On this week's episode of Tomorrow's Cure, we explore brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), cutting-edge technologies that create direct communication pathways between the human brain and external devices. Once considered science fiction, BCIs are now transforming lives. 

The podcast episode features Dr. Jonathon Parker, epilepsy and functional neurosurgeon, assistant professor of neurosurgery and neuroscience, and director of the Neuroelectronics Research Lab at Mayo Clinic; and Dr. Allen Waziri, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon, and CEO and co-founder of iCE Neurosystems. Together, they discuss the science behind BCIs, current medical applications and the transformative possibilities they hold for the future.

BCIs offer groundbreaking possibilities in the treatment of neurological disorders, with the potential to restore mobility, communication and independence to people affected by severe neurologic injuries or conditions. Already, this technology is enabling users to control prosthetic limbs and digital interfaces through brain activity.

"The brain is a piece of hardware; the brain-computer interface is another piece of hardware we are connecting to the brain," says Dr. Parker. "We are used to communicating through speech, movement, understanding other sensory inputs, right? So this is digitizing those inputs to solve a problem." 

"BCIs, for several decades, is the translation of those electrical potentials that are coming off of the brain into something that we can understand on a computer side that will then functionalize whatever device — a robotic arm, a cursor on a screen, drive a wheelchair, so on and so forth," says Dr. Waziri.

BCIs are being used to assist people with neurological injuries that impair speech or movement. However, experts believe this technology has far greater potential. Beyond restoring motor function, BCIs could pave the way for continuous neurological monitoring and new forms of intervention, opening doors to transformative applications in brain health.

Dr. Parker emphasizes the broader clinical implications of the technology. "When delivered to clinicians so they can just monitor the brain signals overtime, (it) could have tremendous impact for epilepsy, depression, Alzheimer's — these conditions which are affecting huge swaths of our population. That's the future of this technology," he says. 

Don't miss this thought-provoking conversation on the evolving science of BCIs and the remarkable innovations that could redefine human-machine interaction. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow's Cure, and explore the full library of episodes and guests at tomorrowscure.com.

The post Tommorow’s Cure: Mind meets machine — the future of neurological care appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

When the spine begins to curve sideways during childhood or adolescence, it can lead to a condition known as scoliosis. While traditional treatments have remained largely unchanged for decades, new advancements are offering young patients and their families more choices — and better outcomes. In this episode of Tomorrow's Cure, we explore the evolving landscape of scoliosis care and what these innovations mean for the future of spinal health.

Featured experts include Dr. A. Noelle Larson, orthopedic surgeon at Mayo Clinic, and Michelle Marks, executive director of the Setting Scoliosis Straight Foundation. Together, they have developed a shared decision-making tool that helps guide families through the complex process of evaluating treatment options.

Scoliosis treatment is determined by the size of the spinal curve and the child's remaining growth. A common non-surgical intervention is the use of a hard plastic brace, often worn 13 to 18 hours a day, that can be physically and emotionally demanding for young patients.

Historically, the only surgical option was spinal fusion, in which vertebrae are joined using metal rods and screws to stabilize and straighten the spine. Over time, the vertebrae fuse together. While spinal fusion can be highly effective, it reduces spinal flexibility, which can be challenging for young athletes and active individuals.

Now, a new treatment called vertebral body tethering (VBT) is offering a motion-preserving alternative. This technique uses a flexible plastic cord, which allows for spinal movement while gradually straightening the spine as the child grows. The tether adapts to the patient's development, offering a more dynamic and less restrictive solution.

"Scoliosis is not cancer or life-threatening per se, but to that patient and that family, it's life-changing. Going through either a surgery or years and years of bracing takes a toll," said Marks. "They need support, and they need to know that there are incredible professionals that are spending all their free time trying to advance care in every way they can for patients with scoliosis."

The goal of Dr. Larson's and Marks' decision-making tool is to empower families through shared decision-making. By outlining key considerations identified through extensive research, the tool fosters meaningful conversations between clinicians and families, creating space for thoughtful, informed treatment choices.

"I believe that many parents know what's best for their own child, and I hope that in my encounter with families, I can educate them and provide options and help translate the best available evidence and the best available research to that family," said Dr. Larson. "Then the family is really making the decision."

Importantly, the tool also ensures that the child remains actively involved in their care. "This tool is a way to engage the teenager and ask them questions, ask them to give their opinion," Dr. Larson continued. "It's a great opportunity to make sure the child has self-determination."

Learn more about the latest breakthroughs in scoliosis care in this episode of Tomorrow's Cure. For more episodes and featured experts, visit tomorrowscure.com. 

Related Articles:

• Vertebral body tethering: Another option for treating scoliosis in children
• New Surgery for Scoliosis Keeps Teen Agile and Active
• Scoliosis Surgery Preserves Teen's Mobility, Boosts Self-Esteem
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: Do children with mild scoliosis need treatment?

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In April 2023, CV Rao had just returned from a work trip in Europe when he started experiencing abdominal pain on his right side. His wife, a doctor, recognized that he needed to see his primary care physician for an ultrasound scan. 

When the ultrasound didn't show anything, CV's care team ordered a CT scan. The results were alarming — a 7 centimeter tumor, the size of a large peach, was in his liver. 

"It was a shock to the system," CV recalls. 

The initial diagnosis suggested intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the bile ducts.

CV quickly received a PET scan, an MRI and a biopsy at a local hospital which confirmed those suspicions. Within eight days, CV was undergoing chemotherapy to shrink the tumor so he might be eligible for surgery.

After six cycles of chemotherapy, the tumor was reevaluated. The good news was that the cancer was responsive to chemotherapy, and the tumor had shrunk by about 50%. Unfortunately, because the tumor surrounded major blood vessels, local surgeons still deemed it inoperable.

Seeking a second opinion

Determined to explore all options, CV sought a second opinion at Mayo Clinic. 

"I was working on 3D printing investments and kept running into Mayo's innovative approaches," he explains. "Everywhere I looked, they had this 3D printing effort where the surgeons were able to visualize what they were operating on using 3D printed organs."

This led him to believe that Mayo Clinic could offer a solution.

A new hope

Six months after diagnosis, CV and his wife, Madhavi, sat across from Harmeet Malhi, M.B.B.S., a hepatologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester.

"We want to give every patient every chance. Undergoing surgery was his best chance at being tumor-free."

Harmeet Malhi, M.B.B.S.

After reviewing his imaging and personalized treatment plan with Dr. Malhi, CV and his wife met with Patrick Starlinger, M.D., Ph.D., a hepatobiliary and pancreas surgeon. 

"Dr. Starlinger looked at me and said, 'You came to the right place. We can help you with this,'" CV remembers.

All three liver veins appeared to be involved. This type of tumor usually is not removable because there must be at least one vein to drain the liver, according to Dr. Starlinger.

"We told him to continue chemotherapy to maximize his response, aiming to get the tumor even smaller. And then we planned for advanced, complex liver surgery."

Patrick Starlinger, M.D.

Although CV understood this would be a high-risk procedure, he remembers feeling reassured after speaking with Dr. Starlinger.

"Dr. Starlinger looked at his fellows and said, 'Would you say this is routine?' And they all said 'Yes, it's a routine surgery for us,'" CV says.

As a native of Austria, Dr. Starlinger explains, "In German, we have a word that means saying 'yes' to life, 'lebensbejahend,' and that's how CV approached this. Both CV and his wife had such positive attitudes and a willingness to fight this with all they had."

CV believes the same can be said of Dr. Starlinger's approach to his case. 

"The very first day, Dr. Starlinger walked in with a positive attitude, which is one of the things that you realize you absolutely need to get through things like this," CV says.

Resecting the unresectable

CV's surgery was scheduled for November 22, 2023, the day before Thanksgiving. 

To prepare for the operation, Dr. Starlinger turned to a 3D printed model of CV's anatomy, just like the ones that had led CV to Mayo Clinic.

"3D models are incredibly helpful in complex surgical procedures because they allow for optimized surgical planning prior to the actual surgery," Dr. Starlinger explains.

At 6 a.m. on Nov. 22, CV was taken back to the operating room for the complex, 4.5-hour surgery. 

"We carefully dissected through the liver until we approached the right hepatic vein, which was really the critical portion of CV's operation," Dr. Starlinger says. "We had everything prepared to reimplant the only remaining liver vein, but with meticulous precision, using an ultrasound dissection device, we were ultimately able to peel the tumor off the majority of the right hepatic vein and perform a primary repair of the vessel."

Dr. Starlinger and the surgical team removed roughly 50% of CV's liver, along with the entire tumor. The surgery was a success.

Experiencing cherished milestones

Nearly two years after his diagnosis, CV is returning to the activities he loved. He has resumed skiing, attended his younger son's robotics competitions, and even traveled to Switzerland and Austria with his wife. 

"I can't wait to see my older son graduate and drop him off at college," he shares with a smile. "We are in a stage of life where a lot of life events are happening. It's amazing to do these things that are important to the family."

These moments, once clouded by uncertainty, are now cherished milestones.

Reflecting on his care at Mayo Clinic, CV expresses deep gratitude to the team that provided him with expert and compassionate treatment. 

"The Mayo Clinic staff is beyond what we've experienced elsewhere," he says. "During my seven days in the hospital, we interacted with many nurses, and through changes in shifts, it was just a uniformly amazing experience. Every, every single person we came in touch with was such a positive experience."

"We wish Dr. Starlinger the longest career possible because the number of lives he has and will save is incredible," he says. 

Related post:

• (VIDEO) A rare cancer. A rare weapon. Curtis Jackson’s inspiring story of survival

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For many cancer patients, treatment can be an isolating and overwhelming journey — marked by fear, fatigue and the constant burden of travel. But what if chemotherapy could be delivered at home? In this episode, we explore the movement to bring cancer care into the comfort of patients' homes. Could this shift not only ease the experience but also improve outcomes?

This week's episode of Tomorrow’s Cure features insights from Dr. Roxana Dronca, hematologist, oncologist and director of Mayo Clinic in Florida Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer for the American Cancer Society. 

According to the American Cancer Society, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer every 15 seconds. That staggering statistic drives the urgent push for more patient-centered, accessible care models. But what does that look like in practice?

For Dr. Dronca, this mission is personal — her daughter's cancer diagnosis revealed just how taxing traditional care can be. Out of that experience came a passionate commitment to transform how and where cancer care is delivered.

"I think cancer care, part of the scariness of it is how unknown it is, how unfamiliar it is in its approach," said Dr. Kamal. "But what if we could soften it by making components of it actually feel as normal as we can?"

Mayo Clinic's response: Cancer CARE (Connected Access and Remote Expertise) Beyond Walls, a new model offering expert care outside of hospital walls. The initiative minimizes travel and maximizes access by combining in-home services with a Mayo Clinic-based command center staffed by advanced practice providers, nurses and hospitalists. This team remotely coordinates care, ensuring seamless integration with each patient's medical history.

"I see that there is no choice every time I speak about Cancer CARE Beyond Walls," stated Dr. Dronca. 

In today's world, "Patients live longer, they need more treatments and we have more cancer diagnoses. We're really being outpaced in our ability to offer treatment to everyone in our physical spaces. So, we either think creatively and design a system where we can get care to more patients and also make the care more patient-friendly, or we build more chemotherapy units."

At-home cancer care isn't just a vision — it's happening now. Join us as we explore this transformative approach to care and what it means for the future of oncology. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow's Cure to learn more. 

Related Articles:

• Is home-based treatment the future of cancer care?
• Transforming cancer care with treatments at home 

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Skin allergies are common and often frustrating to diagnose. But new technology could soon help change that.

Dr. Alison Bruce, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic, is aiding the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool to support allergy patch testing. The tool is being designed to help patients self-apply test patches and use their smartphones to capture images over time, with technology offering guidance that could assist clinicians in diagnosis. It's a promising step toward faster, easier and more accessible skin allergy care, especially for people in rural areas or those with limited access to specialists. 

Watch: The future of skin allergy testing

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:56) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

Itchy skin. Swollen patches. A red, angry rash. Skin allergies impact nearly 1 in 5 people.

"That is when a substance comes into contact with the skin and causes a reaction," says Dr. Bruce.

You may think of poison ivy triggering a reaction, but jewelry, fragrances, lotions and many more substances can cause a skin reaction known as contact dermatitis.

"What happens is the skin just turns red, itchy, flaky, scaly, kind of sometimes becomes fissured, if it's very severe, kind of becomes so red and inflamed that the skin breaks down and you get little cracks and crevices in the skin," Dr. Bruce says.

A new tool in development at Mayo Clinic aims to help patients and their healthcare team determine the cause of the reaction. 

"We've been working on an AI tool to help with skin allergy testing because in current state, if you suspect that, as a patient or your doctor suspects that, you have allergic contact dermatitis, the way to test for that would be through patch testing," she says.

But testing can be time-consuming, requiring patients to return to the dermatologist's office multiple times.

"The idea behind having AI enhance what we're doing is, if you can imagine a situation where instead of going into your dermatologist, you were able to put the patches on your skin yourself, remove them at a predetermined time and then use your cellphone, use the camera on your cellphone, to image those reactions, and then AI would be potentially able to interpret the reactions to: 'Yes, there's a red reaction that corresponds to nickel, and, therefore, you're allergic to nickel,'" says Dr. Bruce.

She says the new tool can improve the lives of those having skin reactions by making diagnosis more accessible and faster for patients. 

"It can be done remotely. It can be done with imaging, AI interpretation, etc. It really broadens the reach of people who need care that can't always make it to places like Mayo Clinic," she adds.

Related posts:

• Tomorrow’s Cure: How AI enhances skin allergy testing
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Atopic dermatitis triggers and treatment

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In this week’s Tomorrow’s Cure episode, explore a revolutionary frontier in medicine: the ability to predict disease before symptoms even manifest. Listen to experts at the forefront of medical research who are leveraging cutting-edge technology to potentially make diseases like cancer a thing of the past. 

The podcast episode features insights from Dr. Vijay Shah, Kinney Executive Dean of Research at Mayo Clinic; Heidi Dieter, Chief Research Officer at Mayo Clinic and Dwight Diercks, Senior Vice President of Nvidia. Together, they share insights on how predictive medicine could transform healthcare, allowing intervention before illness takes hold.

Until now, most patients have been treated the same—despite the uniqueness of each individual. Experts believe there’s a better path forward. 

"The problem with guidelines is they treat everybody the same and in fact, all of us are different, and we have different risks for different types of diseases," said Dr. Shah. "Technologies today allow us to integrate multiomics, which is your gene profile, RNA profile, protein profile, and integrate that with the exposures that you have every day.” 

He continued, "That’s why it's been so hard to predict disease because we have not been able to truly integrate these different types of environmental and genetic factors to make a personalized prediction for one's health."

Now, researchers are overcoming these challenges using innovative technologies. Experts are using artificial intelligence to move closer to predicting—and potentially preventing—serious diseases before they develop.

"The data and AI that we're using is light years ahead of what we knew six months ago. It is iterating so rapidly, it's hard to keep up with it,” said Dieter. “So, when it takes 17-years to go from a discovery in a lab to a treatment for a patient, and that 17-year curve has not changed in decades. Data and AI is going to rapidly accelerate it."

And when treatment is necessary, providing individualized treatment is important to improve patient outcomes. While there’s still work to be done, this is the future experts are striving to build. 

"Everybody is different. Every cancer type is different and unique in each individual, said Dwight. “So, figuring out how to apply a cure needs to be different going forward, and it can be with the tools that AI brings to doctors."

The potential of this technology is transformative—reshaping care models to be more personalized, data-driven, and effective. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow’s Cure to learn more. Explore past episodes and featured experts at tomorrowscure.com.

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: Predicting disease with the power of data appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — An artificial intelligence (AI) model developed by Mayo Clinic and Ultromics, Ltd., an AI echocardiography company based in Oxford, England, is highly accurate in screening for cardiac amyloidosis, a rare and progressive type of heart failure, according to a new study. The model is the first and only AI tool of its kind.

Researchers from Mayo Clinic and Ultromics, with investigators at the University of Chicago Medicine and collaborators around the world, validated and tested the model on a large and multiethnic patient population and compared its abilities to other diagnostic methods for cardiac amyloidosis.

Their findings, published in the European Heart Journal, show that the AI model was highly accurate, with 85% sensitivity (correctly identifying those with the disease) and 93% specificity (correctly identifying those without the disease). Using a single echocardiography videoclip, the model was effective across all major types of cardiac amyloidosis and distinguished it from other conditions with similar characteristics.

Cardiac amyloidosis is a life-threatening condition where an abnormal protein, called amyloid, builds up in the heart, causing it to stiffen and not work properly. It is often missed because the symptoms and imaging features can be similar to other heart conditions. However, early diagnosis is crucial because new drug therapies are now available that can slow or stop the disease's progression.

This work builds on the previous experience of Mayo Clinic and Ultromics in developing an AI echocardiography model to detect heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), which received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance in 2022. HFpEF is a common type of heart failure, associated with high morbidity and mortality, but can be challenging to diagnose. An estimated 15% of patients with HFpEF have cardiac amyloidosis.

"This AI model is a breakthrough tool that can help us identify patients earlier so they can receive the treatment they need," says Patricia Pellikka, M.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic and past director of the Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Lab in Rochester. "We found that AI performed better than traditional clinical and transthoracic echo-based screening methods, providing clinicians with stronger insights on which to base decisions for further confirmation tests. New treatments are available for cardiac amyloidosis but are most effective if administered early in the course of the disease." Dr. Pellikka is senior author of the study.

The amyloid AI model is FDA-cleared and is currently being used at multiple centers in the U.S. Dr. Pellikka says she looks forward to applying this technology in the clinical practice at Mayo Clinic.

This study was partially supported by a grant from Ultromics and Dr. Pellikka is supported as the Betty Knight Scripps-George M. Gura, Jr., M.D. Professor of Cardiovascular Diseases Clinical Research at Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic has a financial interest in this technology and will use any revenue it receives to support its not-for-profit mission in patient care, education and research.

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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:

• Terri Malloy, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post AI-enhanced echocardiography improves early detection of amyloid buildup in the heart appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Wearable technology is transforming how people track health, manage chronic conditions and personalize care. In this episode of Tomorrow's Cure, experts reveal how these tools are reshaping healthcare. From detecting burnout in healthcare workers to predicting surgical recovery, the possibilities are expanding rapidly. Listen to learn how innovation in digital health is making care more proactive, accessible and tailored to every patient.

This week's episode features insights from Dr. Arjun Athreya, electrical and computer engineer and senior associate consultant at Mayo Clinic; and Dr. Jeannie Bailey, associate professor of orthopedic surgery and director of physical function and biomechanics research core at the University of California, San Francisco. Both are leading innovative efforts to use wearables to drive meaningful improvements in patient care.

Wearables enable real-time interventions, allowing clinicians to respond immediately when a behavioral change is detected. By capturing data such as heart rate, energy expenditure and sleep patterns, these devices help personalize care for each patient. They also allow for long-term monitoring across weeks or months, offering insights that can help predict changes in a person's health.

"The elegant science of trying to figure out how to use this data in a way that's going to improve patient outcomes, I think is very difficult and more of it needs to be done," says Dr. Bailey.

While wearables are increasingly popular among the general public, the next challenge lies in translating this commercial use into meaningful clinical outcomes.

"Any new patient walking through our door with a wearable device, we should be able to use that data and facilitate end measurement or prognostication, or prediction or diagnosis," says Dr. Athreya. 

Wearables also empower patients by giving them tools to monitor their health so they can play a more active role in their care journey.

"This tracking really enables patients to take ownership and think about their own progress, and it gives them that feedback," says Dr. Bailey. "They see how they're doing better, they're getting hopeful, and it's definitely affecting them." 

Additionally, the technology empowers clinicians to extend care beyond the walls of the clinic, reaching individuals and communities who may not have regular access to in-person care. Wearables offer a scalable solution that can help reduce health disparities more effectively than costly, hard-to-access clinic visits.

Wearable technology is unlocking new ways to improve patient outcomes. Tune in to the latest episode of Tomorrow's Cure to explore the cutting-edge research driving this innovation. For more episodes and featured experts, visit tomorrowscure.com.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — A team of Mayo Clinic researchers has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can detect surgical site infections (SSIs) with high accuracy from patient-submitted postoperative wound photos, potentially transforming how postoperative care is delivered.

Published in the Annals of Surgery, the study introduces an AI-based pipeline the researchers created that can automatically identify surgical incisions, assess image quality and flag signs of infection in photos submitted by patients through online portals. The system was trained on over 20,000 images from more than 6,000 patients across nine Mayo Clinic hospitals.

"We were motivated by the increasing need for outpatient monitoring of surgical incisions in a timely manner," says Cornelius Thiels, D.O., a hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgical oncologist at Mayo Clinic and co-senior author of the study. "This process, currently done by clinicians, is time-consuming and can delay care. Our AI model can help triage these images automatically, improving early detection and streamlining communication between patients and their care teams."

The AI system uses a two-stage model. First, it detects whether an image contains a surgical incision and then evaluates whether that incision shows signs of infection. The model, Vision Transformer, achieved a 94% accuracy in detecting incisions and an 81% area under the curve (AUC) in identifying infections.

"This work lays the foundation for AI-assisted postoperative wound care, which can transform how postoperative patients are monitored," says Hala Muaddi, M.D., Ph.D., a hepatopancreatobiliary fellow at Mayo Clinic and first author. "It’s especially relevant as outpatient operations and virtual follow-ups become more common."

The researchers are hopeful that this technology could help patients receive faster responses, reduce delays in diagnosing infections and support better care for those recovering from surgery at home. With further validation, it could function as a frontline screening tool that alerts clinicians to concerning incisions. This AI tool also paves the way for developing algorithms capable of detecting subtle signs of infection, potentially before they become visually apparent to the care team. This would allow for earlier treatment, decreased morbidity and reduced costs.

"For patients, this could mean faster reassurance or earlier identification of a problem," says Dr. Muaddi. "For clinicians, it offers a way to prioritize attention to cases that need it most, especially in rural or resource-limited settings."

Importantly, the model demonstrated consistent performance across diverse groups, addressing concerns about algorithmic bias. 

While the results are promising, the team says that further validation is needed. 

"Our hope is that the AI models we developed — and the large dataset they were trained on — have the potential to fundamentally reshape how surgical follow-up is delivered," says Hojjat Salehinejad, Ph.D., a senior associate consultant of health care delivery research within the Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery and co-senior author. "Prospective studies are underway to evaluate how well this tool integrates into day-to-day surgical care."

This research was supported by the Dalio Philanthropies Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Enablement Award and the Simons Family Career Development Award in Surgical Innovation.

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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:

• Chloe Corey, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic researchers develop AI tool to detect surgical site infections from patient-submitted photos appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Curtis Jackson was living his dream life — a loving and supportive wife, three wonderful kids, and a future that looked as bright as could be.

Then, one day, without warning, the dream was shattered.

At only 46, Curtis was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, one of the deadliest and most aggressive forms of cancer. It's a silent killer that strikes the liver. It is often diagnosed in later stages, leaving patients with few treatment options and little time to live.

The Jackson family turned to Mayo Clinic, where a team of experts fought the cancer with a weapon rarely used in the battle against this aggressive form of cancer.

Watch: A rare cancer. A rare weapon. Curtis Jackson's inspiring story of survival.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:17) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

The rare cancer

Years before his cancer diagnosis, Curtis was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). PSC is a chronic liver disease that causes inflammation and scarring to the bile ducts, which work with the liver to help with digestion.

PSC put the Arizona man at higher risk for liver cancer, requiring him to get regular diagnostic screenings. As with most forms of cancer, but particularly cholangiocarcinoma, doctors say early detection is key to improving patient outcomes.

However, with cholangiocarcinoma, there are often no warning signs or symptoms alerting patients of the need to consult with their doctor about getting screened, until it's too late. In Curtis' case, the cholangiocarcinoma was detected in one of his routine screenings at Mayo Clinic, which doctors say likely helped save his life.

"It's a very rare cancer that tends to grow unnoticed," says Dr. Tanios Bekaii-Saab, an oncologist with the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center in Arizona. "If the cancer gets to the point where it's too advanced for surgery or transplantation, universally this is a noncurative or noncurable cancer."

The rare weapon

Doctors say a liver transplant can sometimes be an option for some patients. However, not many transplant centers perform liver transplants on patients diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma. Mayo Clinic is one of the few centers that do offer liver transplantation for some patients who meet certain criteria.

In Curtis' case, doctors at Mayo Clinic determined a liver transplant was his best chance for survival.

"It is a unique form of therapy that is based on research that started at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota," says Dr. Bashar Aqel, director of the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center in Arizona.

"We developed some protocols that helped us improve the outcome of transplant in these patients, and without these protocols, a lot of patients with this type of cancer would not make it to transplant," says Dr. Aqel.

The treatment

Curtis first underwent chemotherapy and radiation at Mayo Clinic. He was then placed on the liver transplant waiting list for a donor organ. While waiting, Curtis says he kept his focus on his family.

"I spent all the time I could with my wife and kids, like basketball practices, homework, anything we could do to help our kids," says Curtis.

When Curtis got the call a donor organ was found, he immediately reported to Mayo Clinic to undergo his lifesaving liver transplant. The surgery was a success. Four weeks later, Curtis was back at home with family recovering well and feeling a deep sense of gratitude for his organ donor and his team at Mayo Clinic.

"Thank you because now I get to see my daughters get married, go to college, I get to see my son live his dreams and go to college and get married," says Curtis. "I get to live and grow old with my wife. I can't say this enough to everyone, 'thank you.'"

"We're already observing excellent function from Curtis' new liver, with the majority of his liver tests returning normal results," says Dr. Aqel. "His recovery has been remarkably swift and impressive."

"A lot of love goes out to the people in that family," says Gwyn Jackson, Curtis' oldest daughter in reference to the organ donor's family. "They allowed us to have our dad back and we're so grateful because we love him so much."

Doctors at Mayo Clinic are monitoring Curtis' progress closely. Meanwhile, Curtis' future is back to looking bright, only now with even deeper gratitude in his heart.

"This truly is the gift of life," says Curtis.

Related stories:

• (VIDEO) Breathing easy thanks to the gift of life and new Mayo Clinic Lung Transplant Program in Arizona
• Breaking barriers: Helping Native Americans in need get the gift of life
• Jessie’s Journey
• (VIDEO) Harnessing the power of innovation and a patient’s will to survive

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