International

When you pack for a trip to a developing country, planning ahead is key to making sure your travels go smoothly. Your preparations should include ...

Every summer, many people take time off to travel. Dr. Mary Jo Kasten, a Mayo Clinic infectious diseases specialist, says women of childbearing age need to ...

June 21 is the International Day of Yoga. The day, sponsored by the United Nations, is designed to let people know about the benefits of ...

The SpaceX rocket carrying samples of donated adult stem cells from a research laboratory at Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center ...

Updated Statement from Mayo Clinic January 30, 2017 “We are currently assessing the situation related to the travel and immigration executive order. We ...

Rochester, Minn -- On Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that temporarily bans travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven countries. The ...

According to The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), up to 45 percent of postmenopausal women find sex painful, but fewer than a quarter of those women ...

According to The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), up to 45 percent of postmenopausal women find sex painful, but fewer than a quarter of those women ...

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working with the Florida Department of Health to investigate the first Zika case that appears to have no ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. – Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a protein marker whose frequency may predict patient response to PD-1 blockade immunotherapy for melanoma. An abstract of their findings was presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference in New York City. “The discovery of biomarkers of sensitivity are vital not only for informing clinical decisions, but also to help identify which patients with melanoma, and possibly other malignancies, who are most likely to benefit from PD-1 blockade," says Roxana Dronca, M.D., a hematologist at Mayo Clinic and lead author of the abstract. “This will allow us to expose fewer patients to inadequate treatments, and their associated toxicities and costs.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ava8Q6n_Y8o Journalists:  Sound bites with Dr. Dronca are available in the downloads.

ROCHESTER, Minn. ― The International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) today announced that it has updated the criteria for diagnosing multiple myeloma. A paper outlining the new criteria was published in the journal Lancet Oncology. Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that forms in a type of white blood cell called a plasma cell. "Our group, which includes more than 180 myeloma researchers worldwide, has updated the definition of multiple myeloma for diagnostic purposes to include validated biomarkers in addition to the current clinical symptoms used for diagnosis which include, elevated blood calcium levels, kidney failure, anemia and bone lesions," said lead author S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D. a hematologist at Mayo Clinic. http://youtu.be/2btysJElI-A Dr. Rajkumar said multiple myeloma is always preceded sequentially by two asymptomatic conditions, monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM). However, since MGUS and SMM are both asymptomatic conditions, most myeloma patients are not diagnosed until organ damage occurs. "The new IMWG criteria allow for the diagnosis of myeloma to be made in patients without symptoms and before organ damage occurs, using validated biomarkers that identify patients with SMM who have an “ultra-high” risk of progression to multiple myeloma," Dr. Rajkumar said. "These biomarkers are associated with the near inevitable development of clinical symptoms and are important for early diagnosis and treatment which is very important for patients."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAyvFbGlWKY&feature=youtu.be Journalists: Broadcast soundbites with Dr. Perez are available in the downloads. CHICAGO — In the largest clinical trial testing the effectiveness of one versus two drugs to treat HER2-positive breast cancer, lapatinib (Tykerb) did not add benefit to the standard trastuzumab (Herceptin) adjuvant therapy, researchers report at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Results of the phase III clinical trial, ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization study), demonstrated that adding lapatinib to trastuzumab and chemotherapy did not improve patient outcome (defined as disease-free survival or overall survival), and that use of lapatinib significantly increased toxicity. “These findings suggest that standard adjuvant (post-surgery) treatment for early stage HER2-positive breast cancer should remain trastuzumab in combination with chemotherapy,” says Edith A. Perez, M.D., deputy director at large of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, and director of the Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program at Mayo Clinic in Florida.