Featured Heart Surgeon - Dr. Hyde M. Russell
Working with patients of every age is par for the course for Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Hyde M. Russell, MD. Russell is a cardiac surgeon at Northwestern Memorial as well as Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. He also serves as surgical director for the Program for Adult Congenital Heart Disease at Northwestern’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute.
Board certified in general, cardiothoracic and congenital cardiac surgery, Russell runs the gamut on procedures, including adult and pediatric congenital heart surgery. This includes: valve repair and replacement; complex reoperations in adult and pediatric congenital heart surgery; heart transplantation; and coronary artery bypass surgery.
Russell loves the thrill of solving complex challenges: “It’s exciting to be confronted with a cardiac problem and be able to have a fix for it, to be able to give a patient a new form of anatomy at the end of the day,” he says. From early childhood, Russell knew he wanted to work in medicine. Both of his parents are physicians; his father, an interventional cardiologist, would often bring his son to the hospital to attend rounds and watch procedures. “It was enthralling,” says Russell. “As a kid, it seemed like just the neatest job in the world.”
The road to Northwestern
From early childhood, Russell knew he wanted to work in medicine. Both of his parents are physicians; his father, an interventional cardiologist, would often bring his son to the hospital to attend rounds and watch procedures. “It was enthralling,” says Russell. “As a kid, it seemed like just the neatest job in the world.”
Russell knew he wanted to focus on the heart. Being technically inclined, he took a surgical route, graduating from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and completing both his internship and his general surgery residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals.
He came to Northwestern Memorial in 2006, where he completed his cardiothoracic surgery residency. He served two years as a post-doctoral research fellow in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California-Los Angeles, but returned to Chicago in 2009 to focus on a congenital heart surgery fellowship at Lurie Children’s. He now calls Northwestern Memorial home.
Patient relationships from 0 to 99 -- and beyond
Carving out a niche in adult congenital heart disease means Russell sees patients from 18 to (most recently) 99 at Northwestern Memorial. He also spends about 20% of his time at Lurie Children’s, operating on newborns and infants. The nature of his work results in long-term relationships with patients, who may receive a procedure as an infant or child and return as an adult for additional surgeries.
“A patient with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition involving four abnormalities occurring together will receive a pulmonary valve repair as an infant, and then likely experience issues later in life, at which time they may require pulmonary valve replacement,” explains Russell. Patients with atrioventricular canal defect, a congenital heart condition involving a hole between the chambers of the heart and problems with the valves, require specialized repairs that are quite different from routine adult mitral valve repair. Russell also performs the Ross procedure, a specialized aortic valve replacement primarily for younger patients with aortic valve disease.
“People born with congenital heart defects are unique patients, with unique lesions, which is why Northwestern Memorial is a center of excellence for adults with congenital heart disease,” says Russell.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, it was not uncommon for a physician to diagnose a newborn or infant and say, ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do,’” Russell explains. “And even 10 years ago we could see someone in their 60s or 70s with a complicated diagnosis and have limited options to offer. But technology and techniques have evolved so much, so quickly, that we now have the chance to make a difference over many more generations.”
Russell loves building long-term relationships: “The interactions with the patients and their families are what I prize the most,” he says. “To get to know them, to be able to participate in their care—that’s the reason I went into medicine. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to do.” His years of work helping both pediatric and adults patients have earned him membership in the Alpha Omega Alpha honor society. Membership to Alpha Omega Alpha is a lifelong honor given to physicians that show a commitment to scholarship, leadership, professionalism and service to their patients.
Collaborative style serves long-term patient care
While Russell is surgical lead of the Program for Adult Congenital Heart Disease, he collaborates with two adult congenital cardiologists: Marla A. Mendelson, MD, and Roger Andrew O. de Freitas, MD.
“For us, the team approach means almost continuous interaction, on the phone or in person,” he says. “We look at echocardiograms, MRIs and CT scans and review the ups and downs of different therapies, knowing that what we do now impacts the patient’s life both now and much later.” The decision-making process involves the clinician team and the patient, he adds. “We all have a stake in providing the best approach for these patients, because they never really leave our care—they stay with us as patients, and we continue to manage them based on what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
“Especially with children, whether it’s valve repair or replacement, we do the best we can to space out their operations so they get as much time between procedures as possible,” says Russell. “Getting to that goal requires a lot of thought and collaboration.” Balancing numerous factors like a patient’s ability to follow a rigorous medication regimen—or their heart’s tolerance for a big overhaul operation—requires a team effort. “It takes more than one mind and one set of hands to give the best care to patients,” says Russell.
The impact of transcatheter aortic valve replacement
“Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a revolutionary step forward for our general high risk and elderly patients—it has completely changed what we can offer patients with critical or severe aortic stenosis,” says Russell. He is passionate about Northwestern Memorial’s Transcatheter Aortic Valve Program, which leads the pack as the highest volume program both in Chicago and Illinois.
“Now we have an minimally invasive option with markedly reduced mortality rates compared to open heart surgery, with very good outcomes based on early data,” he explains. Russell collaborates with S. Chris Malaisrie, MD and other specialists on the transcatheter aortic valve team.
And on his day off...
With three boys ages 10, 7 and 4, Russell says most of his free time is consumed by family activities. They spend lots of time in the great outdoors on the North Shore, he says, hiking, camping, riding bikes, and his favorite lakeside activity: sailing.
“There is something magical about sailing, when the wind is taking you, and you think about how this is how sailors have done it for thousands of years—it’s an incredible feeling,” Russell says. To that end, he’s been taking lessons on larger vessels, 22- and 24-feet keel sailboats, and is looking forward to the coming sailing season when he can take his boys out for extended trips.
