Minnesota - February 2012 Archives

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Over the past few decades, doctors have noted a surprising trend in cancer of the tonsils and base of the tongue. Though oral cancer previously appeared predominantly in elderly patients with a history of tobacco and alcohol use, it's increasing in younger patients: 30- to 50-year-old nonsmokers with the human papillomavirus (HPV). Fortunately, the newer form of cancer tends to be less aggressive, and the latest approach to treating the tumors can avoid the debilitating consequences of open neck surgery or extensive radiation. Robotic surgery conducted through patients' mouths provides excellent results in removing squamous cell carcinoma at the back of the throat, especially in patients with HPV, a Mayo Clinic study published in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings found. VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Eric Moore are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. These materials also are subject to embargo, but may be accessed in advance by journalists for incorporation into stories. The password for this post is robotic. "We were surprised that the cancer cure results were even better than the traditional treatments that we have been doing, but that is probably almost as much of a matter that these cancers are HPV-mediated for the most part, and they respond much better to treatment," says author Eric Moore, M.D., a head and neck surgeon at Mayo Clinic in Rochester. "Importantly, the treatment preserved patients' ability to swallow and their speech performance was excellent." Dr. Moore and his team followed 66 patients with oropharyngeal cancer who underwent transoral robotic surgery with the da Vinci robotic surgical system. Every few months, the patients had imaging studies, scans and exams to determine if cancer was recurring. After two years, researchers found that patients' survival rate was greater than 92 percent, as good as rates for some other surgical and nonsurgical treatments for oropharyngeal cancer.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Strokes are the fourth-leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability in the United States. The February issue of Mayo ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new tool to better identify tumors in women with dense breast tissue. The February issue of ...

Mayo Clinic today reported a solid performance in 2011 and shared plans for growth in services and programs to meet the needs of tomorrow's patients in new and different ways. Mayo Clinic has evolved to become a vast not-for-profit national and international medical organization that treats 1 million patients each year, with annual revenues of $8.5 billion. Mayo Clinic's more than 58,000 employees provide essential health care services to patients from more than 135 countries. "Mayo Clinic creates, connects and applies integrated medical knowledge to deliver the best health care, health guidance and health information to people everywhere," says John Noseworthy, M.D., Mayo Clinic president and CEO. "Our employees make the impossible possible for our patients every day. Their dedication to our mission makes me confident about how we will redefine the future of health care." As an example, in 2011, Mayo Clinic launched the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a network of provider organizations that have access to Mayo expertise and physicians to help them care for their patients closer to home whenever possible. Altru Health System, Grand Forks, N.D., was the first member to join the Mayo Clinic Care Network. Kingman Regional Medical Center, Kingman, Ariz., has also been added to the network. Dr. Noseworthy says that to continue to advance its mission, Mayo Clinic must create even tighter links between research and patient care. "We never give up until we find answers for our patients," he says. "Our unique environment brings together the best in patient care, groundbreaking research and innovative medical education." One way Mayo is making tighter connections between research and patient care is with the creation of Mayo Clinic's three new centers: The Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, The Center for Individualized Medicine and The Center for Regenerative Medicine. "These three new centers represent strategic investments in the future of health care," Dr. Noseworthy says. "By making these investments, we can reduce costs, advance medicine and enhance both individual and population health."

ROCHESTER, Minn. — In a reversal of two decades of medical reports, a Mayo Clinic study finds the frequency of nerve damage called diabetic polyneuropathy is similar in prediabetic patients and healthy people. Physicians should seek explanations other than prediabetes for patients who have painful small fiber polyneuropathy, the researchers say. The study was published in the March issue of Diabetes Care. Diabetic polyneuropathies, or DPN, are commonly associated with diabetes and chemical derangements related to high blood sugar. The neuropathies can injure nerve fibers throughout the body, but usually affect the feet and legs. The nerve damage can create sensory, motor and bodily function problems. DPN can be painful and life-threatening. "It is highly unlikely that impaired glucose or associated metabolic derangements cause polyneuropathy, at least not to the high frequency previously reported," says lead author Peter J. Dyck, M.D., a Mayo Clinic neurologist. The five-year study, "Impaired Glycemia and Diabetic Polyneuropathy: The OC IG Survey," tested nearly 550 people representative of a community of older patients of Northern European extraction. Of these, 150 individuals were healthy subjects, 174 had prediabetes indicators, and 208 had newly developed type 2 diabetes. The study concluded that typical or atypical (a painful small-fiber variety) DPN was not more prevalent in prediabetics than in healthy people.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Medical records are an invaluable tool in treating patients. When a caregiver has ample information regarding a person's medical history, treatments are more effective and efficient. Unfortunately, few people have complete medical records — due, in large part, to a lack of any universal repository tools for keeping those records. Mayo Clinic, along with its partners in a program called the Southeast Minnesota Beacon Community, is working on solutions to this problem. They are showcasing their work through demonstrations at the 12th annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference & Exhibition (HiMSS), from Feb. 20 to 24 in Las Vegas. In May 2010, southeast Minnesota was one of 17 areas nationwide selected for funding by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative called the Beacon Community Program. The initiative sought to fund health care entities looking for ways to use technology to improve the efficiency and delivery of health care while cutting costs. The Southeast Minnesota Beacon Community was created through collaboration among Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic Health System, Olmsted Medical Center, Winona Health, Allina Hospital Owatonna, and 11 county public health departments in the region. Now, less than two years after receiving funding, the group has been asked to share its work at the HiMSS Conference, using technology and processes it developed to show how health information can be transferred between its member institutions in real time. Two scenarios are being showcased at demonstration kiosks in the HiMSS exhibition hall. The first scenario demonstrates the generation and exchange of a "Continuity of Care Document," or CCD. In this scenario, a test patient visits Mayo Clinic after being seen at Olmsted Medical Center for diabetes mellitus. Using Health Information Exchange (HIE) technology, Mayo Clinic retrieves a CCD from the patient's visit to Olmsted Medical Center. The document contains information such as immunization records, known allergies and medications being taken, and the results of any tests done during the prior visit.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Hospitalization for underage drinking is common in the United States, and it comes with a price tag — the estimated total cost for these hospitalizations is about $755 million per year, a Mayo Clinic study has found. Researchers also found geographic and demographic differences in the incidence of alcohol-related hospital admissions. The findings were published online today in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Of the roughly 40,000 youth ages 15 to 20 hospitalized in 2008, the most recent data available, 79 percent were drunk when they arrived at the hospital, researchers say. Alcohol abuse and addiction and drinking-related emotional problems were among the diagnoses. Among all U.S. teens, roughly 18 of every 10,000 adolescent males and 12 of every 10,000 females were hospitalized after consuming alcohol in the year studied. In all, 700,000 young people in that age group were hospitalized for various reasons, including non-alcohol-related conditions, in 2008. "When teenagers drink, they tend to drink excessively, leading to many destructive consequences including motor vehicle accidents, injuries, homicides and suicides," says researcher Terry Schneekloth, M.D., a Mayo Clinic addiction expert and psychiatrist. Underage drinking is common in the United States: 36–71 percent of high-school students report having consumed alcohol at least once, although the prevalence of heavy drinking (more than five drinks in a row within the preceding two weeks) is lower (7–23 percent). "Alcohol use necessitating acute-care hospitalization represents one of the most serious consequences of underage drinking," Dr. Schneekloth says. "Harmful alcohol use in adolescence is a harbinger of alcohol abuse in adulthood." The average age of those with alcohol-related discharges was 18; 61 percent were male. Nearly a quarter of the alcohol-use disorder hospitalizations included an injury, most commonly traffic accidents, assaults and altercations.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Though researchers are becoming increasingly aware of the long-term effects of head injury, few studies have looked at the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in all age groups, including males and females, taking into account both mild and serious events. In a recent study published in Epidemiology, Mayo Clinic researchers applied a new, refined system for classifying injuries caused by force to the head and found that the incidence of traumatic brain injury is likely greater than has been estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). VIDEO ALERT: Additional audio and video resources, including excerpts from an interview with Dr. Brown describing the research, are available on the Mayo Clinic News Blog. "Even mild traumatic brain injuries can affect sensory-motor functions, thinking and awareness, and communication," says study author Allen Brown, M.D., director of brain rehabilitation research at Mayo Clinic. "In assessing frequency, we have likely been missing a lot of cases. This is the first population-based analysis to determine prevalence along the whole spectrum of these injuries." Researchers used the Mayo Traumatic Brain Injury Classification System, a new brain injury method that classifies head injuries along a more comprehensive scale than ever before. The categories label patients with "definite," "probable" and "possible" TBIs, providing a way to incorporate symptoms such as a brief period of unconsciousness or even an injured patient's complaint of dizziness or nausea. Using the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a several decades-long compilation of medical records in Olmsted County, Minn., the team determined that TBIs occur in as many as 558 per 100,000 people, compared to the 341 per 100,000 estimated by the CDC. Researchers found that 60 percent of injuries fell outside the standard categorization used by the CDC, even though two-thirds of them were symptomatic. Mayo researchers found the elderly and the young were found most at risk for "definite" and "possible" injury, respectively, and men were more at risk than women. The findings reinforce ongoing efforts by the CDC to create a brain injury classification that more broadly encompasses traumatic head injury.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — People with fibromyalgia can have difficulty getting a definitive diagnosis and finding an effective treatment plan. For many patients, the condition involves a confounding array of symptoms, including chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance and mood disorders. One factor associated with fibromyalgia symptoms is a patient's weight, according to a Mayo Clinic study published this month in "Arthritis Care & Research." "We see an association between body mass index with symptom severity and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia," says study author Terry Oh, M.D., of Mayo Clinic's Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation. "This was the first study to look at distinct groups of obese patients and determine how weight correlates with levels of symptoms and quality of life." The study assessed body mass index (BMI) in 888 fibromyalgia patients seen at the Mayo Clinic Fibromyalgia Treatment Program in Rochester. Obesity (BMI greater than 29) was common in about half of the patients, and one-fourth were severely obese (BMI greater than 35). All patients studied completed questionnaires describing their symptoms and ability to function. Symptom severity was more pronounced as obesity increased. Overall, groups of patients with greater BMI reported more severe fibromyalgia-related symptoms and lower quality of life. Severely obese patients reported significantly higher pain scores than non-obese and overweight patients.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic will "go red" to celebrate National Wear Red Day on Fri., Feb. 3. Joining in the efforts across the country, Mayo ...