Mayo Clinic Health Matters

Thanks to significant advances in techniques and devices, minimally invasive procedures can be used to treat some congenital heart disease defects. Innovative procedures using catheters through blood vessels in the legs or neck allow interventional cardiologists to repair heart defects without surgically opening a child's chest.  Specialists at Mayo Clinic's Center for Congenital Heart Disease use...

As the U.S. moves beyond the omicron surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, key indicators are dropping. "Both the acute indicators — number of cases — and the lagging indicators — hospitalizations and then deaths — are all dropping slowly, but they're surely dropping," says Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.  Experts warn that caution is still needed to protect yourself in...

Thanks to research and treatment advances over the past few decades, most children diagnosed with cancer now live on to pursue full adult lives. To ensure that those children will one day have the option to become parents, families must consider the risk of infertility when deciding about cancer treatment. Researchers and health care providers have made progress in minimizing the side effects of c...

More than two full years of living in the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll on children and their families. During the most recent omicron surge, pediatric infection rates were particularly concerning for pediatricians across the country.  Parents of children younger than 5 years of age are feeling especially concerned, as vaccines have not yet been approved in this age group. But that may chan...

Each February, Black History Month is celebrated to recognize the important role Black people have played in U.S. history.  "Black history is American history, and everyone should celebrate our history 365 days a year," explains Dr. Folakemi Odedina, a Mayo Clinic prostate cancer scientist and global health equity researcher. This year's theme for Black History Month is "Black Health and Wellness....

Integrative medicine uses an approach to health care that includes practices not traditionally part of conventional medicine, such as herbs, acupuncture, massage, yoga and meditation. Integrative oncology incorporates these therapies into conventional cancer care. Integrative oncology helps people with cancer feel better by reducing the fatigue, nausea, pain and anxiety and other symptoms that com...

A congenital heart defect means that a child was born with a problem in the structure of his or her heart. Some congenital heart defects in children are simple and don't need treatment. Others are more complex and may require several surgeries performed over a period of several years. Improvements in imaging, monitoring and surgical techniques have improved outcomes for pediatric heart surgery pat...

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is dropping as the omicron wave wanes in many places, but some parts of the country lag behind. "As a nation, it looks like we've kind of gotten to the peak and are now starting on the decline, but it's very uneven," explains Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. "That's what's happening in the big Northeast cities, and maybe...

Treatment advances have increased lymphoma survival rates. But life after treatment for lymphoma can be complicated.  "It's a really good problem to have, if you will, on how to manage some of these short- and long-term effects of lymphoma treatment," explains Dr. Carrie Thompson, a Mayo Clinic hematologist. "As we effectively treat more and more patients, we have more and more patients surviving...

Despite treatments that include medications, surgery and neurostimulation devices, many people with epilepsycontinue to have seizures. And the uncertainty of when a seizure could occur affects their quality of life.  But what if these people could anticipate a seizure and take action? A recent Mayo Clinic study tested a technology to do just that.  "One of the most disabling aspects of seizures is...

Testing for COVID-19 is a part of the strategy to end the pandemic. But understanding testing — different types of tests and how and when to use them — can be confusing. Lab-run polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests and at-home antigen tests each have a role. "PCR tests are really sensitive, meaning we can detect really low levels of the virus in a sample," explains Dr. Matthew Binnicker, direc...

Nationwide, there is a trend in orthopedic surgery to move total joint arthroplasty, commonly known as joint replacement, from inpatient to outpatient surgery. Patients benefit from the shorter hospital stay, and they are more satisfied recovering in the comfort of their own home. At Mayo Clinic, physicians from orthopedics and anesthesiology have been working together on this initiative as part o...

Chest wall deformities are structural abnormalities in the chest. While present since birth, chest wall deformities might not become noticeable until children hit their adolescent growth spurt.  The most common chest wall deformity, pectus excavatum, is a sunken breastbone that can be repaired with surgery. Another deformity, pectus carinatum, causes the breastbone to protrude out. It is typically...

With the highly transmissible omicron variant spread across the U.S., it may seem inevitable that most people will get infected with COVID-19. But Mayo Clinic experts explain why it is important to continue to be vigilant and take measures to avoid COVID-19 infection.  "One of the many negatives about saying, 'Well, I'll just go ahead and get infected and get it over with' is you can spread the vi...

Patient advocacy and support organizations play an important role for patients suffering with diseases or conditions. The goal of these groups is to connect members with others who may be in similar situations and locate resources to manage or treat their condition. But patients aren't the only ones who benefit from these connections. Physicians and researchers also can benefit from getting involv...

Whether a chronic condition affects your quality of life, or you have bad habits you'd like to change, a health and wellness coach could help. At Mayo Clinic, wellness coaches are board-certified professionals trained to help patients develop skills and tools to improve their well-being.  "When we're focusing on well-being, intention, accountability and commitment are all important concepts," says...

Information about COVID-19 changes rapidly. While the internet can be a great source of information, the spread of COVID-19 misinformation has made it difficult for consumers to decipher fact from fiction. How do you know if the information you find online is accurate?  "People often get their news from social media," says Dr. Melanie Swift, a Mayo Clinic preventive medicine physician. "And that's...

While the rate of cervical cancer has been declining for decades in the U.S., health disparities persist. Hispanic women have the highest incidence rate of cervical cancer, followed by non-Hispanic Black women, according to the American Cancer Society. And Black women are more likely to die from the disease than women of any other race or ethnicity.  "Race is a social construct. There really isn't...

A hernia occurs when a part of the intestine pushes through a weak spot in the stomach muscles. A hernia creates a soft lump or bulge under the skin. In children, hernias usually occur in one of two places:  An inguinal hernia occurs in the groin area.  An umbilical hernia occurs near the belly button.  Inguinal hernias in newborns and children result from a weakness in the abdominal wall that's p...

The rapid spread of COVID-19 due to the omicron variant continues, and experts expect a January surge across the U.S.  "This is spreading unlike anything we've seen in the U.S.," says Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.  "Over the last seven days, we're now averaging about 400,000 or so new cases a day." While people who are fully vaccinated can get breakthrough infec...

Blood donations typically drop off around the holidays, making National Blood Donor Month in January and important time to share the message about saving lives by giving blood. The COVID-19 pandemic also has affected blood donations. "The COVID-19 pandemic has really had an adverse effect on us recruiting and collecting blood donors in general," says Dr. Justin Juskewitch, associate medical direct...

As 2021 comes to a close, the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast looks back at the impact of COVID-19 over the past year.  "I think the thing that I look back on is the amazing speed with which science moved," says Dr. Gregory Poland, head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group. "When this all began in 2020, COVID-19 was absolutely blank slate. Now we have three vaccines in the U.S., and antiviral and monoc...

Treatment for certain cancers can affect sexuality, causing a range of signs and symptoms that can make sex more difficult.  Sexual side effects from cancer treatment are common for men and women. Cancer in their pelvic area, including bladder, prostate, rectal, cervical, vaginal or vulvar cancer, can make it difficult to resume sex after treatment.  "A surgical procedure, especially to the pelvis...

Racial equity in health care has been a topic of discussion in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many inequities in the health care system.  Racial and ethnic minority groups are being disproportionally affected by COVID-19, due to a long list of factors. "Race is a particularly important aspect of COVID-19 in terms of diagnosis and treatment, mainly because people of color a...

For people with epilepsy and movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease, electrical stimulation of the brain can be part of their treatment.  "Many of the diseases that we think about as neurological diseases are diseases of circuitry in the brain," says Dr. Kai Miller, a Mayo Clinic neurosurgeon. "And one way we can interact with those circuits in order to have patients have improvement in th...