CEDARS-SINAI NUTRITIONIST OFFERS TIPS FOR HAVING ELDERLY GUESTS TO DINNER FOR SPRING HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONSAs if holiday menus weren't difficult enough to plan, the special diet of your elderly loved ones can make meal preparations even more challenging " especially when your family's favorite foods might now compromise their health. "Our elderly family members may be dealing with conditions ranging from lactose intolerance to heart disease " and we need to offer them plenty of choices so they don't feel compelled to eat something that can be hazardous for their health," says Netty Levine, MS,RD,CDE, a registered dietitian at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who offers tips to help prepare foods that elderly loved ones can eat, depending on their health condition.

AN UNLIKELY ANNIVERSARY: PLAYA DEL REY MAN CELEBRATES SURVIVING AN AORTIC DISSECTIONAlthough many of them are unaware of it, an estimated 300,000 Americans have aortic disease which can lead to aortic dissection and " all too often " death. Like most people who experience aortic dissection, Richard Houchin had no idea until the moment he collapsed at a warehouse a year ago that his aorta was ready to split. Fortunately for him, help was quickly available. Aortic repair is considered one of the most difficult surgical procedures in the chest, but years of experience and innovation have produced dramatically improved patient outcomes. Richard and his cardiothoracic surgeon, Sharo Raissi, M.D., are available for interviews.

SURGICAL TREATMENT FOR INCONTINENCE RESULTS IN QUICK RECOVERY AND RESTORED QUALITY OF LIFEUrinary stress incontinence ? which can be a minor or major annoyance ? may be a symptom of a more complex pelvic support disorder. When special exercises and medication fail to correct urinary incontinence, surgery may be the best treatment. The sling procedure, one of several surgical treatments available at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to correct pelvic support disorders, is being enthusiastically endorsed by women who often feel well the day after surgery and are able to quickly resume their active lifestyles. Cynthia Hall, M.D. (uro-gynecologist), and a patient are available for interviews.

FOR SOME PATIENTS, LIFE-CHANGING GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY ADVANCES TO THE OUTPATIENT ARENA Gastric bypass surgery is not new, but until recently, it was only available on an inpatient basis and required a two-to-three-day hospital stay. Now, though, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is one of the first in Southern California to offer the procedure on an outpatient basis for selected patients. April Robledo, 33, was the first patient to take advantage of it, having the 90-minute operation and going home just 23 hours later. Within two months, she lost 35 pounds, is working out regularly and says she feels better. April and her gastric bypass surgeon are available for interviews.

DIRECTOR OF WOMEN'S HEALTH PROGRAM AT CEDARS-SINAI HONORED AT "RED DRESS AWARDS" FOR RESEARCH ON HEART DISEASE IN WOMENC. Noel Bairey Merz, M.D., and Nieca Goldberg, M.D. " the "Go Red for Women" team from the American Heart Association " were honored at the Woman's Day Magazine "Red Dress Awards" in New York City. According to Woman's Day Editor-in-Chief, Jane Chesnutt, the recognition was given for the physicians' tremendous strides in the fight against heart disease in women.

NEW WAY TO DIAGNOSE SCIATICA MAY POINT TO A DIFFERENT CAUSE: MANY CASES OF SCIATICAL NOT RELIEVED BY CURRENT TREATMENTS MAY NOW BE SUCCESSFULLY DIAGNOSED AND TREATED USING NEW NERVE IMAGING TECHNOLOGYFor the last 70 years, a damaged disc in the lower back has been widely accepted as the most common cause of sciatica - a condition where the sciatic nerve is pinched, causing pain to radiate down the leg. As a result, treatment for sciatica is based on diagnosis of a damaged disc, despite the fact that nerves cannot be viewed with routine imaging tests. Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Institute for Nerve Medicine in Los Angeles, have found that new nerve imaging technology called Magnetic Resonance neurography was effective to reveal that a pinched-nerve in the pelvis called piriformis syndrome caused sciatic leg pain in the majority of patients who had failed diagnosis with an MRI scan and/or who were not treated successfully with surgery. Aaron Filler, M.D., is available for interviews.