Miss the program?  Here's the podcast: MayoClinicRadio-FullShow-12-20-14

There are a lot of wonderful medical discoveries to share from 2014 that are leading the way into the future of health care. Join us!

Follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.

To listen to the program on Saturday, click here.

Mayo Clinic Radio is available on iHeart Radio.

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates.

For a look at future program topics, click here.

To find and listen to archived shows, click here.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Medical News of 2014 appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Join us Saturday, March 29, at 9 a.m. CT, when we cover as much about Alzheimer's disease as we can in one hour! Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., will be with us to discuss a recent study listing Alzheimer's disease as the third-leading cause of death, and he'll comment on a news report that says women in their 60s are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's than breast cancer. Dr. Petersen will also share 7 tips to prevent memory loss.  Join us!

Myth or Matter of Fact: There are treatments available to help stop the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

At the top of the hour we'll also hear from David Ahlquist, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and co-inventor of the Cologuard test. This high-tech home stool test kit looks for colorectal cancer's DNA in its early stages, when this cancer is highly treatable. 

To hear the program LIVE on Saturday, click here.
Follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.
Mayo Clinic Radio is available on iHeart Radio.

Listen to this week’s Medical News Headlines: News March 29, 2014 (right click MP3) 

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates.

For future topics, click on Upcoming Programs.
To listen to archived shows, click on Episodes.
If there is a topic you would like us to address, drop us a note.  Click here to create a guest account.

The post MAYO CLINIC RADIO appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

A clinical trial of Cologuard shows unprecedented results for finding colorectal cancer with a noninvasive test. “Cologuard detection rates of early stage cancer and high-risk precancerous polyps validated in this large study were outstanding and have not been achieved by other noninvasive approaches,” says the study’s author David Ahlquist M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist and co-inventor of the Cologuard test.

Colorectal cancer has become the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, but it is highly treatable if found early. Cologuard uses a self-contained collection kit that allows patients to send stool samples to a high-tech lab for screening.

Journalists: Sound bites with Dr. Ahlquist, animation and b-roll of the Cologuard test kit are available in the downloads.

Sound Bite - HOW IT WORKS (Dr. David Ahlquist/Mayo Clinic Gastroenterologist) "Polyps and cancer, both lesions, continuously shed cells that end up in the stool. The Cologuard test can recover cancer or polyp-related DNA in those exfoliated cells and determine whether there’s the presence, or absence, of the right signature of a target lesion."  [TRT :27]

Dr. Ahlquist says the detection rates are similar to those reported for colonoscopy.

Sound Bite - RESULTS SIMILAR TO COLONOSCOPY (Dr. David Ahlquist/Mayo Clinic Gastroenterologist) "If one compares the results that we saw with Cologuard, for example the 94 percent detection rate for the earliest stage cancers, that would compare very  well with the reported detection rates for colonoscopy, which are in the 92 percent to 96percent range based on the most recent follow up studies.”  [TRT :24]

The study was conducted at 90 medical centers throughout the United State and Canada and included 10,000 patients. Because of its accessibility and ease of use, researchers hope Cologuard will increase the number of people who will choose to be screened for colorectal cancer. Nearly 50 percent of adults age 50 and older have not been screened as recommended.

Sound Bite - EASY TEST (Dr. David Ahlquist/Mayo Clinic Gastroenterologist) ”It’s a simple test for the patient to do. There’s no prep, it can be done from home and simply mailed in to the laboratory. The result then is given to the patient’s provider and if the test is abnormal, then colonoscopy is indicated.”  [TRT :17]

The results are published in the March 20 issue of the The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Cologuard was co-developed by Mayo Clinic and Exact Sciences. The company is in the process of seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the use of Cologuard for colorectal cancer screening.

To read the full news release click here.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Brian Kilen, Mayo Clinic Public Affairs, 507-284-5005, newsbureau@mayo.edu

The post Advanced Home Stool Test Finds Colorectal Cancer’s DNA appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

The stool test is currently being evaluated in a large multicenter study in the United States and Canada, involving 10,000 patients at more than 60 medical centers. If the test is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it could become available to patients as early as mid-2013.

David A. Ahlquist, M.D., is presenting the study this week at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting (AACR).  

Expert Title: Dr. David Ahlquist, Mayo Clinic Gastroenterologist

Soundbites from Dr. Ahlquist are in the downloads above.

Click here for the entire news release

Mayo Clinic and Dr. Ahlquist have a financial interest in the technology. 

The post Quick Noninvasive DNA Screening Test For Colorectal Cancer appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.