Columbia Surgery

Columbia Surgery Official page of the Columbia University Department of Surgery.
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06/23/2026

To stand before the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) as president, pediatric heart surgeon and Chair of the Dept of Surgery, Dr. Emile Bacha, said, was “the honor of my professional life.” But his address swiftly moved beyond the honor of the moment and into the lifetime of experiences that shaped his understanding of leadership itself.

Dr. Bacha began in Beirut, where he grew up during the Lebanese Civil War. He described the leadership of his mother during those times and all that his parents taught him. “I did not know it then,” he said, “but these years were teaching me everything I would later need as a surgeon and as a leader.”

His address, titled Leadership as Destiny: Instinct, Judgment, and the Innovation Imperative in Cardiothoracic Surgery, vibrated between personal history and the demands of the specialty, empathy, humility, and courage. He explains that surgical leadership is not a role one performs. It is something revealed under pressure, in the OR and outside of it.

“If I had to reduce the essence of a great surgical leader to a single word, it would be authenticity,” he said. “You have to be the same person in the OR, in the hallway, and at 3 in the morning when everything is going wrong. And in this specialty, 3 in the morning comes for all of us.”

Here is the inspiring speech in full. And it’s worth the watch.

06/23/2026

For some men facing infertility, their bodies produce s***m — but it’s almost impossible to find. It’s called non-obstructive azoos***mia. And a new approach now offers an encouraging step forward.

Urologists at Columbia are now combining an AI-assisted s***m detection and recovery technology (STAR) with highly specialized microsurgical s***m retrieval (micro-TESE).

In their first case using the micro-TESE + STAR approach, they successfully found s***m. Watch Columbia urologist Dr. Joseph Alukal explain micro-TESE + STAR.

On New Year’s Day, Eric Ramnarine’s parents watched an ordinary childhood slip terrifyingly out of reach. Eric, a toddle...
06/10/2026

On New Year’s Day, Eric Ramnarine’s parents watched an ordinary childhood slip terrifyingly out of reach. Eric, a toddler from Bayonne, was bleeding internally from enlarged blood vessels in his esophagus, a severe complication of biliary atresia.

Biliary atresia is a condition that prevents the liver from draining bile to the intestines. This causes bile to build up in the liver, which can produce scarring and eventually liver failure. A surgery was performed in infancy to buy some time. The Kasai procedure bypasses any blocked bile ducts by connecting the liver directly to the intestinal tract. But by January, that time had collapsed, and he needed a transplant.

The call came in the middle of the night on February 10; there was a donor liver available.

Transplant surgeon Dr. Peter Liou led the six-hour operation. Because Eric was so small, he needed only 15% to 20% of an adult liver. “You’re sewing blood vessels as thin as a spaghetti noodle to another spaghetti noodle,” Dr. Liou said. “You have to get all of the connections just right, and when it’s done, it is a work of art.”

His recovery had complications, too. An expected two-week stay became six weeks, and he spent a month in the pediatric ICU, requiring the collaborative work of hepatologists, transplant surgeons, nurses, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, coordinators, and his parents beside him through all of it.

“The care does not end the day they go home,” said Dr. Mercedes Martinez, medical director of pediatric abdominal organ transplantation at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. “This is care for life.”

Now Eric is home. Eating, walking, smiling, high-fiving, definitely getting into his sister’s toys, and shaking his head ‘no,’ a lot.

“He is our miracle child,” his mother, Asha, said.

Read Eric’s story: https://columbiasurgery.org/news/art-and-urgency-toddler-s-liver-transplant

Mastectomy can feel like the clearest way to take control of a terrifying diagnosis for many young women facing a breast...
06/03/2026

Mastectomy can feel like the clearest way to take control of a terrifying diagnosis for many young women facing a breast cancer diagnosis. There’s a common assumption that it offers the best chance at survival. But a new study Columbia University Irving Medical Center suggests that, for many patients under 40, more aggressive surgery does not mean better outcomes.

“For a long time, we have known that for average-risk breast cancer patients, more aggressive treatment is not associated with a better outcomes, shown by many multi-institution clinical trials,” says breast surgeon and senior author on the study, Dr. Lisa Wiechmann. “This current study was really born out of the question of whether this applied to very young women as well, since the trials in question mostly included women with an average age of 55.”

The study analyzed 414 women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 or younger. After accounting for factors like cancer subtype, stage, age, and BRCA status, researchers found no statistically significant difference in mortality or recurrence between patients who had mastectomy and those who had breast-conserving therapy (lumpectomy plus radiation).

“We wanted to give young women data that allows them to make a truly informed decision in the risk-benefit equation they calculate when diagnosed with cancer,” says Dr. Wiechmann.

A mastectomy can be the right operation, sometimes the necessary one. Approaching these conversations as ‘need’ vs ‘want’ can give women time and a little breathing room to make the important surgical decisions that will shape their future self.

“We don’t take mastectomies lightly,” says Dr. Wiechmann. “The goal now is personalization: not over treating, not under treating.” The point is that fear should not have to make the decision alone.

On March 23, 2024, Elizabeth and her son played a concert together. A few hours later, she collapsed outside a pizza sho...
05/29/2026

On March 23, 2024, Elizabeth and her son played a concert together. A few hours later, she collapsed outside a pizza shop with a tearing pain in her chest. She survived an aortic dissection and underwent emergency open-heart surgery that night.

After ten surgeries in a decade, two of which were open-heart procedures that same year, followed by months spent relearning how to use her right hand, she stepped back onstage with her son—a year to the day after that initial collapse.

“To be alive, playing. To have my family… that’s everything,” she said.

This video shows Elizabeth playing a year later, still wearing a brace. Swipe to see a photo of her and her son Chris the night they returned to the stage together.

Don’t miss Elizabeth’s story at the link in bio.

05/28/2026

When guard Deuce McBride needed hernia surgery in February, hernia surgeon Dr. Dina Podolsky explained what a sports hernia is and how to treat one.

So here’s what you should know about sports hernias. Go Knicks!!

As puts it, “This is a further evolution of the bioprosthetic valve.”A lower profile, better visualization, and a sewin...
05/27/2026

As puts it, “This is a further evolution of the bioprosthetic valve.”

A lower profile, better visualization, and a sewing cuff that makes the operation smoother are what make this newly FDA-approved bioprosthetic mitral valve significant.

Arnar Geirsson, MD, and team were among the first in the country to implant the Mosaic Neo bioprosthetic mitral valve for mitral valve regurgitation. For patients who need mitral valve replacement but may not be candidates for a mechanical valve, the design allows for both surgery and long-term management.

Proud of this team and their endless work that keeps moving cardiac surgery forward! Read more at the link in bio.

05/26/2026

A high calcium score does not necessarily mean you need a stent or emergency procedure. Ajay Kirtane, MD, explains what a high score actually means, why prevention is key, and the lifestyle and medical strategies that can help reduce long-term cardiovascular risk.

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