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Balcones Woods Family Medicine is excited to announce the addition of Dr. Lara Hochman. Dr. Hochman's passion for treating the whole person, as well as her warm bedside manner and love of science, makes her a great fit with the philosophy of our practice.

Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dr. Hochman attended college at the University of Texas where she met her husband. She obtained her medical degree from UTMB in Galveston and completed her residency in Denver, Colorado. After residency, she worked in Denver in various family practice settings as a covering physician, and gained a wide variety of experiences. She recently moved back to Austin to be closer to family and the city that she loves.

Dr. Hochman's medical interests include helping patients manage chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure, as well as caring for patients with a history of cancer. She is also passionate about helping patients achieve optimal health. This often includes incorporating lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise into patients' treatment. Prior to entering family medicine she considered a career in surgery and enjoys performing in-office surgical procedures, especially related to dermatologic concerns.

   

Dr. Lara Hochman 

 

Upcoming "Meet & Greets" with Dr. Hochman 

& Other Providers 

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Hochman to our office and want you to have a chance to meet her. In December and January, we will hold two "meet and greets" in our office building where you can drop by to meet Dr. Hochman, chat with some of our other medical providers, all while tasting some of our favorite, easy-to-make recipes!  

Since Dr. Hochman has joined our practice we have more availability for new patients.  This is a great time for you to bring friends to meet not only Dr. Hochman, but our other medical providers as well. 

Click below to register for one of the meet and greets. We look forward to seeing you there! Your registration is helpful but not required.  

Upcoming Events 

December Meet & Greet with Dr. Lara Hochman, Dr. Koren Weston & Laurelin Mullins, FNP-c

Tuesday December 10, 2013 from 5:30 PM to 6:45 PM  

Featuring Korean-style chicken, a chocolate cherry frozen dessert and other healthy snacks. 

January Meet & Greet with Dr. Lara Hochman, Dr. Sharon Hausman-Cohen & Charis Bearden, FNP-c

Thursday January 9, 2014 from 5:30 PM to 6:45 PM

Featuring an Indian-style garbanzo bean & mint salad, teriyaki salmon, and more!

Both events will be held outside the entrance to Balcones Woods Family Medicine, on the 2nd Floor Landing

Fall and winter are times when cold weather and time off often bring friends and family together to celebrate. Food often plays a big part in many families' celebrations. Fortunately, giving up good health and eating habits do not have to go hand-in-hand with celebrating. There are lots of tasty holiday recipes that are also healthy. Also, the holidays offer time to spend with family - time that can be spent, in part, doing activities that get you up and moving. Taking walks with relatives or going on a family hike are great ways to spend time with your loved ones and get exercise.  It is possible to have a healthy and happy holiday season!

If there are people at your holiday table that are battling diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, or obesity - or just people working hard to stay healthy - there are plenty of ways to adapt your recipes for holiday favorites so everyone can enjoy them "guilt free." There are also a variety of healthy sides that pair well with turkey. These include pumpkin soup, corn muffins and stuffing, apple-cranberry relish or cranberry sauce, garlic green beans, roasted red pepper and bean p�t�. Desserts such as berry cobbler or grilled fruit paired with sorbet are also great ways to end a holiday meal (any firm fruit such as pears, pineapple, or bananas can be grilled). Click here for a few of Dr. Hausman-Cohen's holiday recipe adaptations including her favorite stuffing recipe and a healthy pumpkin pie recipe. 

To learn about more ways to improve your health and the power of food, come to our free health talk in mid-December! You'll find details in the article below.

Location:          Congregation Beth Israel 

3901 Shoal Creek, Smith Auditorium

If you are interested in making long-lasting diet and lifestyle changes, join the Cornucopia Health seminar beginning January 14th.

 

In this 4-week workshop (2 hours each for 4 weeks), participants learn the science behind more plant-based nutrition, as well as hands-on cooking skills with plenty of tasting opportunities. These classes are geared toward individuals who want to lose weight, lower blood pressure and cholesterol or lower cardiac risk. However, everyone is welcome. 

 

These seminars are taught by Dr. Hausman-Cohen, and ACE-Certified Health Coaches Bettie Forman and Audrey Glaser. To learn more or to register, visit Cornucopia's website by clicking here.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Before we talk about Molecular Breast Imaging, let's review a few facts about breast cancer and screening recommendations. Breast cancer is the most common non-skin cancer and is the second deadliest cancer in women (the first is lung cancer) . There are many risk factors for breast cancer, one of which is dense breast tissue. About half of women under the age of 50, and one third of women over the age of 50, have dense breast tissue. Having dense breast tissue confers a slightly higher risk of developing breast cancer. Currently, mammography is the gold standard in early breast cancer detection and has been shown to significantly reduce mortality due to breast cancer. However, as technology has advanced, new options for screening for breast cancer, specifically screening for dense breast tissue, have been developed. One of these new options, Molecular Breast Imaging (MBI), is supplemental to a mammogram and allows us to further evaluate dense breast tissue.

Professional and governmental health organizations have differing recommendations on when to start screening women for breast cancer and how often women should be screened for breast cancer.  We follow the recommendations of The American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, which both recommend that women start annual screening mammography at age 40.

For some women with dense breast tissue, MBI could possibly be a beneficial supplementary screening for breast cancer (in addition to mammograms). MBI actually detects breast cancer 2-3 times better than regular mammograms. MBI is also unaffected by surrounding breast tissue.  During an MBI, the patient is injected with a low dose of a radio tracer, which exposes the patient to a very low dose of radiation. This radio tracer accumulates in any tumor that might be present (the malignant cells that make up breast cancer have a higher metabolism than surrounding tissue). After several minutes, the patient is taken to the MBI room for testing. An MBI machine is similar in appearance to the mammography machine. However, it exerts a much lighter pressure than a mammography machine. It takes about ten minutes for the machine to acquire an image. These images are then interpreted by a radiologist.  

Molecular Breast Imaging is still somewhat new so insurance coverage can vary (talk with your insurance for details).  Self pay costs are approximately $450-$500.

In the past, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been used, in addition to mammograms, to screen for breast cancer in individuals who have dense breast tissue or higher breast cancer risk. Today, MBI is an additional option. MRI may be more sensitive in finding smaller tumors (2-4 mm) that an MBI may not catch. However, the high resolution of an MRI can have a lower specificity (i.e. more false negatives) than an MBI which makes it not as good for a screening exam. However, data comparing MRI and MBI is limited.

Due to the many variables involved, including payment issues, the recommendation to use or not to use Molecular Breast Imaging is dependent upon the unique situation of each patient. As with all your treatment options, we are here to help you decide which choices make the most sense for you and will be happy to discuss this with you at your next appointment. 

Contributed by Dr. Lara Hochman 

Some Resources:

Austin Radiological Association

Mayo Clinic 

National Center for Biotechnology Information 

Sambucus is worth having in your medicine cabinet

You walk down the aisle of the health food store.  Brightly colored bottles of all shapes and sizes line the shelves.  Your body aches and your eyes feel heavy with fever.  Will any of these pills actually do anything?  How do you sort through the rows of one-line "boxed claims"?  How do you know what really works and what is safe?  As a physician whose interest in the evidence for various "natural remedies" and what some call "alternative medicine" dates back 20 years, I am always excited to help others navigate the supplement and vitamin aisles.  This time of year as flu and other viruses peak, I am often asked if there are any "natural" things that can be done to help fight flu.   For some people this interest is sparked by a desire to save money (prescription Tamiflu is expensive). For others, it is due to a desire to avoid when possible putting foreign "substances" into one's system.  In response to this question my answer is a resounding "Yes." Often "nature's flu fighter"-Sambucus-may be just what the doctor ordered.  

 

Sambucus, also known as Sambucol, is made from the elderberry, a relative of the blackberry. Elderberry, Sambucus nigra,was referred to as having medicinal properties in writings from the 5th century BC and was even mentioned in the works of Hippocrates and other early Greek healers.   Israeli virologist, Dr. Madeline Mumcuoglu, was inspired by these ancient medical texts and began elucidating the mechanism of action of elderberry extract beginning in the 1980s. By the mid-1990s, Mumcuoglu had proven that Sambucus is a powerful antiviral against flu. In 1995, laboratory studies were carried out which showed that Sambucus was also effective against human, swine, and avian influenza strains. 

 

How does elderberry extract work?   Sambucus is a potent antioxidant, but that is not its main mechanism of action.  Flu viruses, as well as many other viruses, have spikes on the outside of their capsule which are called "hemagglutinin spikes."  They make the viruses look a bit like a porcupine. Sambucus has been shown to knock the hemagglutinin spikes off the virus and thus prevent the flu or other virus from attaching to their target of human cells.  The infected individual is also better able to attack the virus with their own immune system once these spikes are removed.  This makes Sambucus an ideal antiviral because it helps your own immune system to fight the virus. 

 

Sambucus was initially studied during the Israeli flu epidemic of 1992-1993.  The results were excellent. Within 24 hours, 20% of the patients who were taking Sambucus experienced dramatic improvements in symptoms of fever, muscle aches and pains, and coughing. By the second day, 73% were improved and by day three, 90% were substantially better. In the untreated group, only 16% felt better after two days. The majority of the untreated group took almost a week to begin feeling better.   In another more recent, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study where participants were given either Sambucus or an inactive fruit syrup (a placebo) in the first 48 hours of symptoms, 93.3% of patients reported significant improvement within the first two days of taking the extract and 90% of participants experienced complete resolution of symptoms after three days. By contrast, the control group in this study did not feel completely well for six days.

 

Sambucus shows promise against other types of viruses as well -including the viruses that cause croup, herpes, and mononucleosis.  In our practice, we have found that the days of students missing months of school from mono are gone; after a few weeks on Sambucus they are back to school and sometimes even back to sports and feeling well.

 

The goal of using nature to harness our own immune response and help our bodies fight threats such as flu effectively and safely without prescription medications is a particularly common sentiment amongst athletes and those working hard to keep their bodies and health in top condition.  Since you can't avoid having exposure to all those winter viruses including flu, Sambucus is a natural remedy that is worth having in your medicine cabinet.  For many, the dark purple syrup has been a wonderful way to naturally avoid missing work or a workout!

 

Contributed by Dr. Sharon Hausman-Cohen

 

Sambucus nigra    Image credit: Martin Roell

 

References:

 

Barak, V., Halperin, T., & Kalieckman, I. European Cytokine Network. 2001 Apr-Jun; 12[2]:290-6.

 

Zakay-Rones, Z., Thom, E., Wollan, T., et al. Journal of International  Medical Research. 2004; 32:132-40.

 

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