least one of 16 medical specialties.
FIRST IN WORLD
New robotic surgery developed for kidney cancer By Ryan Ball
Photo by Carol Matthieu (top); Photo by Philip Channing (bottom)
U R O L O G I S T S AT U S C U N I V E R S I T Y H O S P I TA L
have developed a new method of robotic surgery for kidney cancer, which could help reduce organ damage. Previous techniques of kidney-sparing surgery (termed partial nephrectomy) require the kidney blood flow to be stopped by clamping the renal artery while the tumor is being removed. Stopping renal blood flow can affect kidney function negatively. USC’s novel robotic technique, called “zero-ischemia” partial nephrectomy, allows uninterrupted blood flow to the kidney during the entire operation. By removing only the tumor and saving the rest of the kidney without stopping its blood flow, the team of surgeons minimizes kidney damage, leading to superior kidney function. Pioneered by Inderbir S. Gill, M.D., professor, chairman and executive director of the USC Institute of Urology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, this technique involves renal artery micro-dissection. “We use delicate robotic neurosurgical aneurysm micro-bulldog(s) to control specific, pre-terminal renal artery branches, which directly supply the tumor,” Gill says. “Thus, blood supply to the rest of the kidney stays untouched.”
Initial data from the first 75 patients at USC indicate that patients undergoing the new technique may have superior surgical outcomes and better kidney function. Interest in the zero-ischemia technique is growing. In December 2010, a team from the Istituti Fisioterapici Ospitalieri in Rome visited USC to learn the technique and became the first to apply it in Europe. In March 2011, the USC Institute of Urology held the first Live Surgery Robotic Symposium to demonstrate the zeroischemia technique to a group of more than 50 national and international surgeons on the USC Health Sciences Campus. In addition, USC urologists were scheduled to present five papers on this novel technique at the American Urological Association meeting in Washington, D.C., in May. “Saving kidneys is very important for overall health and longevity,” Gill said. “This new possibility that even complex kidney tumors can be removed robotically without renal ischemia is very exciting.” Gill recently was named the first North American editor of European Urology. The highly influential publication has been published for more than 35 years and is read by more than 20,000 urologists around the world. keck.usc.edu
Inderbir S. Gill, M.D.
KECK MEDICINE
7