Deployment across Mayo Clinic pathology practices integrates AI-enabled digital pathology with historical pathology images and clinical data in a unified workflow.

ROCHESTER, Minn., and OREM, Utah — Mayo Clinic and Techcyte today announced the implementation of Anatomic Pathology (AP) technology, a next-generation digital pathology platform developed through a co-development and intellectual property licensing agreement between the two organizations. This collaboration expands adoption of Mayo Clinic Digital Pathology innovations while advancing development of a next-generation digital pathology platform through a connected artificial intelligence (AI)-driven ecosystem.

Techcyte Fusion AP is a digital pathology solution that unifies whole-slide image (WSI) viewing, case information, workflow tools and AI into a single platform to support anatomic pathology processes. The rollout of Fusion AP builds on a multiyear collaboration between Mayo Clinic and Techcyte to advance digital pathology and laboratory medicine through technologies that support patients, pathologists, laboratories and researchers. Through the agreement, Techcyte has licensed Mayo Clinic-developed intellectual property, enabling the organizations to further develop and broaden access to innovations originating from Mayo Clinic's digital pathology program.

Every advancement in digital pathology is ultimately intended to improve the experience of the patient. Bringing together a patient's pathology images, clinical history and relevant case information into a single, integrated workflow helps pathologists access the information they need more efficiently to support timely, informed diagnostic decisions. For patients, this means pathology teams can spend less time navigating technology and more time focused on delivering the expert, coordinated care that is central to Mayo Clinic's practice.

About Fusion

Fusion is an AI-driven platform shaped by input from Mayo Clinic pathologists and laboratory specialists to support the needs of enterprise anatomic and clinical pathology workflows. The Fusion AP platform streamlines complex pathology operations by bringing together WSI viewing, case information, workflow tools and integrated data sources within a clean, ultrafast, high-performance interface, all on one platform.

"The implementation of Fusion AP, developed through our collaboration with Mayo Clinic, is an important milestone in our shared work to advance digital pathology," says Ben Cahoon, CEO of Techcyte. "Fusion AP brings AI into the pathology workflow in a way that supports efficiency for the pathologists doing the work."

The use of the Fusion AP technology enables enterprise-wide access to over 22.6 million current and historical WSIs, providing pathologists real-time access to Mayo Clinic's archive. Fusion AP is also integrated with Mayo Clinic's electronic health record and Laboratory Information Systems, bringing relevant patient history, lab results, case information and associated WSIs into a single environment to support pathologist review. 

"This implementation reflects years of collaboration between our pathology, laboratory and technology teams to co-develop a platform around the way pathologists practice," says Eric Hsi, M.D., chair of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "By bringing together pathology images, clinical information and AI-enabled tools into a unified digital workflow, we're helping create a more efficient, connected environment that supports high-quality patient care today."

"Mayo Clinic's work in digital pathology is guided by the needs of patients and shaped by the realities of clinical practice," says Jim Rogers, CEO of Mayo Clinic Digital Pathology. "Our collaboration reflects a shared focus on building clinically relevant digital pathology solutions that fit into day-to-day pathology workflows."

Throughout this strategic collaboration, Mayo Clinic and Techcyte will continue to co-develop technologies that enable pathologists to access and deploy AI tools within their existing workflows. The connected ecosystem is intended to support AI applications developed by Techcyte, Mayo Clinic and third-party innovators, creating a flexible framework for advancing diagnostic capabilities across pathology subspecialties.

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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.

About Techcyte
Techcyte is transforming the practice of pathology through a unified, AI-powered digital platform that streamlines complex workflows, integrates with core lab systems, and enhances communication across the lab.

By partnering with leading laboratories, scanner manufacturers, diagnostic hardware providers, and AI developers, we deliver a unified digital pathology platform to labs and clinics around the world, furthering our mission to positively impact the health of humans, animals, and the environment.

Visit techcyte.com for more information.

Techcyte's anatomic and clinical pathology platform is for Research Use Only in the United States.

Media contacts:

• Troy Bankhead, Techcyte Europe, 435-210-6200, troy.bankhead@tehcyte.com
• Tom Millikin, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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A simple 10-second heart test with the aid of artificial intelligence is helping physicians detect a serious, often-overlooked disease.

For Rochester businessman Mike Busch, that technology proved life-changing. After months of unexplained symptoms, an AI-enhanced ECG helped doctors at Mayo Clinic quickly uncover a diagnosis that might otherwise have been missed.

Watch: AI-ECG helps physicians detect hidden heart condition

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (2:31) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: "Mayo Clinic News Network." Read the script.

At the age of 77, Mike Busch says he has no plans for retirement.

"I still work full time," he says.

Spending time with Carol, his wife of 51 years, running his business and promoting youth wrestling in the region means Mike is always on the go.

But in 2023, his health became a concern.

"I wasn't feeling well for a few months, felt like somebody was sitting on my chest," Mike says. "I kind of lost my balance and kind of fell a little bit. I knew I had to probably go in and see somebody. I had been putting it off too long, and went into Mayo."

His doctor ordered an electrocardiogram, or ECG. It's a simple 10-second test that records the heart's electrical signals. Unbeknownst to Mike, he had developed a heart condition called cardiac amyloidosis.

"Cardiac amyloid is a condition where abnormal proteins deposit in the heart. It makes the heart stiff and causes problems with heart failure," says Dr. Martha Grogan, a cardiologist and director of the Cardiac Amyloidosis Clinic at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

"I kind of suspected something, but I didn't think it was that serious," Mike says.

His doctors were able to quickly diagnose him, thanks in large part to AI.

"Artificial intelligence, isn't it? I think," Mike says. "I'm not sure."

"The algorithm that we have to detect amyloid was strongly positive. Our scale goes from zero to 100, and he ranked a 98," says Dr. Grogan.

"It begins to learn what the patterns are, and then when it's all done, we can give it an unknown ECG and say, 'Is the pattern that suggests amyloid heart disease present, yes or no?' And it's a very powerful classifier. It can see signals that are hidden to humans," says Dr. Paul Friedman, a cardiologist and Norman Blane and Billie Jean Harty Chair, Mayo Clinic Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Honoring Robert L. Frye, M.D., at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

That's vital for patients with cardiac amyloidosis, which is often misdiagnosed as other types of heart problems, delaying important treatment.

"I couldn't believe it, put it that way," Mike says.

This AI-ECG tool was developed at Mayo seven years ago and recently received FDA clearance.

"Since the introduction of the AI-ECG at Mayo Clinic, it's now been used over a million times by clinicians in screening for various heart conditions," says Dr. Friedman. "It's a powerful test, and it can have us point not our stethoscope but maybe our looking glass in the right direction, so we don't miss things that are important and that are treatable."

Mike takes his medication, continues to follow up with his doctors, and still stays busy.  

"I don't see any changes as far as my work ethic goes," he says. "I'm fortunate to be where I'm at, and I'm happy with Mayo Clinic and what they've done."

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• A novel theranostics study explores imaging- and data-informed approaches to support individualized treatment decisions and expand access to theranostics
• Collaboration stems from a 2023 Strategic Radiology Research Alliance between Mayo Clinic and GE HealthCare, aimed at transforming the experience of patients and clinicians in the practice of radiology and the delivery of novel therapies

CHICAGO, Ill. and ROCHESTER, Minn. — GE HealthCare and Mayo Clinic today announced the MI-BET (Molecular Imaging Biomarker-Based End of Therapy Trial) research collaboration, a novel theranostics study designed to explore a more personalized approach to radioligand therapy (RLT) for patients with advanced prostate cancer. This collaboration is a direct result of the 2023 Strategic Radiology Research Alliance between Mayo Clinic and GE HealthCare, aimed at transforming the experience of patients and clinicians in the practice of radiology and the delivery of novel therapies.

Radioligand therapy is an emerging treatment approach within theranostics that combines targeted radiopharmaceutical diagnostics and therapies, allowing clinicians to identify and treat cancer with greater precision. Today, many patients receiving RLT follow a standardized preset number of treatment cycles. MI-BET is designed to evaluate whether imaging- and biomarker-informed insights can support a more personalized approach to each patient's care. In this case, treatment may be adapted via a pause in RLT treatment. The decision to apply this pause is directly determined from the individual patient's disease response over time.

"This collaboration is an example of how Mayo Clinic leads in discovery by integrating novel technologies into our practice and accelerating innovation across research and clinical care to advance the future of medicine," says Andrew Danielsen, chief business development officer at Mayo Clinic. "By bringing together complementary expertise and capabilities, we can enable our world-class researchers and physicians to develop new insights, expand treatment possibilities, and ultimately provide the best outcomes for our patients globally."

The MI-BET study will use GE HealthCare's StarGuide SPECT/CT technology alongside MIM Software's MIM LesionID Pro to track how tumors are responding to treatment throughout therapy. By integrating imaging data with clinical outcomes and blood-based biomarkers, the Mayo Clinic research team is exploring these combined insights, which may help inform treatment decisions and potentially support the development of predictive markers for patient response. Predictive marker insights could enable researchers and clinicians to anticipate how patients will respond before or early in treatment, further enabling physicians to make adaptive treatment decisions.

"Personalizing therapy is both a scientific pursuit and an opportunity to expand patient access," says Geoffrey Johnson, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Radiopharmaceutical Trial Team at Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center. "Theranostics, and studies such as MI-BET, give us an important opportunity to rethink how and when we treat cancer. By evaluating response earlier in their treatment, we can generate data to drive approaches that could help reduce unnecessary therapy while expanding access to care for wider populations."

This effort supports a broader goal of expanding access to advanced theranostic care so that scientific advances can benefit a wide range of patients. The study is designed to encourage broad participation through patient outreach, collaboration with community and advocacy organizations, and the use of approaches such as telemedicine that may help reduce barriers to enrollment and engagement.

Beyond evaluating treatment duration, MI-BET also seeks to contribute to the broader evolution of theranostics by exploring new imaging biomarkers and data-driven approaches designed to support clinical decision-making. These efforts reflect a growing shift in oncology toward more adaptive, patient-specific care models.

"Making theranostics truly adaptive and personalized requires strong clinical evidence and a deeper understanding of how patients respond to therapy," says Sergio Calvo, global general manager, Theranostics, at GE HealthCare. "Through our collaboration with Mayo Clinic, we are exploring how imaging and data-driven insights can help inform more individualized treatment decisions, support the broader adoption of these approaches and contribute to the continued growth of precision care in oncology."

MI-BET research and activities will be based at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, leveraging both organizations' strengths in clinical practice, research and product development. Additionally, Mayo Clinic is the first U.S. site to explore the clinical benefits that could be achieved with GE HealthCare's next-generation SPECT/CT StarGuide GX* technology. This includes exploring the potential for reduction in scan time and increasing the precision in tumor assessments.

^{* StarGuide GX is CE marked. Not approved or cleared by the FDA. Not available for sale in the United States.}

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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.

About GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.
GE HealthCare is a leading global healthcare solutions provider of advanced medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and AI, cloud and software solutions that help clinicians tackle the world’s most complex diseases. Serving patients and providers for 130 years, GE HealthCare is delivering bold innovations designed for the next era of medicine across its Advanced Imaging Solutions, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics segments to help clinicians deliver more personalized, precise patient care. We are a $20.6 billion business with approximately 54,000 colleagues working to create a world where healthcare has no limits.

GE HealthCare is proud to be among 2026 Fortune Worlds Most Admired Companies.

Follow GE Healthcare on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or visit GE Healthcare's website for the latest news and perspectives.

Media contacts:

• Caitlin Lamey, GE Healthcare, caitlin.lamey@gehealthcare.com, 951-249-1401
• Julie Ferris-Tillman, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post GE HealthCare and Mayo Clinic aim to advance personalized cancer treatment through new theranostics research collaboration appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic’s Berg Innovation Exchange and Business Development unite expertise in collaboration, commercialization and venture creation to accelerate innovation worldwide

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic is strengthening its commitment to advancing healthcare innovation by aligning the Mayo Clinic Berg Innovation Exchange with Mayo Clinic Business Development, creating new opportunities to help promising discoveries reach patients and communities worldwide.

Since its launch, the Berg Innovation Exchange has connected innovators with expertise, mentorship and a global network of collaborators. The exchange has served as a catalyst for innovation within Mayo Clinic and across the broader healthcare ecosystem, bringing together clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, industry leaders and investors to explore new approaches to healthcare challenges.

The alignment with Business Development creates stronger connections between early-stage innovation activities and the expertise needed to advance technologies, launch new ventures and expand the reach of Mayo Clinic discoveries.

"From the beginning, the vision of the exchange has been to help innovators find the expertise and opportunities needed to move ideas forward," says Jennie Kung, vice chair of Mayo Clinic Berg Innovation Exchange. "What started as a vision for accelerating innovation has grown into a community of innovators and problem-solvers and positions us to support even more meaningful work in the years ahead."

The exchange helps innovators refine and validate new concepts by providing access to collaborators’ collective expertise. Business Development complements those efforts through capabilities in intellectual property, licensing, venture creation, investment activities and commercialization.

Together, these capabilities create a more seamless pathway from discovery to real-world application, helping promising innovations advance toward broader adoption and patient impact.

"Innovation depends on strong connections between discovery, commercialization and collaboration," says Andy Danielsen, chief business development officer at Mayo Clinic. "This alignment expands opportunities to work with organizations around the world and provides the resources needed to translate ideas into products and services that benefit patients."

As healthcare continues to evolve, Mayo Clinic is committed to fostering relationships and collaborations that help advance innovation beyond institutional boundaries. Earlier access to expertise and strategic guidance can help innovators navigate key decisions and identify the most effective path forward.

"The ultimate measure of innovation is whether it makes a difference in people's lives," says Peter Noseworthy, M.D., medical director for Business Development. "Strengthening the connection between innovation and commercialization helps promising discoveries gain traction beyond Mayo Clinic and creates more opportunity for impact."

The exchange will continue to play an important role in identifying opportunities, encouraging collaboration and helping innovators transform promising ideas into meaningful advances.

At its core, the effort reflects Mayo Clinic's belief that meaningful progress happens when people with diverse expertise come together to solve important challenges.

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About the Berg Innovation Exchange
Supported by philanthropic funding, the Berg Innovation Exchange operates with impartiality, ensuring equal opportunities for all innovators and stakeholders, with an emphasis on addressing healthcare needs over individual or institutional interests.

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:

• Tom Millikin, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Mayo Clinic strengthens innovation ecosystem to advance discoveries from ideas to patient impact appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Healthcare AI is evolving beyond predicting outcomes to helping clinicians and researchers make informed decisions.

This shift was a key focus of Mayo Clinic's AI Research Summit, where more than 750 researchers, clinicians, AI scientists, engineers, students and other innovators gathered June 4–5 in Rochester, Minnesota, and online.

"The future of healthcare AI is not simply about building better predictor models, it's about developing integrated decision intelligence systems," said Cui Tao, Ph.D., the Nancy Peretsman and Robert Scully Chair of AI and Informatics at Mayo Clinic.

The summit highlighted emerging approaches such as multi-agentic AI, in which multiple agents work together on complex tasks, and simulations that use real-world data to test ideas and generate insights faster.

Helping personalize patient care

A key application of healthcare AI is personalized decision support at the point of care.

Yong Chen, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania, said clinicians need tools that go beyond prediction to help them determine which actions will lead to the best patient outcomes.

Healthcare is a sequence of interconnected decisions that evolve over time — which treatment to use, when to intervene and when to adjust care. Integrated AI tools could help care teams determine the optimal next step for each patient.

For example, when patients receive an implant such as a stent, personalized decision-making support systems could help clinicians determine the best timing for antiplatelet therapy while reducing the risk of complications.

Changing how discoveries are tested

AI and automation may help researchers accelerate the discovery and testing of new medical treatments, said Matt Redlon, chair of the AI Program and vice president of Digital Biology, Mayo Clinic Digital Pathology.

For many diseases, thousands of existing drugs could be studied for potential repurposing, said Redlon.

Multi-agentic AI systems could be used to simultaneously analyze data from multiple sources such as biospecimens and clinical records, helping researchers identify the most promising treatments for further study.

Researchers also are exploring virtual trials, which use AI and existing healthcare data to simulate clinical trials, as a strategy to generate early signals from real-world data. This could substantially shorten the timeline for assessing promising new therapies for patients.

Watch: Mayo Clinic summit highlights shift in healthcare AI research

Journalists: Broadcast-quality sound bites are available in the downloads at the bottom of the posts. Name super/CG: Cui Tao, Ph.D./Nancy Peretsman and Robert Scully Chair of AI and Informatics at Mayo Clinic/Mayo Clinic/Matt Redlon/Chair of AI Program, Vice President of Digital Biology in Digital Pathology/Mayo Clinic/Micky Tripathi, Ph.D./Chief AI Implementation Officer/Mayo Clinic

Supporting clinicians and researchers

In addition to delivering more personalized care, AI technologies are being developed to streamline work for healthcare staff.

Some solutions are designed to augment human capabilities by "doing things that humans literally can't do with the limitations of our senses," said Micky Tripathi, Ph.D., chief AI implementation officer at Mayo Clinic.

For example, researchers have developed AI models that can help clinicians detect pancreatic cancer early from routine abdominal scans before tumors are visible.

Building the foundation for responsible AI

Peter Lee, Ph.D., president of Microsoft Science, emphasized that AI in healthcare has rapidly moved from idea to infrastructure, with solutions such as ambient tools that capture data in patient care now widely used.

As these capabilities expand, healthcare organizations must build the governance, oversight and supporting infrastructure needed to deploy technologies safely, responsibly and reliably.

Tripathi compared this to building a car. "You defined an engine; that's great. But it doesn't have a chassis, doesn't have a steering wheel, doesn't have windshield wipers, it doesn't have lights," he said. "We need all of those things."

Speakers emphasized that human oversight remains essential, with clinicians and researchers responsible for evaluating information and making final decisions.

"The momentum is clearly growing," Dr. Tao said. "If AI is going to become a part of real clinical care, we need rigorous validation, a governance framework, workflow integration and translational maintenance. And that translation from innovation to responsible implementation is exactly where the field is heading next."

Other experts, including Yi Qian, vice president of Global Real World Evidence at Johnson & Johnson, highlighted approaches to creating trusted evidence and insights for clinical care.

Related

• Mayo Clinic and Microsoft collaborate to develop a frontier AI model for healthcare 
• How researchers are using AI to accelerate the path to cures (VIDEO)
• How 60 years of health data helped shape modern medicine

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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic Platform_Accelerate has selected 20 healthcare technology startups to join its accelerator program. Through an immersive 30-week program with a structured curriculum, companies collaborate with leading experts, receive one-on-one technical mentorship, and work with Mayo Clinic Platform's de-identified clinical data ecosystem to advance the development of their digital health solutions.

"The Accelerate program serves as an engine for digital health breakthroughs, offering technology startups resources and expertise to build solutions for long-term impact," says John Halamka, M.D., Dwight and Dian Diercks President of Mayo Clinic Platform. "The digital health solutions represented in this cohort reflect a broader shift in healthcare from experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) to deploying AI at scale. These innovations have the potential to help healthcare organizations advance patient care, enhance operational efficiency and unlock new ways of supporting patients and clinicians."

The 20 startups participating in the June cohort are working to address complex healthcare challenges.

• Aquoris Intelligence is developing an AI-powered clinical reasoning platform that helps physicians navigate diagnostic complexity, treatment decisions and longitudinal patient context through clinician-centered decision support.
• Burna AI automates evidence-based adverse event grading and coding across the clinical research continuum, improving data quality, operational efficiency and oncology trial execution.
• Cardiolife delivers AI-enabled electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter monitor interpretation that supports scalable, clinically validated cardiovascular diagnostics while integrating seamlessly into existing care workflows.
• Caremaze uses AI-driven discharge coordination to identify barriers early, streamline multidisciplinary workflows and help health systems reduce length of stay while improving care team efficiency.
• Dr. Data's APEX platform combines clinical guidelines, imaging, digital twins, and real-world evidence to generate transparent, evidence-grounded cardiovascular treatment recommendations.
• éo-vision AI uncovers clinically meaningful signals hidden within medical imaging to support more informed decision-making across healthcare delivery, payer operations and drug development.
• HealMint integrates multimodal AI, continuous biometric monitoring and clinical-grade devices to enable proactive, predictive care for high-risk patient populations.
• Healthier is building an AI-native clinical reasoning platform that synthesizes complex oncology data into source-grounded insights for patients, clinicians and multidisciplinary care teams.
• Immunara leverages biological foundation models and multimodal data to advance precision immunology and uncover new insights into immune-mediated disease.
• InformAI develops AI-powered oncology solutions that accelerate radiation therapy planning and support more efficient, data-driven cancer care delivery.
• Maverick Medical AI automates clinical documentation, coding and revenue integrity workflows to improve reimbursement accuracy and reduce administrative burden at the point of care.
• MICA AI Medical is advancing breast cancer detection through AI-enhanced mammography analysis designed to improve diagnostic accuracy for patients with dense breast tissue while reducing reliance on supplemental imaging.
• Odesso combines clinical AI and intelligent automation to improve risk adjustment, quality performance and value-based care operations through highly accurate clinical data extraction.
• PeriMind applies AI-driven perioperative decision support and revenue optimization to improve surgical workflow efficiency, patient safety and financial performance.
• Plexis AI provides the governed execution infrastructure that enables health systems to safely operationalize AI agents across clinical and operational workflows.
• PrecXIMed is creating an AI-powered neuro-oncology platform that connects imaging analysis, surgical planning and remote monitoring to support coordinated, data-driven brain tumor care.
• Rette AI uses agentic AI and clinical intelligence to automate complex orthopedic revenue cycle processes while improving documentation accuracy and reducing denials.
• Summit Health Data automates clinical data abstraction and applies advanced analytics to accelerate research, improve operational efficiency, and support innovation in cellular therapy and transplant programs.
• SyncVR Medical scales immersive care through enterprise extended reality (XR) solutions that help health systems improve patient experience, reduce procedural anxiety and enhance clinical efficiency.
• ThinkBio.AI transforms complex biological and clinical data into actionable insights that support drug development, translational research and precision healthcare decision-making.

"The Accelerate team designed a program for visionary startups ready to transform healthcare," says Jamie Sundsbak, director of the Accelerate program. "We now offer multiple ways to participate through a 30-week immersive program or a multiyear engagement pathway."

Since its launch in 2022, the Accelerate program has welcomed more than 120 companies from around the world. To learn more about the program or to apply for an upcoming cohort, visit Mayo Clinic Platform_Accelerate.

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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.

About Mayo Clinic Platform
Mayo Clinic Platform is a strategic initiative of Mayo Clinic that enables collaboration, data-driven innovation and responsible AI development to transform healthcare globally. Mayo Clinic Platform is reimagining healthcare as an ecosystem — one where data, digital solutions and expertise flow seamlessly between innovators and care teams to improve care for patients everywhere. 

Media contact:

• Caroline Auger, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a previously unrecognized way the kidneys regulate water balance — an advance that could lead to improved treatments for polycystic kidney disease (PKD) and other disorders. The study, led by Fouad Chebib, M.D., a nephrologist at Mayo Clinic, is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

The findings build on decades of scientific understanding by revealing an additional pathway the kidney uses to control water balance. Until now, the body's ability to concentrate urine — and prevent dehydration — has been thought to depend primarily on the hormone vasopressin. Dr. Chebib's team discovered an alternative mechanism that operates independently of that system.

"The kidney's ability to regulate water is one of the most fundamental processes in the body," Dr. Chebib says. "It's not every day that you uncover a new way it carries out that function."

Polycystic kidney disease is a common inherited condition that causes fluid-filled cysts to grow in the kidneys over time, gradually reducing kidney function and often leading to kidney failure. It affects millions of people worldwide, including an estimated 140,000 people in the U.S. with the most common form, autosomal dominant PKD (ADPKD). Many patients eventually require dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Watch: 1940s-era drug shows new promise for kidney disease

Dr. Chebib's team studies how kidney cysts grow in PKD using lab-grown cell models. As part of that work, they tested compounds expected to worsen the disease process by increasing cellular signals linked to cyst growth. One of those compounds was probenecid, a drug first used in the 1940s to conserve limited supplies of penicillin by reducing its urinary excretion.

"We thought this drug would make the disease process worse," Dr. Chebib says. "Instead, it did the opposite."

Rather than promoting cyst growth, the drug slowed it. After repeating the experiments multiple times, the team realized they had uncovered something important.

Further investigation revealed that probenecid affects how kidney cells handle urate, a molecule commonly associated with gout. Inside the cell, urate acts as a signal — triggering a chain of events that helps move water channels to the cell surface. This allows the kidney to reabsorb water and concentrate urine without relying on vasopressin, the hormone traditionally thought to control this process.

"This represents a distinct pathway from what is described in traditional physiology models," Dr. Chebib says. "It demonstrates that the kidney has an additional mechanism to preserve water."

For patients with PKD, the discovery could address one of the biggest challenges of current treatment. The only approved therapy, tolvaptan, works by blocking vasopressin, which slows cyst growth but causes patients to produce very large amounts of urine — often 6 to 7 liters a day. That side effect can be difficult to live with and leads some patients to stop treatment.

In preclinical studies and a small clinical trial, adding probenecid reduced urine volume and nighttime urination while preserving the treatment's effectiveness.

After taking probenecid, patients' urine volume dropped by about 30% on average, and they went from waking up several times a night to urinate to about once per night. Many also reported improved quality of life.

"The goal is to preserve the therapeutic benefit of tolvaptan while reducing its burden," Dr. Chebib says.

Despite these promising results, researchers are not planning to rely on probenecid as a long-term solution. The drug is decades old, affects multiple systems in the body and is not widely available today. Instead, the team is using what they learned to design more targeted therapies.

"Probenecid helped us uncover the mechanism," Dr. Chebib says. "Our goal is to take this insight and develop therapies designed specifically for this pathway."

For Dr. Chebib, the work is rooted in early inspiration. He was drawn to kidney research after his father developed PKD.

"This has been a long and deeply purposeful journey," he says. "It started with a personal motivation and led to something that could ultimately benefit patients."

For a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding, see the study.

JOURNALISTS: Soundbites with Dr. Chebib are available in the downloads below.

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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:

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Researchers identify new kidney pathway with help from 1940s-era drug, may improve polycystic kidney disease treatment (VIDEO) appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic is helping shape a new model for delivering hospital-level care beyond traditional settings through an initiative that brings advanced, high-quality care directly to patients in rural and underserved communities. The project is part of a larger federal effort known as the ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health) PARADIGM (Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed and Integrated Medical Care) program.

Mayo Clinic is a subawardee on the Platform fOr mEdical inTeroperability (POET) project within the PARADIGM program, collaborating with SRI International and the University of Florida to develop intelligent task-guidance systems that help healthcare workers safely perform specific clinical procedures and use medical devices without requiring direct support from specialists.

Mayo's goal is simple but transformative: make it possible for patients to receive reliable, high-quality care closer to home. To do so, Mayo is developing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools that support clinicians in safely performing procedures and using medical technologies in environments where specialized care may not always be possible.

Bringing phlebotomy services closer to patients in rural communities

Today, many patients in rural communities who need routine phlebotomy services, such as a blood draw or an IV, may need to travel long distances to access care. With funding from the ARPA-H PARADIGM program, Mayo Clinic is helping enable a model where mobile care teams can deliver these services closer to home.

In the future, a healthcare worker in a mobile care unit could perform a blood draw guided in real time by AI-assisted tools trained on expert technique. Using advanced imaging and computer vision, the system identifies the optimal vein and visually highlights where to place the needle, while also providing step-by-step guidance, similar to a checklist, through each part of the procedure.

During the first year of the program, Mayo recorded 300 blood draws and then used advanced imaging technologies to train AI systems to support tasks like vein selection and technique. "If you think broadly across medical procedures, phlebotomy is arguably the most frequently performed," says W. David Freeman, M.D., professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic Florida and co-lead on the project. "It's foundational — you need blood draws for diagnostics and IV access for treatment."

Expanding AI-supported procedures to improve access

Similar tools are being developed to reduce delays and expand access to more procedures via guidance at the point of care, including orthopedic splinting.

"This is extremely patient‑centered," says Leslie Simon, D.O., chair of Emergency Medicine at Mayo Clinic Florida, fellowship director of Medical Simulation and co-lead on the project. "If you're going to learn, you learn from the best. The goal is to scale expert knowledge so clinicians in rural or remote areas can perform these procedures with greater confidence and consistency."

By combining clinical expertise with emerging technologies funded through the ARPA-H PARADIGM program, Mayo Clinic is helping develop new models of care that bring services closer to the nearly 1 in 5 Americans living in rural communities, expanding access to timely, high-quality care.

This research was funded, in part, by the U.S. Government. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.

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PHOENIX — Endometriosis and uterine fibroids are two of the most common gynecological conditions. While they have important differences, they also have things in common. Both can lead to serious complications, affect fertility and have symptoms related to the menstrual cycle. And both are the focus of medical innovations to give women better treatment options, explains Megan Wasson, D.O., a gynecologist and chair of gynecology at Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

 "They're both relatively common," Dr. Wasson says. "There can be some overlapping symptoms, but the majority of symptoms vary and the diseases progress differently. Fibroids and endometriosis can run in families. Neither condition is preventable."

Fibroids

Fibroids grow in the uterus. They are almost always noncancerous. You can have one or more. A fibroid may be too small to see with the eyes alone or it can grow as big as a grapefruit or larger, even filling the pelvis or stomach area and making someone appear pregnant.

"These are not just little inconveniences. These are very large, very significant masses and they can really impact quality of life," Dr. Wasson says.

Many people do not experience symptoms and only learn they have fibroids due to a pelvic exam or ultrasound. Others may have symptoms such as heavy, painful, longer or more frequent periods; pain in the pelvis, stomach area or lower back; frequent or difficult urination; constipation; or pain during sex.

"When fibroids become very enlarged, you can actually feel them through the abdominal wall. You can get to the point that your pants do not fit, you have significant abdominal bloating, and the fibroids are pushing on other organs such as the bladder, causing you to have to go to the bathroom all the time, among other symptoms," Dr. Wasson explains. "You can have constipation because the fibroids are pushing on the bowel and not allowing things to move."

In the past, women whose fibroids were problematic were commonly told that a hysterectomy — surgery that removes the uterus, also ending the ability to become pregnant — was the only treatment option.

Now, medical advances are minimizing the impact of fibroid removal surgery on patients, often preserving the uterus and fertility, Dr. Wasson says. Other fibroid treatment options include medications that shrink fibroids and procedures that do not require surgery, she adds.

For example, interventional radiologists can perform a uterine fibroid embolization to block the blood supply to fibroids, causing them to shrink. Patients can usually leave the same day. Reducing the size and alleviating symptoms can help significantly, Dr. Wasson explains.

Other minimally invasive procedures include radiofrequency ablation, which uses energy to cause fibroids to die. Minimally invasive surgeries include a robotic or laparoscopic myomectomy, a surgery to remove the fibroids and leave the uterus in place.

Endometriosis

In endometriosis, tissue similar to the inner lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. Common symptoms are pelvic pain and cramping, including during menstruation; heavy periods or bleeding between periods; and pain during sex, bowel movements or urination. Sometimes people with endometriosis do not have symptoms and only learn they have it when they have difficulty becoming pregnant or they have surgery for another reason.

"Endometriosis symptoms usually start much earlier in life than fibroids," Dr. Wasson says. "Endometriosis increases the risk for ovarian cancer. It can also cause infertility."

Treatment for endometriosis often involves medication or surgery. Conservative surgery removes endometriosis tissue while aiming to preserve the uterus and ovaries and protect fertility. This surgery may be minimally invasive, using a laparoscope and a small cut. Sometimes a laparoscopic surgery is done with help from robotic devices.

Dr. Wasson is working with a Mayo research team to create a vaccine to prevent endometriosis. She and Mayo colleagues are also exploring ways to make endometriosis easier to detect with medical imaging. Potentially, a molecule could be given during imaging that causes endometriosis to light up, making it easy to see endometriosis tissue, Dr. Wasson explains.

To help detect endometriosis or fibroids as early as possible, Dr. Wasson recommends that, from the time  menstrual cycles start, girls and women pay attention to any irregularities, such as unusually heavy periods, abnormally long or short cycles, missing periods, or symptoms such as pain with periods.

"Your period should be no more than a minor inconvenience," she adds. "If you're missing work, school and other activities, if you're staying in bed because you're having your period, that's not normal. If there are any symptoms causing you to change anything in your life, that warrants a conversation with your healthcare professional. Don't assume a change is normal or is just something you should deal with."

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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:

• Sharon Theimer, Mayo Clinic Communications, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Endometriosis and fibroids: Expert explains advances giving women less invasive treatment options appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers and collaborators have shown that an artificial intelligence (AI) tool can analyze routine pathology slides to help clinicians classify meningiomas, the most common primary brain tumor in adults, and better understand a patient’s risk of tumor recurrence.

The study, published in The Lancet Digital Health, demonstrates that deep learning models can support the extraction of molecular and prognostic information from standard hematoxylin and eosin, or H&E, slides — the same type of tissue images already used in routine clinical care. These insights are typically obtained through DNA methylation profiling, an advanced genetic test which provides valuable diagnostic and prognostic information but can be costly, time-consuming and is unavailable in many hospitals.

"This is one of the many studies where we can harness the strength of digital pathology by capturing the last two decades of genomic and molecular knowledge into AI algorithms," says Gelareh Zadeh, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Neurologic Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester and the David C. and Flora C. Pratt Distinguished Chief Medical Officer for Mayo Clinic Platform.

Making advanced tumor insights more accessible

Meningiomas can vary widely in behavior. Some grow slowly and may never return after treatment, while others are more aggressive and more likely to recur. Understanding that risk is critical for patients and care teams deciding whether additional treatment, such as radiation therapy, may be needed after surgery.

Molecular testing can help identify which tumors are more likely to recur and which may respond differently to treatment. But these tests require specialized technology and expertise, limiting access for many patients.

Using tissue samples, pathology images and clinical data from 672 patients, researchers developed and tested AI models designed to help identify patterns linked to a tumor's biology. Drawing on multiple de-identified datasets, including data resources from Mayo Clinic Platform, the models supported classification of meningioma subtypes and recurrence risk prediction using standard pathology slides that are already part of routine patient care.

The findings suggest that, with further validation, AI-based tools could one day help clinicians obtain more detailed tumor information to inform patient care, without requiring every patient to undergo advanced genetic testing.

Helping guide treatment decisions

For patients with meningiomas, recurrence risk can influence follow-up care, imaging frequency and whether radiation therapy should be considered. The study found that AI-based predictions remained useful even after accounting for traditional clinical factors such as tumor grade, the extent to which surgery was able to remove the tumor and patient age.

Researchers also found that the AI models could identify patterns of tumor heterogeneity — differences within the same tumor — that may help explain why some tumors behave more aggressively or respond differently to treatment.

The researchers note that additional prospective studies are needed before the AI models can be used routinely in clinical care. Still, they say the findings lay the groundwork for more accessible, personalized care for patients with meningiomas — and potentially for similar AI approaches in other cancers.

As with any clinical decision-support tool, the researchers emphasize that these models would require rigorous evaluation, validation and ongoing physician oversight before being considered for routine care. "The aim is to make these algorithms readily and simply accessible for use globally, improving patient care across many healthcare settings," says Dr. Zadeh.

For a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding, review the publication.

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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.

About Mayo Clinic Platform
Founded on Mayo Clinic's dedication to patient-centered care, Mayo Clinic Platform enables new knowledge, new solutions, and new technologies through collaborations with health technology innovators to create a healthier world. To learn more, visit Mayo Clinic Platform at www.mayoclinicplatform.org.

Media contact:

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

The post Mayo Clinic study shows AI can help clinicians identify brain tumor risks appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.