Researchers, clinicians and innovators are invited to submit their work for presentation during the Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference, which will be held Aug. 15–16.

Mayo Clinic is hosting this year's Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference Aug. 15–16. This premier event is at the intersection of machine learning, digital health technologies and clinical practices. It will be held at the Hilton Rochester Mayo Clinic.

The Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference is an annual research meeting that brings together clinicians, medical researchers and computer scientists with expertise in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and big data. The conference aims to support the advancement of data analytics, knowledge discovery and meaningful use of complex medical data by fostering collaborations and idea-sharing among attendees.

"Since its inception, the Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference has fostered groundbreaking collaboration and innovation in healthcare and machine learning," says David Vidal, J.D., vice chair of Artificial Intelligence Enablement for Mayo Clinic's Center for Digital Health and the local program co-chair for the conference. "Artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare are imperative in helping patients and their families connect to care in new ways, and Mayo Clinic is proud to be hosting this conference to continue advancing this important work."

Register for early bird tickets to the event.

Call for papers

Researchers, clinicians and innovators are invited to submit their work for presentation during the conference.

Papers will be accepted for the Research Track and Clinical Abstract Tracks.

Research Track (Archival): The themes for the Research Track include new methods, experimental machine learning design or validation studies integrated into the clinical practice, and studies on benchmarking and ability to reproduce the methods. The submission should be 10 to 15 pages (excluding references and appendices).

If accepted, at least one author will be expected to attend the conference. The accepted papers will be published in the Proceeding of Machine Learning Research.

Clinical Abstract Track (Nonarchival): The Clinical Abstract Track papers should focus on clinical problems that could benefit from machine learning advancements or translational achievements. The papers should be no longer than two pages. If the paper is accepted, at least one author is expected to attend the conference.

The authors of the top clinical abstracts will be invited to submit an enhanced version to Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health.

Submission guidelines

If you are interested in submitting your paper for the conference, you will need to send a letter of intent through OpenReview no later than April 10. You will need to create an account to submit your letter of intent. The final paper submission deadline is April 11.

"Researchers, clinicians, and innovators are invited to submit their work to the Machine Learning for Healthcare Conference—a premier venue to showcase cutting-edge research and real-world impact," says Shauna Overgaard, Ph.D., senior director of Artificial Intelligence Enablement for the Center for Digital Health and a local program co-chair for the conference. "This is a unique opportunity to advance the field, collaborate globally, and reinforce our shared commitment to patient-centered AI."

Click here to review the complete conference timeline.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Today, Mayo Clinic in Florida introduced a five-floor patient tower expansion as part of Mayo Clinic's Bold. Forward. Unbound. investments to revolutionize the healthcare experience for patients and staff. The vertical growth of the tower will enable 166 new patient beds within medical/surgical nursing units, supported by new automation and patient care technology. These new offerings will further unite the physical and digital healthcare environments.

"Mayo Clinic continues to invest in growth and healthcare transformation, including a plan to more than double our space for patient care, biomedical research and education in Florida," says Kent Thielen, M.D., CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida. "The structures we are creating now will serve the patients of today and the patients we will care for over generations to come."  

The expansion's technology makes the rooms an extension of the care team. Patients can control every aspect of their room experience from an app on their phones. Emerging technology will monitor a sleeping patient's vital signs with fewer interruptions. Family members can drop in virtually from across the city or around the world to participate in patient care consults with Mayo experts.

For staff, the updated technology and spaces create an improved workflow and a more efficient clinical environment. This will allow them to spend more time focused on patient care and less time on administrative tasks. Added automation means that self-guided carts can deliver food and linens on command.

Other features include a top-floor indoor/outdoor lounge for staff and visitors who need respite, a breath of fresh air, nourishment, or the tranquility of coastal views.

"The expansion of our hospital is not just a new building, it is a bold reimagining and blueprint for the future of healthcare delivery, codesigned with the collective wisdom of those who live and breathe it," says Michael Maniaci, M.D., professor of medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. "By weaving together the insights of both our staff and our patients, we've created a space where innovation is not only imagined but also implemented, shaped by the very people it serves."

Throughout the planning and development process, Mayo Clinic staff input has been critical to expansion design. Staff representing different roles and functional areas joined to plan, pilot, evaluate and implement the innovative technologies that will solve unmet patient and staff needs. This collaborative approach demonstrates how Mayo Clinic continues to shape the future of healthcare.

Expansion highlights:

• Technology-enhanced patient, visitor and staff experience.
• Floor-to-ceiling windows that increase natural light by 80% in patient rooms. Studies show that natural light improves patients' moods and speeds healing. Many rooms will also offer scenic views of the coastal environment near Mayo Clinic.
• A modernized patient digital wall that engages patients with clinical information, education, communication, relaxation and entertainment.
• A digital entryway display that pulls real-time data from the electronic health record and delivers information to protect the patient as well as care team members and visitors who are entering the room.
• An ambient clinical intelligence-empowered camera that enables the consolidation of multiple sensors into a single platform, turning patient rooms into an integrated virtual care delivery hub.
• A pass-through drawer that allows staff to stock patient supplies from outside the room, with design considerations that will enable further automation.
• An updated headwall that allows the optimal placement of each clinical connection, increased access to outlets and additional med-gas and oxygen ports to improve patient care efficiency.

Mayo Clinic Hospital opened in April 2008 with six floors and 214 beds. In 2012, two additional floors and 90 beds were added. With the most recent five-floor expansion, the tower's capacity is 419 licensed beds. In addition to new patient rooms and a lounge, the expansion includes one floor for mechanical and electrical support and one floor for future growth.

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About Mayo Clinic 
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education, and research, and providing compassion, expertise, and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.  

Media contact: 

• Tia Ford, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic in Florida state-of-the-art hospital expansion to enhance patient care and services appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Dr. Denise Harnois, a Mayo Clinic transplant hepatologist, explains how this innovative strategy is expanding treatment options and improving outcomes.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Learning you have advanced colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver can be scary. In some cases, a liver transplant may offer hope, providing better outcomes when other treatments aren't an option. 

"In those circumstances where patients have colon cancer that's gone to the liver that doesn't seem to be anyplace else within the body, but they're not eligible for consideration of doing a surgical resection — in those circumstances, we can consider replacing the entire liver, and that involves a liver transplant," explains Dr. Harnois.

It's a complex surgery requiring experts from multiple teams working together.

"We're working together as a team to make sure we are offering the best options for the potential for cure for these patients," she says.

Liver transplants have greatly improved survival rates. One-year survival is 80% to 100%, three-year survival is around 80%, and five-year survival is between 60% and 80%.

"Without consideration of liver transplant, their five-year survival rate would have been 15%. So we can offer a dramatic improvement in survival rates in patients that undergo liver transplant," says Dr. Harnois.

Related posts:

• Liver transplants offer new hope for colorectal cancer patients with liver metastasis
• Mayo Clinic Q and A:  Understanding colorectal cancer
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Warning signs of colorectal cancer in younger adults
• Innovative treatments for rectal cancer

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The body has a built-in defense: the immune system, which consists of white blood cells, lymph system tissues and organs that work together to identify and destroy infections and abnormal cells. However, cancer cells use genetic changes to hide their abnormality or interfere with the immune system's ability to detect and destroy them. Immunotherapy helps the immune system overcome these defenses.

"We're working with what the body naturally does but has not done perfectly, as it has allowed cancer to develop. We're trying to reinforce the body's natural defenses," says Svetomir Markovic, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center medical oncologist who researches immunotherapy for melanoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

"Immunotherapy leverages the patient's immune system to fight cancer. It activates and pushes it to find the tumors and kill them," says Haidong Dong, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center cancer immunologist. "You can use different tools — T cells, vaccines, targeted drugs — but they all use the patient's immune cells to fight their tumors."

Dr. Markovic and Dr. Dong discuss the history of cancer immunotherapy at Mayo Clinic, how it works, its benefits and risks, and its future:

The roots of cancer immunotherapy at Mayo Clinic

In the late '90s, Dr. Dong and his colleagues at Mayo Clinic discovered that a protein called PD-L1 regulates the immune system's response to cancer cells and other threats. PD-L1 acts as a check or brake by binding to another protein in T cells called PD-1. This discovery led them to develop an antibody that blocks PD-L1's function.

"Using the antibody to block PD-L1 restores the immune system's ability to kill the tumor," says Dr. Dong, the Iris and Winston Clement Professor of Research. "This breakthrough laid the foundation for immunotherapy drugs that target the PD-L1 pathway."

In 2002, Dr. Dong and his team reported their findings, paving the way for the development of new immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors. In 2014, the Food and Drug Administration approved pembrolizumab as the first immune checkpoint inhibitor to treat melanoma. Today, pembrolizumab is approved to treat 18 types of cancer.

How does cancer immunotherapy work?

Cancer immunotherapy drugs don't directly target cancer cells. Instead, they enhance the body's immune cells, improving their ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

"Immunotherapy helps the immune system see where the tumor is in the body. The immune system can see a single cancer cell. That's powerful," says Dr. Dong.

"Immunotherapy helps the immune system see where the tumor is in the body. The immune system can see a single cancer cell. That's powerful."Dr. Haidong Dong

"It's almost like cancer therapy by proxy," says Dr. Markovic, the Charles F. Mathy Professor of Melanoma Research. "We're engaging the body to do its job in ways that make it uniquely effective."

Some of the most common immunotherapies used in cancer treatment include:

Immune checkpoint inhibitors

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are immunotherapy drugs that block checkpoint proteins, such as PD-L1, on cancer cells from binding to their partner proteins on immune cells (T cells). This allows the immune system to destroy cancer cells. Pembrolizumab is one example of an immune checkpoint inhibitor. Eleven immune checkpoint inhibitors have now been approved to treat cancer.

Most of these drugs are used for advanced cancer or cancer that has spread (metastasized). However, some immune checkpoint inhibitors are now being used in earlier stages of cancer to prevent its spread and recurrence. Clinical trials are also investigating combinations of these drugs with other treatments and new immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Learn about immune checkpoint inhibitors and related research at Mayo Clinic:

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Immunotherapy for people with triple-negative breast cancer
• From molecule to melanoma: A foundation of research brings new cancer immunotherapies to patients

Oncolytic viruses

Oncolytic viruses use naturally occurring or lab-made viruses to infect cancer cells, causing them to rupture. This stimulates the immune system to attack the remaining cancer cells.

Most oncolytic virus treatments for cancer are still in clinical trials. A weakened form of herpes simplex virus type 1 given by injection is approved to treat melanoma on the skin or in lymph glands.

Learn about oncolytic virus research at Mayo Clinic:

• Novel oncolytic immunotherapy shows promise for patients with bladder cancer
• Unleashing viruses aimed at killing cancer
• Mayo Clinic researchers load CAR-T cells with oncolytic virus to treat solid cancer tumors

Personalized cancer vaccines

Personalized cancer vaccines train the immune system to recognize a specific cancer-related protein from a person's tumor. As the immune system learns to recognize the protein, it can fight it. This treatment is still being studied in clinical trials.

Learn about personalized cancer vaccine research at Mayo Clinic:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: How personalized vaccines target cancer tumors
• Vaccines: The next frontier of lung cancer treatment and prevention
• Tomorrow's Cure: How personalized vaccines combat cancer
• Mayo Clinic researchers design personalized vaccines to fight cancer
• Harnessing the immune system to fight ovarian cancer

Cellular therapies

Cellular therapies involve collecting cells from blood and modifying them to attack cancer cells. These include chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy and tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy.

• CAR-T cell therapy: For this therapy, white blood cells called T cells are removed from a person's blood and genetically modified to produce chimeric antigen receptors. CARs allow T cells to recognize markers on the surface of cancer cells, activating the T cells to kill them. The modified CAR-T cells are then infused into the patient's body to identify and destroy their cancer. The FDA has approved CAR-T cell therapy to treat several types of blood cancer, and clinical trials are exploring its use for solid tumor cancers.
• TIL therapy: This therapy involves surgically removing a person's cancerous tumor, extracting immune cells (lymphocytes) from it, and enriching them. During this process, the patient receives chemotherapy to prepare to receive the enriched immune cells, which are later infused into their body to target any remaining cancer. "The first treatment the patient receives warms up the immune system — improves it to a degree ­— but not enough to kill the tumor. TIL therapy gives the immune cells more power to finish the job," says Dr. Dong. In 2024, the FDA approved the first TIL therapy, lifileucel, for people with melanoma that has spread or cannot be removed by surgery.

Learn about cellular therapy research at Mayo Clinic:

• What is CAR-T cell therapy?
• Understanding CAR-T cell therapy for cancer: Mayo Clinic expert explains how it works
• Unleashing CAR-T cell therapy to destroy solid tumors in thyroid cancer
• Using molecular scissors to improve CAR-T cell therapy
• Preparing to biomanufacture a new CAR-T cell therapy for B-cell cancers

Cytokines

Cytokines are proteins made by white blood cells that signal the immune system to either activate or slow down. Cytokines used as immunotherapy drugs include interleukins and interferons:

• Interleukins: These act as chemical signals between white blood cells. Aldesleukin is a lab-made interleukin (IL-2) that increases the growth and activity of certain white blood cells. It is used to treat melanoma and kidney cancer that has spread throughout the body.
• Interferons: These help the body resist viruses and cancer cells. Interferon alfa-2b is a type of interferon (IFN-alpha) used to treat hairy cell leukemia, melanoma, follicular lymphoma and AIDS-related Kaposi sarcoma.

Bispecific antibodies

When the immune system detects cancer cells or other abnormal cells, it produces immune cells called antibodies to attack them. Bispecific antibodies are lab-made antibodies that can bind to both cancer and immune cells simultaneously, bringing them close together to enhance the immune system’s ability to destroy cancer cells.

The FDA has approved seven immunotherapy drugs that use bispecific antibodies to treat cancer.

Learn about bispecific antibody research at Mayo Clinic: "New research discovers a new combination of therapy for people with a type of leukemia, leading them to live longer."

What are the benefits and risks of immunotherapy?

Immunotherapy is effective against many types of cancer because it uses the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells. "We don't yet know which immunotherapy best suits all malignancies. As we learn the biology of all this, as our intervention tools become more sophisticated, the number of cancers we can treat increases," says Dr. Markovic.

"We don't yet know which immunotherapy best suits all malignancies. As we learn the biology of all this, as our intervention tools become more sophisticated, the number of cancers we can treat increases."Dr. svetomir Markovic

Immunotherapy can also produce long-lasting responses to treatment by training the immune system to recognize cancer and respond quickly if it returns.

However, immunotherapy can cause side effects. "That’s the price we pay," says Dr. Markovic. "When turned on, the immune system attacks the cancer but may also attack noncancerous tissue, producing side effects similar to autoimmune disease symptoms. They mimic allergic reactions."

Side effects vary based on the type of immunotherapy. Some can be serious, but most can be managed, treated and resolved. Common side effects include redness, itching or blistering of the skin, flu-like symptoms, diarrhea, swelling and weight gain.

Mayo Clinic scientists and colleagues worldwide are researching how to reduce immunotherapy's side effects and increase its benefits. "As we get better with cancer immunotherapy, our treatments become more effective, less toxic and help more people," says Dr. Markovic.

The future of cancer immunotherapy

Scientists are researching ways to improve immunotherapy outcomes and reduce its limitations. Dr. Dong says research is exploring these key areas:

• Understanding why the responses vary from person to person.
• Combining immunotherapy with other treatments, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or targeted drug therapy, to produce the best outcomes.
• Reducing side effects.
• Identifying biomarkers to help predict which people will respond to immunotherapy.

Dr. Dong says this research could improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy and patients’ quality of life. It will also help care teams make more informed treatment decisions and may decrease the financial burden of cancer treatment.

"Immunotherapy has fundamentally changed cancer medicine with the possibility of a cure for cancers that have been considered completely incurable," says Dr. Markovic. "It was once unheard of for patients with metastatic, advanced melanoma to be cured of their disease. Today, a person with this diagnosis has a one in three chance of being cured. That’s a dramatic improvement in outcomes."

Learn more

Drs. Dong and Markovic encourage you to ask your care team specific questions about your treatment. Other trusted sources of information about immunotherapy include:

• American Cancer Society
• Cancer Research Institute
• National Cancer Institute
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Find a clinical trial at Mayo Clinic.

Join a support group on Mayo Clinic Connect, an online community moderated by Mayo Clinic for patients and caregivers.

This article first published on the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center blog.

The post What is cancer immunotherapy? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minnesota — Dr. Eric Moore has been appointed medical director, International at Mayo Clinic. Dr. Moore will begin his new position in April.

Dr. Moore exemplifies dedication to patient care and is globally recognized as a leader in his field. He brings more than three decades of experience in clinical care, education and research to the role. He is a professor and chair of the Department of Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

Dr. Moore is known for advancing care for complex ear, nose and throat conditions and leveraging research expertise to innovate therapies. He is passionate about sharing knowledge and expertise to improve global healthcare. Dr. Moore is a pioneer in minimally invasive transoral robotic surgery and has improved outcomes for patients with HPV-related cancers and oropharyngeal cancers.

As a dedicated mentor, Dr. Moore has contributed to otolaryngology education and received multiple awards for his work. He is a five-time recipient of the Mayo Fellows Teacher of the Year Award.

Before joining Mayo Clinic, Dr. Moore was a major in the U.S. Air Force. He attended medical school at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia and completed residency training at Mayo and a fellowship in Austria.

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About Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit the Mayo Clinic News Network for additional Mayo Clinic news.

Media contact:

• Elizabeth Baxter, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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Collaborating around patient need

Underpinning innovation at Mayo Clinic Laboratories is a unique ecosystem of integration. A network of laboratory scientists and bedside physicians collaborates to translate scientific discoveries into real-world tools that save patients’ lives.

“The clinician is limited when they don't have a good diagnostic test,” says Dr. John Mills, co-director of the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic. “There are many situations where clinically deciding if a patient has disease A or disease B is extremely challenging, and without lab tools to help them make those decisions, they can't provide the best care possible.”

At Mayo Clinic, the individuals developing tests in the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory are a mix of laboratorians, clinicians, and doctors who perform both jobs.

“There is a sort of natural communication between the clinic because the individuals are the same ... and having that crossover really keeps that momentum going,” says Dr. Andrew McKeon, co-director of the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory.

Treating patients with autoimmune neurological disorders in the clinic often reveals things not seen before, says Dr. McKeon, who is also a bedside physician. “And that will lead to research questions. Or you might see a test result that seems unusual, and that may lead to questions around whether there are things we can improve in the lab in terms of how we test for a particular antibody. Then, on the lab side, we may engage with an ordering clinician who has a question about an antibody and its significance that we just didn’t think of.”

The interaction between the lab and the practice is a key component of developing patient-centric laboratory testing, Dr. Mills adds. “It helps us identify areas for discovery, get access to samples, ask the right questions, develop the right tests, and really is the reason we're able to translate these discoveries before many other laboratories.”

Asking the right questions is central to Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ innovation strategy.

“The value of integration is that we’re always asking questions for patients: are we barking up the right tree, do we have the right test for that, do we have to create something new?” says William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., CEO and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “Sometimes the right questions can’t be answered. We realize that we don’t have the right tests to really evaluate for something. So that is what spurs the innovation.”

Harnessing the power of science

Since Mayo Clinic Laboratories was established in the early 1980s, neuroimmunology researchers have pushed the envelope on what is known about autoimmune neurological illness. Translation of discoveries into testing for autoimmune neurological disease was made possible with the creation of the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory in 1989.

Since its founding, the lab has advanced the field by discovering antibodies associated with rare autoimmune neurological conditions, such as neuromyelitis optica, stiff person syndrome, myasthenia gravis, and paraneoplastic disorders. But there is more work to be done.

“The field of autoimmune neurology is really still in its early stages,” Dr. Mills says. “New novel biomarkers are discovered almost on a monthly basis. And so that really impacts how the lab operates — there's always new tests and new analytes to offer.”

In the Clinical Neuroimmunology Laboratory, physicians and scientists have discovered and are on constant lookout for new antibodies. When new, relevant antibodies are identified, the discoveries are quickly implemented into assays, Dr. Mills says. 

“We try to implement the new tests at the same time as the field evolves,” Dr. Mills adds. “The main driver for that is once we’ve discovered a test that has a clinical utility that we know can help patients, we want to get it to them as soon as possible.”

At present, of the 30-plus antibodies the neuroimmunology lab has tests for, more than five are only available at Mayo Clinic Laboratories because they are new or rare discoveries, Dr. Mills adds. Since newly discovered antibodies are continually added to the lab’s portfolio of autoimmune testing conditions, the lab’s testing is the most comprehensive available.

“That's something we pride ourselves on, is to constantly be at the forefront providing these novel antibodies as soon as we can, once they've been clinically validated. And that really has driven the field forward,” Dr. Mills says.

Changing lives with advanced and esoteric tools

The autoimmune movement disorders panel is an example of an assay that has evolved to align with changing science. Launched in the early 2000s, the test looks for more than 20 antibodies associated with autoimmune illnesses that impact an individual’s ability to move. Autoimmune movement disorders and phenomena can occur suddenly or slowly, and involve dizziness, numbness, tingling, pain, muscle seizing, joint stiffness, and other problems. They have differing causes, including cancer, and varying prognosis and treatment options.

Detection of antibody biomarkers provides insights that direct individualized treatment protocols aligned with symptom severity, type of antibody discovered, and the presence or absence of cancer.

The movement disorders test uses a number of methodologies to evaluate for the antibodies, including cell-binding assay, indirect immunofluorescence assay, radioimmunoassay, Western blot, and immunoblot.

When patient samples arrive in the laboratory, they are transferred onto slides that contain different types of mouse control tissues, including brain, kidney, and gut. After the slides have incubated, they are viewed under an immunofluorescence microscope by clinical laboratory technicians.

“As part of our training, we memorize a variety of tissue staining patterns that signify which antibody a patient might have,” says clinical laboratory technician Steven Brady. “If a positive result is suspected, it is moved to the consultants and lab directors for further review.”

“When these patients develop their autoantibodies, they cannot move, they are bedridden and can’t function day to day and their lives have completely changed,” Brady says. “And we can help provide them an answer and a path forward to get them back into their normal life. It’s amazing to see the work that we’re doing can actually recover somebody’s life and put them back into society, back with their family, back doing what they love to do.”

The Mayo Clinic values, which include healing, teamwork, innovation, excellence, stewardship, integrity, and respect, are exemplified by Mayo Clinic Laboratories, says Dr. McKeon.

“For me, there's really no difference between what's done through Mayo Clinical Laboratories and what's done in the clinic itself,” Dr. McKeon says. “Patients who receive testing through Mayo Clinic Laboratories really get the very best care, including for neurology. Patients are getting the most up-to-date, the most cutting-edge, but also well-validated tests for autoimmune neurology available.”

Learn more about Autoimmune Neurology Testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

Check out the next installment of “Life of a Specimen,” where we learn how antibody clues in one patient’s blood and spinal cord fluid pinpointed a diagnosis and opened a door to treatment.

This article firs appeared on the Mayo Clinic Laboratories blog.

The post Integration, innovation, precision: Propelling leading-edge diagnostics appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Dr. Umair Majeed, a Mayo Clinic oncologist, says improved treatment options mean better outcomes for patients, even for those with late-stage colorectal cancer.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

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Colon cancer is staged from 0 to 4. The stage determines the extent of the cancer — and the treatment.

"Stages 3 and 4 are considered advanced stages, where the cancer goes into the lymph nodes in stage 3 disease, and it goes into distant organs like the lungs, liver or bones in stage 4 disease," says Dr. Majeed.

When colorectal cancer spreads

The liver is the most common organ colorectal spreads to.

"We are offering liver transplantation as an option to select patients. We have a hepatic artery infusion pump program also available for those patients where the cancer has spread from the colon or the rectum to the liver," he says.

The pump delivers chemotherapy directly to artery that supplies the liver. He says, in addition to surgery, treatment options include better drugs, immunotherapy and targeted therapies. 

"We have surgeons who specialize in advanced procedures such as cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC, which is a form of specialized chemotherapy given into the peritoneum for select patients," Dr. Majeed says.

With all these advanced options, Dr. Majeed remains cautiously optimistic.

"Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer where, even if it's stage 4, there is a chance of cure in select cases," he says.

Related topics:

• Mayo Clinic Minute: Warning signs of colorectal cancer in younger adults
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Are colon and rectal cancers treated differently?
• Hepatic artery infusion pump therapy for colorectal liver metastases

The post (VIDEO) Treatment options for advanced colorectal cancer appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Journey to the laboratory

Approximately 40,000 samples, hailing from more than 70 countries around the globe, arrive at Mayo Clinic Laboratories each day. Representing a diverse spectrum of patients — including individuals affected by acute illnesses, chronic disease, rare disorders, and emerging conditions — each patient sample is processed according to rigorous standards and controls that ensure high-quality answers.

Performing more than 26 million tests each year, Mayo Clinic Laboratories provides laboratory testing services to patients receiving care on Mayo Clinic campuses and patients around the world seeking higher levels of diagnostic care.

“These are people that often have complex medical issues and need that higher level of care that Mayo Clinic can provide,” says Dr. Bobbi Pritt, chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, at Mayo Clinic. “They're looking for answers, and we do our best to provide those for them.”

In the same way that operations at Mayo Clinic are focused on the patient’s journey, operations at Mayo Clinic Laboratories are focused on the journey of the patient specimen.

“As soon as the specimen is obtained, we think about it as we would think about a patient on our campus, and probably more so because they are not on our campus,” says Dr. William Morice II, CEO and president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “We’ve put systems in place to make sure we can keep an eye on and understand where that specimen is as it’s taking its journey here. We take the same care as we would for the entirety of patients to get (specimens) through the system in a way that is efficient, accurate, and gets the answers back as quickly as possible.”

Precise coordination

Hundreds of couriers and freight companies work with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to transport patient specimens from their points of origin. This vast network is oriented around the goal of delivering samples on time and intact to their final destination.

“There's a lot of effort that's put in before the samples arrive at our testing facilities,” says Angela Reese-Davis, director of Operations, Logistics and Specimen Services for Mayo Clinic Laboratories. “We have good relationships with our vendors, and a key part of those relationships is having continued conversations about quality: how can we do a better job together.”

Instructing vendors about the different types of material being shipped, which include urine, blood cells, biopsied tissue, cerebrospinal cord fluid, saliva, and stool, and how best to transport these materials safely is key to ensuring safe delivery, Reese-Davis says.

“Every specimen has a different stability, whether it be ambient or refrigerant or frozen, and each of those temperatures needs to be treated differently,” Reese-Davis explains. “So it’s educating our vendors to understand that, and then partnering with them to come up with different ways to ship or carry our materials safely at the temperature they should be at.”

Assiduous operation

When samples arrive at Mayo Clinic Laboratories’ main testing hub, known as the Superior Drive Support Center (SDSC), they are often packed in Mayo Clinic Laboratories-branded berry boxes. These burgundy boxes are easily identifiable to carriers and couriers.

“We love our berry boxes; it differentiates us, and they are easy to see,” Reese-Davis says.

In addition to arriving at SDSC, patient samples are received and tested at the Hilton Building, which is adjacent to Mayo Clinic’s primary clinical spaces and houses the Central Clinical Core Services Laboratory. 

Whether arriving at SDSC, the Hilton Building, or the laboratory facilities in Florida and Arizona, samples are scanned and tracked into the system as soon as they arrive. At SDSC, a conveyor belt known as “the slinky” quickly moves boxes of specimens into the laboratory facility. In the Hilton Building, samples oftentimes arrive at the laboratory via a conveyor belt system that transports them directly from the patient collection areas.

“When they arrive at our laboratory and get tracked into the system, it’s kind of like checking into a hotel,” says Christopher Yoch, assistant supervisor, Central Processing Laboratories. “We check them in, welcome them to Mayo Clinic. We know where you are and this is the testing laboratory you are going to go to.”

With more than 60 different laboratories in Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology performing testing, tracking is a crucial aspect of the process.

“When a client is sending a sample from around the globe to us and they call our facility wanting to know what's going on with their sample or looking for results, I have traceability of where that tube is at in the process,” Yoch says. “I know exactly which bench that tube is at, I know which laboratory it is at, I know which technician is handling that specimen.”

Once tracked into the system, samples are accessioned and affixed with a label that’s scanned anytime the sample moves to a different location in the lab. Samples typically move to pathology accessioning or main floor accessioning. Liquid samples that need to be divided for multiple tests are poured off and aliquoted. Then, using an automated sorting system, patient samples are categorized by the laboratory destination. Once in the proper testing category, the sorted samples are placed onto carts and delivered to the appropriate laboratory for processing.

For Mayo Clinic patients especially, the speed at which testing can be accomplished as a result of automation frequently translates into same-day results.

“A lot of times by the time patients arrive up to (exam) rooms, they actually have the results, so they can actually have that physical discussion with their physician,” Yoch says. “In certain situations where you’re waiting for that result and you don't know what’s going to happen, it's kind of a scary feeling. So having results from a laboratory helps ease those kinds of fears because you know your next step.”

Quality controls

For more than 50 years Mayo Clinic Laboratories has been refining the quality controls and measures used to ensure the highest level of testing performance. The integration of sophisticated tracking systems, leading-edge automation, and astute and innovative testing experts translates into successful testing completion more than 99.95% of the time.

A recent tactic involving camera installation on the testing floor has enabled additional oversight in certain testing areas. Two of these spaces are the pathology desk and international package receiving.

“In our international group there's a lot of intervention with customs,” Reese-Davis says. “Sometimes customs will open those packages and potentially forget to put (a test block) back in the box. So as we’re opening those packages, if there’s any discrepancies, for example, five (cell) blocks were sent but when we opened the package there were only four, we have camera footage that we can go back to.”

Similarly, video footage of the pathology area helps ensure specimen integrity, says Reese-Davis. “Many samples are irretrievable, but our pathology samples, when we're looking at blocks specifically where it's a tissue that may never be able to be extracted from a patient again, we can go back and verify exactly what we received.”

The personal interest and scrutiny provided to each sample by laboratory personnel is an embodiment of Mayo Clinic’s primary value of placing the needs of the patient first.

“When we handle specimens and treat them as a patient, even though we don't have that physical face-to-face representation of talking with an actual patient, then we're more likely to make sure that that tube goes to the correct location,” says Reese-Davis. “We're taking the time to make sure that each individual process, each testing platform, and each result is given the highest priority.”

Handled with care

For the individuals who work at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, commitment to providing patient answers is among the most fundamental aspects of the job.

“The people that work at Mayo Clinic Laboratories really are a special group of people,” Dr. Pritt says. “They are extremely dedicated, and they hold true to our Mayo Clinic values that the needs of the patient come first, and they embody our values. These are individuals that are dedicated to serving our patients, be it by testing a laboratory sample or seeing a patient directly or drawing a blood sample.”

Reese-Davis says that each day at Mayo Clinic Laboratories, individuals step up to ensure testing can be performed.

“It is in the actions of people that show they care,” she says. “If a specimen comes through that has short stability, it’s incredible to see the team come together to make sure they get that specimen to the laboratory within that time frame — they will go the extra effort to make sure the sample gets to the laboratory without being compromised. And that is all through action. Seeing them and the way they care tells me that they know they have an important role for that patient, and they work tirelessly to get through all of the work because they know there is a patient on the other side.”

Learn more about the multifaceted journey taken by millions of patient specimens each year by watching the third episode of “Life of a Specimen,” which explores how testing innovation enables answers for patients with rare and complex conditions.

This story first published on the Mayo Clinic Laboratories blog.

The post The specimen’s journey to the laboratory: Refined processes, unwavering care appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Colorectal cancer is a term that combines both colon and rectal cancers. The colon and rectum are two different parts of the lower digestive tract. These different cancers also mean different approaches to treatment that may involve the use of radiation and chemotherapy in addition to surgery. 

When it comes to treating cancer, experience matters, says Dr. Eric Dozois, a Mayo Clinic colon and rectal surgeon. And Mayo Clinic has been transforming this type of care for more than 100 years.

Watch: The Mayo Clinic Minute

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (0:55) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Colon and rectal cancers may be detected during the same screening, but they are treated differently, says Dr. Eric Dozois. 

"Our approach to rectal cancer, for example, often involves more aggressive treatments that help prevent it from coming back," says Dr. Dozois.

Innovation plays a strong role in rectal cancer surgery at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Robotic surgery allows your surgeon to work more efficiently in small spaces, providing an enhanced view of the area where the operation is taking place. Some of the benefits include:

• Surgery performed while the surgeon sits at a console and uses controls to guide high-tech surgical tools.
• Allows surgeons to work in small spaces with three-dimensional visualization, and with more precision, flexibility and control than with conventional techniques.
• Minimally invasive, fewer complications, quicker recovery, fewer urological complications and may reduce nerve dysfunction.

"We're using laparoscopic and robotic platforms to really offer patients surgery that is most up to date in terms of minimally invasive techniques, the least amount of trauma to the patient, but yet achieving the goals of surgery to remove the cancer," he says.

If colon cancer is caught early, surgery may be the only treatment that is necessary, but Dr. Dozois says, "Even in some of the earlier stages, a more aggressive approach that combines chemotherapy, radiation and surgery is necessary to keep it not only from coming back locally, but from spreading to other parts of the body."

Related content:

• Innovative treatments for rectal cancer
• Early Mayo Clinic research finds hope in stem cell therapy for perianal fistulas in patients with Crohn’s disease
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Why millennials should know colon cancer symptoms
• Mayo Clinic Minute: What’s the right colorectal cancer screening option for you?

The post Mayo Clinic Minute: Are colon and rectal cancers treated differently? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Traditional skin allergy patch testing can be cumbersome and time-intensive, often requiring patients to make multiple return visits to a clinic for analysis. However, a new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered solution offers a faster and more accurate way to diagnose skin conditions from a patient's own home. Discover this innovative approach on the latest episode of Tomorrow's Cure.

The episode features Dr. Charles Bruce, chief innovation officer at Mayo Clinic in Florida and Dr. Alison Bruce, dermatologist at Mayo Clinic. Together, they are reimagining the future of skin patch testing.

The doctors have developed an app powered by an AI algorithm that enables patients to capture images of their own skin. The app then analyzes patch test results, which are validated by a healthcare professional to ensure the assessments are accurate.

The typical patch test is a lengthy, five-day process. Patients must visit a clinic to have the patches applied, then return on the third and fifth days for result readings, making the procedure time-consuming and inconvenient. The AI approach eliminates the need for multiple clinic visits, saving time for both patients and clinicians.

"The way that we are now approaching it is developing a better way to do this," said Dr. Allison Bruce.

This new method offers significant potential for both simplifying the process and expanding access to skin patch testing. Additionally, the app is designed to recognize diverse skin tones, delivering more accurate and personalized results.

"This is what's so exciting about the ability to bring skin patch testing to the community and to allow people who otherwise would not have access to skin patch testing to test for potential allergens," said Dr. Charles Bruce.

Check out the new episode of Tomorrow's Cure to learn how this cutting-edge technology is making patch testing easier, faster and more accessible for everyone. To see a complete list of episodes and featured experts, visit tomorrowscure.com.

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: How AI enhances skin allergy testing appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.