Answers in Patient Care: Numbers and Highlights

Mayo Clinic brings together teams of physicians, nurses and other allied health professionals to diagnose and treat medical problems. Thousands of patients come to all Mayo Clinic locations every day for accurate diagnosis and the highest-quality care. Most patients are treated on an outpatient basis. Most patients make their appointments themselves — in most cases, a doctor's referral is not necessary.

• Mayo Clinic collaborated with Gamma Medica and GE Healthcare to develop a diagnostic device that is sensitive enough to detect breast tumors as tiny as one-fifth of an inch in diameter. The new technique, molecular breast imaging, uses a dual-head gamma camera system to obtain images that, unlike mammography images, are not affected by dense breast tissue.
  
  
• A Mayo Clinic team developed a new medical device that helps patients control their breathing when undergoing computed tomographic (CT) fluoroscopy-guided biopsies. The Interactive Breath-hold Control — the first medical device of its kind — allows physicians to more rapidly and accurately diagnose patients, reducing the need for a more invasive surgical biopsy.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic Cancer Center researchers (epidemiologists) found that a radical prostatectomy can be a safe option for some men over 80 years old. While some surgeries are traditionally not offered for patients over a certain age, researchers suggest that age should not be the deciding factor when considering treatment options.
  
  
• Cardiologists at Mayo Clinic devised a new strategy to improve the effectiveness and safety of heart stents, which are used to open narrowed blood vessels and have been the recent subject of clotting concerns. The novel approach is based on magnetizing healing cells from the patient's blood so the cells are quickly drawn to magnetically coated stents.
  
  
• In October, Mayo Clinic and The American Legacy Foundation announced a collaboration to bring together the expertise of Mayo Clinic's Nicotine Dependence Center and The American Legacy Foundation's public health and marketing acumen to help smokers who want to quit.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic radiology researchers developed a new technique for using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to accurately measure the hardness or elasticity of the liver. Initial tests show this technology — MR Elastography (MRE) — holds great promise for detecting liver fibrosis, a common condition that can lead to incurable cirrhosis if not treated in time.
  
  
• Mayo Medical Laboratories began offering a new genetic test to help physicians nationwide identify patients who are likely to have side effects from drugs commonly used to treat depression. Results of the test can help physicians determine the best treatment choice for their patients.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic hosted a cardiac screening event in Arizona for retired NFL players as part of a national initiative by the Living Heart Foundation and the National Football League Players Association. It was held to raise awareness of potential heart disease related to body mass.
  
  
• Radiologists and radiation oncologists at Mayo Clinic began using tiny glass bubbles filled with radioactive material to deliver high doses of tumor-killing radiation directly to liver tumors. Physicians say the procedure, called radioembolization or intra-arterial brachytherapy, is better tolerated than other forms of liver cancer treatments. It may be the best option for patients who aren't candidates for other treatments, such as surgery or liver transplantation.
  
  
• Mayo Clinic ear, nose and throat surgeons began using angioplasty — a technique long used to open clogged arteries — as a minimally invasive option to help open sinuses in patients who require more than just medicine. The new outpatient procedure, called balloon sinuplasty, alleviates symptoms of sinusitis, an inflammation of the sinus cavities usually due to infection.
  
  
• Hematologists in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center found that certain patients suffering from multiple myeloma, a difficult-to-treat cancer of the blood, may respond positively to bortezomib, a drug that shows potential to extend their survival rates by as much as six months. The findings may help researchers target individualized treatments to patients.
  
  
• Researchers from Mayo Clinic found that occipital nerve stimulation may be an effective treatment for patients suffering from chronic migraine headaches. The treatment involves implanting a neurostimulator under the skin at the base of the head, which then delivers electrical impulses near the occipital nerves via insulated lead wires tunneled under the skin.