Department of Otolaryngology - Service Chief Reports

Krishnamurthi Sundaram, MD, Director at LICH

Perminder Parmar, MD, Director at UHB/KCHC

The Division of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology continues to be extremely active and productive, both clinically and academically.  Drs. Sundaram, Har-El, Parmar, Butts, Hanson and Lim, continue their role in running the leading center for head and neck cancer management in Brooklyn.  Patients are being referred from Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.  In addition, our voluntary attending staff, especially Drs. Dodaro, S. Kantu, M. Kantu, Carney, Ciecko and Finn, continue to bring their head and neck surgical cases to our institutions, benefiting from the support of the department and residents, and enriching our teaching patient volume. 

Each month, the Division of Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology at Long Island College Hospital run two busy head and neck tumor boards.  We have a monthly multi-disciplinary general tumor board at SUNY-Downstate/Kings County Hospital and Long Island College Hospital.  There is full participation of our attending and resident staff members in all tumor board conferences. Dr. Frank Lucente contributes invaluable advice on ethical issues. Other participants include radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, radiologists, and pathologists.  These dedicated tumor board sessions have been very successful in discussing difficult cases and designing treatment plans.  A representative from our division participates in the Long Island College Hospital weekly, hospital-wide, general tumor board and leads the discussion on head and neck cancer patients. 

Our Director of Laryngology, Dr. Boris Bentsianov’s experience and expertise in Laryngeal cancer management as well as rehabilitation of head and neck cancer patients after ablative surgery is of great benefit to our patients.  This includes management and rehabilitation of their speech and swallowing functions. 

Physicians in the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery have been working closely with our cancer surgeons on advanced reconstructive procedures for head and neck cancer.  Dr. Afshin Parhiscar has been working with us for over nine years at both Long Island College Hospital and Kings County Hospital.  His experience and expertise in reconstructive surgery in general and in microvascular free tissue transfer in particular, has helped our patients tremendously.  In fact, his success rate in free tissue transfer has been very impressive.  Dr. Richard Westreich is the Director of the Division within the Department of Otolaryngology.  His experience and expertise in management of facial skin cancer is an important part of our teaching program. Dr. Sydney Butts, a versatile facial plastic and reconstructive surgeon who recently joined Downstate has proved to be an invaluable addition to the department in caring for cancer and trauma patients. Drs. Westreich and Butts both won teaching awards this year.

As chief of the Head and Neck service at University Hospital, Dr. Perminder Parmar has striven to expand and revitalize the Head and Neck service at KCHC and UHB.  His excellent surgical and teaching skills have been a great addition to the service.

With Drs. Butts and Parhiscar, the three have worked hard to establish a head and neck microvascular program at KCHC and expanded the arsenal of treatment and reconstruction options available to patients afflicted with advanced head and neck cancer in central Brooklyn.  In addition, Dr. Parmar has made great strides in the creating an atmosphere of  multidisciplinary collaboration with the departments of Radiation Oncology, and Medical Oncology at KCHC and UHB which has afforded patients with ease of access to comprehensive cancer care. 

A recent recruit is Dr. Marina Boruk who completed a Rhinology fellowship at Vanderbilt University after a residency at Downstate. We look forward to her contributions in the management of nasal and sinus tumors.

Faculty members and residents of our department are regular participants and attendees at the meetings of the New York Head and Neck Society, which is the largest local/regional head and neck oncological organization in North America. Presentations at national meetings such as the International head and neck conferences and the annual meetings of the AAO-HNS and Triological society are a regular feature. An annual head and neck symposium is being planned for December 2010. This year the topic is Thyroid cancer.

We had also important technological additions in our operating rooms at Long Island College Hospital, SUNY-Downstate, and Kings County Hospital.  First, state-of-the-art sophisticated intraoperative computerized navigation systems are available at the operating rooms in all 3 institutions.  This equipment has a significant positive impact on our ability to manage skull base lesions with added patient safety.  Second, we have the availability of intraoperative parathyroid hormone essay at Long Island College Hospital.  This changes significantly the management of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism.  Surgery is significantly shorter and post-operative hospital stay is reduced. Transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) is a standard tool in our armamentarium. Preparation to start the Transoral Robotic surgery (TORS) program is underway at University Hospital.

In collaboration with Dr. Camille Ragin from the Institute of Public Health, research is being conducted on the role of viruses, genes and environmental factors in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in the inner city.