LEADING THE WAY
There are approximately 4,700 cardiothoracic surgeons in the United
States—and less than 4 percent of those surgeons are women.
AHN’s Dr. Mitsuko Takahashi is one of them.
BY JENNIFER BROZAK
A
s the average life expectancy of people living in
developed countries continues to rise, so does the
need for specialists to treat conditions that primarily
affect an aging population. Among those conditions
are a host of cardiovascular and lung diseases, such as heart
disease, peripheral artery disease and lung cancers.
As such, cardiothoracic surgery remains one of the most
in-demand specialties in the field of medicine. There are
approximately 4,700 cardiothoracic surgeons in the United
States—and less than 4 percent of those surgeons are women. In
Pittsburgh, there are only a handful of surgeons who specialize in
both cardiothoracic and vascular surgery.
One of those surgeons, Dr. Mitsuko Takahashi, is located right
here in the South Hills. A native of Southern California who now
lives in South Park, Dr. Takahashi earned her medical degree
from Des Moines University. She then completed her residency
at the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and a fellowship at
Mount Sinai Hospital, both in New York. She joined the Park
Cardiothoracic and Vascular Institute, which is based out of
Jefferson Hospital, in 2012.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON CARDIOTHORACIC AS YOUR
SPECIALTY?
I liked all surgery, but the chest seemed to be a very fascinating
part of the body. The heart is just an amazing organ, and I like
the intricate nature of the surgery. I liked the fact that there was a
lot of physiology involved in cardiovascular surgery, much more
than other types of surgeries, because we put patients through
what we call cardiopulmonary bypass. It is a bit more involved
than other types of surgeries, and you get to watch how the
patient’s physiology changes right in front of your eyes, which
is fascinating. In thoracic surgery, you can see esophageal and
lung cancers, and you’re able to help an entirely different patient
population.
WHAT IS EXCITING TO YOU IN YOUR FIELD AT
THIS MOMENT?
It’s exciting to see that we’re working toward surgery
in a minimally invasive fashion. The fact that we can operate
more safely on aging patients is amazing. For example, in the
cardiac surgery realm, one of the bigger things a lot of people talk
about is TAVR, or transcatheter aortic valve replacement, which
repairs a valve without having to remove the old valve. This is a
good option for patients who maybe are older or who have had a
prior surgery and, therefore, their second surgery would be very
high risk and surgery would not be an option.
In the thoracic realm, we used to take a lot of lung cancers
out with a major incision called a thoracotomy. Within the last
two decades or so, we’ve been performing thoracoscopy, where
you put a camera inside the chest and take out the cancer using
smaller instruments. Now we’re trying to do this robotically,
which has begun to show some improvement in the visualization
to help the surgeon—the picture seems to be a bit better and the
incisions seem to be a bit smaller. I think being able to do the
same thing in many ways is actually pretty wonderful, so that you
can tailor-make the treatment for the patient.
YOU ARE BELIEVED TO BE THE ONLY FEMALE
CARDIOTHORACIC SURGEON IN PITTSBURGH AND ONE
OF ONLY A FEW HUNDRED ACROSS THE COUNTRY. HAS
THIS DISTINCTION AFFECTED YOUR PATH TO BECOMING
A SURGEON?
Many surgeons decide to specialize in cardiac or thoracic,
but there aren’t many of us who continue to specialize in both.
I had never met any female cardiothoracic surgeons prior to my
training, but I had a good mentor who introduced me to a few
female surgeons in our specialty and they were huge in helping
me to make a decision. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve never felt
discriminated against in any of the surgical realms, so I never felt
that it was a hindrance in any way.
ARE THERE ANY COMMON MYTHS OR MISCONCEPTIONS
ABOUT HEART/THORACIC DISEASES THAT YOU COME
ACROSS IN YOUR FIELD?
On the cardiac side, a misconception is that heart disease
affects more men, when in fact it affects more women. As a
female, I’ve done a lot of talks to women particularly about heart
disease because the symptoms present differently. Women tend
to be the caregivers of the home, but many of them forget to
take care of themselves. It’s important for women to know the
symptoms of heart disease and how they can be different in them
versus their husbands, for example. A man might present more
with the classic arm pain, chest pain, jaw pain, whereas women
present more with fatigue, a little bit of GERD or nausea that
they may think is just part of aging.
About our health in general, it’s really important to modify the
risk factors that get patients to a surgeon in the first place—they
smoke, maybe they have diabetes or high cholesterol, or maybe
their blood pressure is elevated or they might be obese. These
are common risk factors that affect all arteries of the body. This
is why they end up coming to a heart surgeon and needing open-
heart surgery, or why they come to a vascular surgeon and need
surgery because the arteries in their legs are clogged. Unless they
actively take a role in changing these things, the disease is going
to come back again. We try to stress that patients have to play
an active role in their health. The surgeons are the last line of
treatment. ■
For more information about Dr. Takahashi, visit https://doctors.ahn.org/Mitsuko-Takahashi.
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