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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, JUNE 30, 2019
BUS INES S , B ROOKLYN S T Y LE
Dr. Enrico Ascher provides the best vascular care
We don’t have to travel to Manhattan
to get the best vascular medical
care because we have Dr. Enrico
Ascher, Chief of Vascular and Endovascular
Surgery at NYU Langone
Hospital-Brooklyn, and founder of
the Vascular Institute of New York.
Dr. Ascher is an internationally
recognized vascular surgeon who pioneered
several techniques that are
now utilized worldwide. In addition
to being one of the most experienced
surgeons in this country with over
25,000 procedures and operations performed
over a 3 decade span he finds
time to author and co-author over 300
scientific articles in addition to be the
Chief-editor of a classic textbook in
vascular surgery. His enormous contributions
to the minimally invasive
management of vascular diseases
including aortic aneurysms, stroke
prevention, wound care, varicose
veins and angioplasty and stenting
for PAD have not gone unnoticed. Dr.
Ascher is the only surgeon in the tristate
region to be elected as President
of the Society for Vascular Surgery as
well as The World Federation of Vascular
Societies. During his tenure as
leader of these societies Dr. Ascher
was able to help shape the specialty
and reached out to the medical community
in a partnership to improve
the vascular health of the US population.
Dr. Ascher conceived and develop
the first clinical guidelines for
the management of vascular diseases
and he is recognized by his peers as a
superb surgeon with tremendous talent.
As an example of one of his creative
contributions one can describe
his technique of performing balloon
angioplasty and stenting (in patients
who experience pain in the legs upon
walking) without the use of potentially
harmful contrast material and
with no exposure to radiation!
Dr. Ascher also developed the
mini-incision carotid surgery where
a life threatening plaque can be safely
removed from the artery via one inch
small cut instead of 5-7 inch incision
in the neck. “We have the lowest rate
of complications in the country since
I have not had a single major issue
with hundreds of patient treated with
this technique” - says Dr. Ascher
His groundbreaking techniques
have been adapted worldwide as they
causes less trauma to the patient.
Limb salvage is yet another field
in which Dr. Ascher has earned acclaim.
“We are the first to create a comprehensive
care plan that has vascular
medical specialists and surgeons
working together to treat patients,”
he says. For the most part, vascular
surgeons elsewhere work separately
from vascular medicine physicians,
he says. But by working as a team,
the patient is assured of optimum,
unbiased treatment.
Patients from New York City and
surrounding states have sought Dr.
Ascher’s services, after being told by
other institutions that their limbs
could not be salvaged, and that amputation
was the only option. Yet,
Dr. Ascher and his team were able
to transform their lives by utilizing
techniques they developed to save
the limbs.
“These patients are now walking
on their own two feet,” he says.
Research, studying, and learning
are Dr. Ascher’s passions. He
was the first to perform bypass to the
plantar arteries of the foot, and this
is now widely considered standard
procedure for limb salvage.
Swelling of the legs is a common
problem that causes tremendous
pain, inhibiting lifestyles. This is
another area in which the Vascular
Institute can help, as Dr. Ascher has
published extensively on the subject
of varicose veins. He and his team of
board certified vascular specialists
have performed more than 15,000
laser procedures for the treatment
of varicose veins and leg swelling,
offering several different devices to
customize treatment plans for the
patients who come to his Vascular
Center for relief of symptoms or
for aesthetic reasons. He notes that
swelling of the legs can be caused
by veins that are not visible, so a
thorough examination is really important
to detect the cause of these
problems and to fix them to obtain a
meaningful result.
More than 20 years ago Dr. Ascher
was helping people with aortic
aneurysms — ballooning of the arteries
in the stomach or chest.
“We are so comfortable with
the new, modern techniques, we
are sending patients home the same
day. Just 5 years ago we were keeping
patients for at least 2 days in the
hospital,” he says. “They leave with
a small puncture in the groin, go
home with no pain, and have dinner
with their families.”
This potentially life-threatening
issue is more common than people
realize, he says, and is often found
accidentally when patients undergo
ultrasounds or CAT scans.
“When it becomes painful, these
aneurysms (ballooning of the arteries)
are ready to pop with critical
consequences. So it’s better to fix
them when they achieve a certain
size,” he says.
Notably, the Vascular Institute
was the first wound care center in
New York, and remains one of the
busiest wound care centers in the
area.
Dr. Ascher’s esteemed staff includes
Dr. Anil Hingorani, Dr. Natalie
Marks, Dr. Sareh Rajaee, and
Eleanora Iadgarova, a nurse practitioner.
The practice is open every day,
including weekends, and the staff
can always find an opening to ac -
commodate patients who need immediate
treatment, says the doctor.
Vascular Institute of New York
960 50th St.between Ninth and 10th
avenues in Borough Park, (718) 438–
3800, www.vascularnyc.com. Open
every day, 8 am – 5 pm. Additional
locations: 9920 Fourth Ave. in Bay
Ridge; 5801 Woodside Ave., Queens;
97-32 63rd Rd., Queens; 432 E. 149th
St. in the Bronx.
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
They’ve got the scoop on
local history.
The latest branch of a
Brooklyn ice cream chain
uses its historic location
and delicious sweets to uncover
the rich history of
the borough. Ample Hills
Creamery, now open at
Fulton Ferry Landing in
Dumbo, serves a creamy
dessert inspired by the favorite
foods of the Bard of
Brooklyn, said the scoop
shop’s founder.
“Two of Whitman’s favorite
foods were coffee
cakes and donuts, so we
took those and added them
to ice cream, and made
a new fl avor,” said Brian
Smith. “It’s not the same
recipes he used, but it’s
close enough.”
The new shop, the 15th
operated by the chain, debuted
on June 13 with the
fl avor “I Contain Breakfast
Foods” — a play on Walt
Whitman’s famous line “I
contain multitudes.”
The Ample Hills ice
cream chain takes its name
from a line in Whitman’s
classic poem “Crossing
Brooklyn Ferry,” and often
cooks up fl avors that evoke
stories close to the hearts of
Smith and his wife and cofounder
Jackie Cuscuna.
“We try to think creatively
about how to tell
stories through ice cream,”
said Smith. “We really have
fun creating a story and
then making an ice cream
to tell that story.”
The ice cream maestro
said he had to double down
on the Whitman symbolism
for the new location, which
occupies a historic fi reboat
house at the same Fulton
Ferry Landing where the
famed wordsmith found inspiration
for the poem that
inspired the name of the
ice creamery.
“We have a signature
fl avor in every location,”
said Smith. “It’s one of the
ways we’re able to tell the
story of that location, and
that particular neighborhood.”
The Ferry Landing was
home to the fi rst masstransport
system bridging
Kings County and Manhattan,
and during the
19th Century, the advent
of the steamboat allowed
for speedier travel, leading
to massive development in
Brooklyn as a suburb of its
densely populated neighbor.
“That spot transformed
modern Brooklyn,” said
Smith. “The birth of Brooklyn
can be traced to this
spot.”
The founders also have
their own special history
with the location, which
was previously occupied
by the Brooklyn Ice Cream
Factory, according to
Smith.
“We had ice cream at
the Brooklyn Ice Cream
Factory the night before we
got married. It’s an important
place to us,” he said.
“It’s like coming home to
be in that building.”
Ample Hills Creamery
at the Fulton Ferry Landing
1 Water St. at Old Fulton
Street in Dumbo, (718)
874–2483, www.amplehills.
com. Open Fri–Sun; 10
a.m.–midnight; Mon–Thu;
11 a.m.–11 p.m.
A MULTITUDE OF SWEETS:
Ample Hills debuted its location
specifi c fl avor “I Contain
Breakfast Foods” — a play on
Walt Whitman’s famous line “I
contain multitudes” — which
features the poet’s two favorite
breakfast foods: donuts and
coffee cake. Liz Clayman
PARTNERS: The married co-founders of Ample Hills, Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith, recently opened
their 15th ice cream shop in the historic fi reboat house in Dumbo. Liz Clayman
Ample Hills Creamery chain
opens new Dumbo location
/www.vascularnyc.com
/www.amplehills