Minnesota - May 2012 Archives

WHAT: Mayo Clinic and Heartland Health will make a joint announcement. WHO: David Hayes, M.D., Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Care Network Mark Laney, M.D., ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 18, 2012.   Mayo Clinic researchers will present findings on prostate cancer risk, screening, treatment and other urological research at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association May 19–23 in Atlanta. Mayo Clinic urologists will also be available to provide expert comment for reporters covering the conference. Mayo Clinic studies that will be presented and their embargo dates include: No negative impact on overall survival from post-prostate surgery hormone therapy Embargoed until 10:30 a.m. ET Monday, May 21 In a first-of-its-kind study of adjuvant hormonal therapy (AHT) following radical prostatectomy, Mayo Clinic researchers found no adverse impact in overall survival of patients even when other health factors, specifically cardiovascular disease, were taken into account. AHT treatment controls testosterone production in patients who have undergone radical prostatectomy in order to prevent or slow the return of cancer cells. For the study, "Adjuvant Hormonal Therapy Does Not Adversely Impact Overall Survival Following Radical Prostatectomy for Men with High Risk Prostate Cancer When Stratified by Charlson Comorbidity Index or Cardiovascular Risk Factors," researchers reviewed the history of 1,247 patients who had prostate surgery at Mayo Clinic from 1988 to 2004. The review included the outcomes of patients who received AHT after prostate surgery and their cardiovascular disease history. "Knowing the cardiovascular disease history allowed us to distinguish which factor negatively impacted the overall survival — the cancer or the cardiovascular disease," says lead author Jeffrey Karnes, M.D., a Mayo urologist. The study found the 10-year overall survival rate among patients with cardiovascular disease who received AHT was 72 percent; it was 76 percent for those with cardiovascular disease who did not receive AHT. Similarly, for patients without cardiovascular disease the 10-year overall survival among patients who received ATH was 74 percent, compared to a 79 percent 10-year survival rate for those who did not receive AHT. Young men with low PSA level at very low risk of prostate cancer Embargoed until 1 p.m. ET, Monday, May 21 MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video of interview excerpts is available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. Three-fourths of young men ages 40–49 could safely avoid annual prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for an additional 10 years if their baseline PSA falls in the lowest 75th percentile, according to a study led by Mayo Clinic urologist Christopher Weight, M.D. The study, "Men with a Single Baseline PSA below 1.0 ng/ml Between the Ages of 40-49, Can Safely Avoid Additional PSA Screening for at Least 10 Years: Results from a Prospectively Followed Population Cohort," looked at prostate outcomes in a random sample of 268 men, ages 40–49, in Olmsted County, Minn., since 1990. Each patient was evaluated by a urologist every two years, including PSA screening, an ultrasound examination and questionnaire. Among study participants, no one between 40 and 49 with a baseline PSA below 1 nanogram per milliliter developed an intermediate- or high-risk cancer during nearly 20 years of follow-up. The study also found that participants with low PSAs, below 1.0 ng/ml, were also very unlikely to develop even low-risk prostate cancer. One-third of kidney stone sufferers likely to have recurrence Embargoed until 8 a.m. ET, Tuesday, May 22 MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video of interview excerpts is available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. Roughly one-third of people who suffer from kidney stones will experience symptomatic stone recurrence, a Mayo Clinic study finds. The 10-year study, "Symptomatic Stone Recurrence Following Ureteroscopy, Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy, and Shockwave Lithotripsy," monitored 333 patients for the reappearance of stones after their surgery in 1999–2000. Regardless of treatment method, "approximately one-third of patients undergoing a surgical procedure for stones will experience a recurrence. Patients with a previous history of stones, prior stone surgery, and positive family history are at increased risk," says lead author Amy Krambeck M.D., a Mayo Clinic urologist. Patients having shock wave lithotripsy were at highest risk of recurrence, while stones were least likely to return in those receiving percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Dr. Krambeck says patients and doctors should focus on treatment options most likely to leave the patient stone free with the least invasive and fewest surgical interventions.

Rochester, Minn. — May 17, 2012.  A study presented by Mayo Clinic researchers during Digestive Disease Week 2012 provides clear evidence that the number of people contracting the hard-to-control and treat bacterial infection Clostridium difficile (C. difficile or C. diff) is increasing, and that the infection is commonly contracted outside of the hospital. "We have seen C.difficile infection as a cause for diarrhea in humans for more than 30 years, and the incidence of infections has been increasing in the last decade," says Sahil Khanna, M.B.B.S., Mayo Clinic Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, and lead author of the study. "It has been believed that the typical profile of a person with C. difficile is an older patient, taking antibiotics, while in the hospital. For the first time, we have described a significantly increased incidence of C. difficile in children with diarrhea in a population-based cohort. Importantly, we also found that more than three-quarters of cases of C. difficile in children are being contracted in the community, not in the hospital." Results of the study showed that the incidence of C.difficile infection (CDI) in children was more than 12 times higher between 2004 and 2009, compared to the period 1991–1997 (32.6 cases per 100,000 vs. 2.6). In addition, 75 percent of cases were "community-acquired," meaning that the patients had not been hospitalized for at least four weeks prior to contracting C. difficile. C. difficile is an environmental infection, commonly seen on surfaces in the hospital and described to be present in some food sources, including ground beef. Because the infection can be spread from person to person, Mayo Clinic researchers recommend practicing prevention, including: Wash hands with soap and water. Clean suspected contaminated surfaces with bleach-based solutions. Avoid contact with people who are known to have CDI. Take extra hygiene precautions if you are living with a person who has CDI or who works in a health care setting where a person might be exposed to patients with CDI.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The 25th annual National Cancer Survivors Day event will be held on Sunday, June 3, 2012. The event is sponsored by Mayo ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 15, 2012.  Mayo Clinic has created a comprehensive mobile health application; combining a custom mobile experience with unparalleled expertise and access. ...

NOTE: REVISED COPY WHAT: Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease expert Ronald Petersen, M.D., will participate in the release of an ambitious national plan to address ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 14, 2012.  Brad Anderson, retired CEO of Best Buy, and Thomas Zeltner, M.D., former Swiss Secretary of State for Health, will keynote the Mayo Clinic Quality and Systems Engineering Conference on May 14–16, at Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, Minn. Anderson, who started at Best Buy as a commissioned salesperson and rose to the company's highest position, will discuss how staff at all levels can lead. Dr. Zeltner, an expert in international health reform and patient safety, will address quality improvement and health equity. Participants choose from four tracks — systems engineering, quality, hot topics and the needs of the patient — to customize their conference experience. Sessions include: La Crosse Area Collaborative to Improve End-of-Life Care Global Bridges: An international collaborative to decrease tobacco use Diffusing ideas from high-performing practices across the country Provider-specific performance measurement Bedside patient rescue This year's conference offers participants an opportunity to hear directly from patients about their experiences with the health care delivery system. More than 20 patients will share both positive and negative stories about seeking care for themselves or a family member. For example, Jill Keach will share the story of her fifth-grade daughter's diagnosis of leukemia and subsequent treatments at Mayo Clinic. Attendees will interact with Keach and other patients via roundtable discussion, first identifying key lessons from the patient's story and then brainstorming potential solutions to any unresolved problems.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 14, 2012.  Alterations to the "on-off" switches of genes occur early in the development of prostate cancer and could be used as biomarkers to detect the disease months or even years earlier than current approaches, a Mayo Clinic study has found. These biomarkers — known as DNA methylation profiles — also can predict if the cancer is going to recur and if that recurrence will remain localized to the prostate or, instead, spread to other organs. The study, published in the journal <ahref="http://www.aacr.org/home/scientists/meetings--workshops/educational-workshops--special-courses.aspx?utm_source=googlegr&utm_medium=searchad&utm_campaign=2012workshops"> Clinical Cancer Research, is the first to capture the methylation changes that occur across the entire human genome in prostate cancer. MULTIMEDIA ALERT: Video of interview excerpts is available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. The discovery could someday help physicians diagnose prostate cancer earlier and make more effective treatment decisions to improve cure rates and reduce deaths. It also points to the development of new drugs that reverse the DNA methylation changes, turning the "off" switch back "on" and returning the genetic code to its normal, noncancerous state. "Our approach is more accurate and reliable than the widely used PSA (prostate-specific antigen) test," says senior author <ahref="http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/staff/Donkena_KV.cfm"> Krishna Donkena, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic molecular biologist. The PSA test detects any prostate abnormality, whether inflammation, cancer, infection or enlargement, while the DNA methylation changes are specific to prostate cancer, she says. Though the instructions for all the cell's activities lie within the genes, whether a particular gene is turned "off" or "on" is determined by the presence or absence of specific chemical tags or methyl groups — methylation — along the underlying DNA of cells. When this process of DNA methylation turns off the activity of tumor suppressor genes, cancer develops. Dr. Donkena and her colleagues analyzed the methylation status of 14,495 genes from 238 prostate cancer patients. The patients included people who remained cancer-free after treatment, those who had a localized tumor recurrence and those whose cancer spread. The researchers found that the DNA methylation changes that occurred during the earliest stages of prostate cancer development were nearly identical in all patients. Having discovered DNA methylation patterns that could distinguish between healthy and cancerous tissue, the researchers then searched for similar biomarkers that could distinguish between patients with varying levels of recurrence risk. They found distinct methylation alterations that corresponded to whether a patient had a slow-growing tumor known as an indolent tumor, or had a more aggressive one.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 11, 2012.  The Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees welcomed Linda Alvarado as a new member during a meeting today. Alvarado ...

Lebanon, NH, and ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 10, 2012.  Five leading health systems are changing aspects of how they perform total knee replacements, as a result of data they collected that showed variations in length of stay, length of operating room time, and in-hospital complications. The voluntary testing of clinical measures and processes they identified as potential "best practices" is a step toward their goal of higher quality care, at lower cost. Founding members of the High Value Healthcare Collaborative (HVHC) are Cleveland Clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Denver Health, Intermountain Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (TDI). In a paper released by Health Affairs as a Web First on Wednesday, May 9 at 4PM ET, the HVHC outlined the first results from their study of nearly 11,000 total knee replacements performed across the five health systems. Comparison data showed "considerable" differences among the institutions in procedures and outcomes, the authors report. These included: A difference of more than one full day in length of stay between the system with the shortest average length of stay (3 days) and that with the longest (4.2 days) A difference of 25 minutes in the time spent in surgery, ranging between 80 and 105 minutes A rate of readmissions ranging from 2.2 percent to 4.6 percent Data gathered by the HVHC teams examined factors including demographics and previous health conditions of the subject patient populations, the experience and caseload of physicians performing the surgery, make-up of the care teams, and patient care information from pre-admission through one-year post-discharge. In addition to the variations above, findings revealed that surgeons who perform higher numbers of total knee replacements (TKR) tend to have shorter operating times, shorter lengths of stay, and fewer in-hospital complications. Patients who were older and sicker generally had longer lengths of stay and more in-hospital complications. Almost 90 percent of the patients — aged 18-89 — were overweight, obese, or morbidly obese.

ROCHESTER, Minn. - May 10, 2012.  Becoming a new parent is exciting and overwhelming. Mayo Clinic Guide to Your Baby's First Year gives current, detailed ...

ROCHESTER, Minn. — May 9, 2012.  Seventy-nine physicians and scientists will receive degrees from Mayo Clinic during a joint commencement ceremony for the graduation classes from Mayo Graduate School and Mayo Medical School on Saturday, May 19, at Presentation Hall, Mayo Civic Center, 30 Civic Center Drive SE. The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. Marilyn Carlson Nelson will give the keynote address. She is chairwoman and former CEO of Carlson, a global hospitality and travel company. Carlson Nelson graduated with a degree in International Economics from Smith College. She also studied at the Institut de Hautes Études Économiques et Politiques in Geneva and the Sorbonne in Paris. She holds several honorary doctorates from U.S. universities including the University of Minnesota. Carlson Nelson has appeared on Forbes magazine's list as one of "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women." U.S. News and World Report named her one of "America's Best Leaders." Under her leadership, Carlson was the first major North American travel company to take a stand against the sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry. She currently teaches a class in corporate responsibility at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management and is the author of the bestselling book "How We Lead Matters: Reflections On a Life of Leadership." In 2004, Carlson Nelson co-chaired the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and is a co-founder of the Forum's Women Leaders Program. She served as chairwoman of the National Women's Business Council, a bipartisan advisory council to the president and Congress, and is past chairwoman of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. In 2006, she was inducted into the French Légion d'Honneur for her exemplary leadership and service to humanity. The leaders of Finland, Sweden and Norway have similarly honored her. Carlson Nelson serves on the boards of ExxonMobil, The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She is chairwoman of the Mayo Clinic Board of Trustees. Mayo Graduate School will confer 28 master's degrees and 28 doctorate degrees in biomedical sciences. This year's Ph.D. and master's graduates came to Mayo from 21 states and 14 countries. Most will pursue advanced research training programs and careers in biomedical research at Mayo or other biomedical research institutions throughout the world.