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Guidelines for sites linking to mayoclinic.orgView syndicated health information from Mayo Clinic.
If you've ever been in the hospital, you know that it's usually not much fun. You may have to take medicine that makes you feel lousy, have tests and are no doubt a little anxious about being there. Doctors at Mayo are working on making the hospital experience easier for patients and their families.
Resource: Complementary and Alternative Medicine
For this year, 2007, the National Cancer Institute estimates that more than 50,000 people will be diagnosed with kidney cancer. Many will have surgery to remove the tumors. But some people are not able to have an operation because of other medical problems. In that case doctors at Mayo Clinic offer another, less-invasive option. It's called cryoablation.
Resource: Treatment of Kidney Cancer
For thousands of years, practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine have used the herb ginseng to increase energy, endurance and brain power. Research shows that in many cases, the herb may help. Researchers at Mayo Clinic led a study with ginseng and found it may also help fight fatigue in cancer patients.
Resource: Cancer Treatment at Mayo Clinic
He's a world-class martial arts champion. But his strength could not fend off a deadly cancer. A cancer that causes debilitating pain. It took some intense detective work by doctors at Mayo Clinic to make the diagnosis and find a treatment that would keep this athlete alive.
Resource: Cancer Treatment
Every day, doctors use ultrasound, CT scans and MRIs to see inside the body without making an incision. Those tests are great at showing size and structure, but they don't show important physical properties such as tissue stiffness, which, for example, is a sign of fibrosis in the liver. But researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed technology that uses sound waves to see if a patient's liver is harder than it should be — if it's developing fibrosis. It's called Magnetic Resonance Elastography, and it offers a noninvasive alternative to liver biopsy.
Resource: Treatment of Liver Disease
Brain cancer is one of the most common cancers in children, second only to leukemia. But unlike leukemia, the genes that cause pediatric brain cancer continue to be somewhat of a mystery to researchers. They don't know why some tumors just don't respond to treatment. Doctors at Mayo Clinic are working hard to find the genes responsible for tumor growth in hopes of one day finding an easier cure for patients like the 15-year-old you're about to meet.
Resource: Treatment of Pediatric Brain Tumors
Occasional heartburn is usually nothing to worry about. But if heartburn hits two or more times a week, you may be at risk of developing a condition called Barrett's esophagus that increases your risk of cancer.
Resource: Treatment with Photodynamic Therapy
Doctors are using robots for many operations including prostate cancer surgery. Learn the latest on how this advance in technology is helping some patients get better faster.
Resource: Treatment with Robotic Prostatectomy
Not long ago kids with bone cancer in a leg faced amputation. But now, doctors at Mayo Clinic are performing a surgery that allows some kids to regain use of their leg, even after part of it has been removed.
Resource: Treatment with Rotationplasty
Research has shown that for some cancers, screening for early detection most definitely saves lives. Examples are mammograms for breast cancer and colonoscopy for colon cancer. But not all cancers have screening tools that have been proven to work. Let's go to Mayo Clinic to learn more about screening for lung cancer.
Resource: Treatment of Lung Cancer
In the spring of 2006 the National Cancer Institute released initial results of the STAR trial for breast cancer prevention. The study compared the drug tamoxifen to another drug called raloxifene. Both reduced the incidence of invasive breast cancer by 50 percent in high-risk postmenopausal women.
Resource: Treatment of Breast Cancer
If you have kidney cancer, you might not get symptoms until it's rather advanced. Not long ago a diagnosis like that was bad news. But now, thanks to technology, teamwork and medical expertise, people are beating this deadly disease.
Resource: Treatment of Kidney Cancer
Ten years ago, 48,000 women -- mothers, wives, sisters -- died every year from breast cancer. Today, that number has dropped to 40,000. But it's still too high. That's why many women who are at high risk of getting breast cancer choose genetic testing.
Resource: Breast Cancer Risk Assessment
The words "you have breast cancer" are never easy to hear. They often mean the beginning of a treatment plan that can be very difficult. For some women, talking about their cancer with those who've been through it can help make the process easier. And doctors at Mayo Clinic say this communication may improve the quality of life of many women fighting this disease.
Resource: Treatment of Breast Cancer
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