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ROCHESTER, Minn. — Lake Regional Health System and Mayo Clinic Platform announced that the health system in Osage Beach, Missouri, has joined the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a select group of independent healthcare providers carefully vetted by Mayo Clinic and granted special access to Mayo’s clinical, educational, research and operational knowledge, expertise and resources. 

Lake Regional began collaborating with Mayo Clinic Platform on clinical quality improvement in 2023 and has worked to enhance care delivery standards, particularly focusing on specialty care access and coordination for the unique needs of the Lake of the Ozarks community, including both year-round residents and seasonal visitors.

“This clinical collaboration is a game-changer for our region and a bold step forward in our mission to provide exceptional, world-class care,” says Kevin McRoberts, CEO of Lake Regional Health System. “We are proud of Lake Regional’s quality journey and the remarkable team we have built. Joining Mayo Clinic Care Network gives our talented physicians unprecedented access to leading-edge resources, including additional clinical expertise and innovative treatments. It means our patients can receive the very best care available — right here at home, surrounded by the people and community who matter most.”

Through its proven success in clinical excellence initiatives, Lake Regional has demonstrated its ability to implement and sustain quality improvements across multiple facilities. This foundation enables its healthcare professionals to now integrate Mayo Clinic’s advanced clinical expertise with its established regional healthcare leadership, delivering enhanced outcomes for patients throughout the Lake of the Ozarks region.

“This collaboration demonstrates Lake Regional’s unwavering commitment to continuous quality improvement, and it positions them perfectly to serve their unique patient population with Mayo Clinic-level expertise,” says Mark V. Larson, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic Care Network.

Through Lake Regional Health System’s membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network, its healthcare professionals have access to Mayo Clinic Platform-enabled clinical solutions and services, including:

• AskMayoExpert: A point-of-care tool offering concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions, including medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references. The database can be used wherever healthcare is provided.
• eConsults: Connections to Mayo Clinic specialists for second opinions on specific patient cases.
• eBoards: Live, scheduled video conferences that enable medical teams at Lake Regional Health System to review and discuss complex cases with a Mayo Clinic multidisciplinary panel and other healthcare professionals in the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
• Healthcare consulting: Access to Mayo Clinic’s extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to achieve clinical, operational and business goals.

Staff from Lake Regional Health System can use Mayo Clinic educational materials designed for patients. They also can access opportunities for professional development and continuous medical education.

Lake Regional Health System and other Mayo Clinic Care Network members remain independent and join an ecosystem of more than 60 healthcare organizations around the world.

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About Lake Regional Health System
Lake Regional Health System is a nonprofit organization that provides comprehensive healthcare services to residents and visitors throughout the mid-Missouri region. The hospital is a Level II Stroke Center, Level II STEMI (heart attack) Center and Level III Trauma Center. Lake Regional also provides a wide range of specialties, including cancer care, heart care, orthopedics and women’s health. Plus, Lake Regional operates primary care clinics, Express Care walk-in clinics, rehab therapy clinics, hospice and retail pharmacies. To learn more, visit lakeregional.com.

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.

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 contacts:  

• Kaitlin Haar, Mayo Clinic Communications, [email protected]
• Jennifer Bethurem, VP of Public Affairs, Lake Regional Health System, [email protected]

The post Lake Regional Health System in Missouri joins Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

For many cancer patients, treatment can be an isolating and overwhelming journey — marked by fear, fatigue and the constant burden of travel. But what if chemotherapy could be delivered at home? In this episode, we explore the movement to bring cancer care into the comfort of patients’ homes. Could this shift not only ease the experience but also improve outcomes?

This week’s episode of Tomorrow’s Cure features insights from Dr. Roxana Dronca, hematologist, oncologist and director of Mayo Clinic in Florida Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Dr. Arif Kamal, chief patient officer for the American Cancer Society. 

According to the American Cancer Society, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with cancer every 15 seconds. That staggering statistic drives the urgent push for more patient-centered, accessible care models. But what does that look like in practice?

For Dr. Dronca, this mission is personal — her daughter’s cancer diagnosis revealed just how taxing traditional care can be. Out of that experience came a passionate commitment to transform how and where cancer care is delivered.

“I think cancer care, part of the scariness of it is how unknown it is, how unfamiliar it is in its approach,” said Dr. Kamal. “But what if we could soften it by making components of it actually feel as normal as we can?”

Mayo Clinic’s response: Cancer CARE (Connected Access and Remote Expertise) Beyond Walls, a new model offering expert care outside of hospital walls. The initiative minimizes travel and maximizes access by combining in-home services with a Mayo Clinic-based command center staffed by advanced practice providers, nurses and hospitalists. This team remotely coordinates care, ensuring seamless integration with each patient’s medical history.

“I see that there is no choice every time I speak about Cancer CARE Beyond Walls,” stated Dr. Dronca. 

In today’s world, “Patients live longer, they need more treatments and we have more cancer diagnoses. We’re really being outpaced in our ability to offer treatment to everyone in our physical spaces. So, we either think creatively and design a system where we can get care to more patients and also make the care more patient-friendly, or we build more chemotherapy units.”

At-home cancer care isn’t just a vision — it’s happening now. Join us as we explore this transformative approach to care and what it means for the future of oncology. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow’s Cure to learn more. 

Related Articles:

• Is home-based treatment the future of cancer care?
• Transforming cancer care with treatments at home 

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: The future of cancer care is at home appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Skin allergies are common and often frustrating to diagnose. But new technology could soon help change that.

Dr. Alison Bruce, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic, is aiding the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool to support allergy patch testing. The tool is being designed to help patients self-apply test patches and use their smartphones to capture images over time, with technology offering guidance that could assist clinicians in diagnosis.It’s a promising step toward faster, easier and more accessible skin allergy care, especially for people in rural areas or those with limited access to specialists. 

Watch: The future of skin allergy testing

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (1:50) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic News Network.” Read the script.

Itchy skin. Swollen patches. A red, angry rash. Skin allergies impact nearly 1 in 5 people.

“That is when a substance comes into contact with the skin and causes a reaction,” says Dr. Bruce.

You may think of poison ivy triggering a reaction, but jewelry, fragrances, lotions and many more substances can cause a skin reaction known as contact dermatitis.

“What happens is the skin just turns red, itchy, flaky, scaly, kind of sometimes becomes fissured, if it’s very severe, kind of becomes so red and inflamed that the skin breaks down and you get little cracks and crevices in the skin,” Dr. Bruce says.

A new tool in development at Mayo Clinic aims to help patients and their healthcare team determine the cause of the reaction. 

“We’ve been working on an AI tool to help with skin allergy testing because in current state, if you suspect that, as a patient or your doctor suspects that, you have allergic contact dermatitis, the way to test for that would be through patch testing,” she says.

But testing can be time-consuming, requiring patients to return to the dermatologist’s office multiple times.

“The idea behind having AI enhance what we’re doing is, if you can imagine a situation where instead of going into your dermatologist, you were able to put the patches on your skin yourself, remove them at a predetermined time and then use your cellphone, use the camera on your cellphone, to image those reactions, and then AI would be potentially able to interpret the reactions to: ‘Yes, there’s a red reaction that corresponds to nickel, and, therefore, you’re allergic to nickel,'” says Dr. Bruce.

She says the new tool can improve the lives of those having skin reactions by making diagnosis more accessible and faster for patients. 

“It can be done remotely. It can be done with imaging, AI interpretation, etc. It really broadens the reach of people who need care that can’t always make it to places like Mayo Clinic,” she adds.

Related posts:

• Tomorrow’s Cure: How AI enhances skin allergy testing
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Atopic dermatitis triggers and treatment

The post (VIDEO) The future of skin allergy testing appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

HAINAN, China and ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic and Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital, a member of the Leczcore Group, have announced that the hospital is the newest member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. This formal relationship marks an important step in Leczcore’s mission to provide world-class, patient-centered care to communities in Hainan and the surrounding area.

Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital is one of three hospitals operated by Leczcore Group, which also oversees wellness centers dedicated to postoperative recovery and chronic disease management. As a Mayo Clinic Care Network member, Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital gains access to Mayo Clinic’s extensive clinical knowledge and expertise to enhance care.

“Becoming a Mayo Clinic Care Network member is a realization of Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital’s concept of ‘boundaryless medical care,'” says Leczcore President Liu Xiangli. “We have not only introduced advanced medical technology, but more importantly, we are incorporating the patient-first service values ​​of Mayo Clinic, allowing our members to enjoy world-class medical services without having to go abroad.”

Through the Mayo Clinic Care Network, physicians at Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital will have access to tools and services such as AskMayoExpert and eConsults, which enable Leczcore doctors to consult directly with Mayo Clinic specialists when needed. This connection supports Leczcore’s strengths in oncology screening, executive health and chronic disease management, while opening new opportunities for:

• Enhancing clinical standards and operational processes.
• Advancing quality improvement and patient safety initiatives.
• Strengthening nursing leadership, capability and training.
• Expanding patient education and improving overall experience.
• Establishing a trusted care pathway for the most serious and complex cases through direct referrals to Mayo Clinic destination centers in Rochester, Minnesota; Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona; and Jacksonville, Florida.

“We are honored to welcome Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital to the Mayo Clinic Care Network,” says Eric Moore, M.D., medical director, Mayo Clinic International, and chair of Head and Neck Surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital’s focus on advancing preventive care, recovery and chronic condition management aligns closely with our values. We look forward to working together to expand access to high-quality care and deliver meaningful outcomes for patients in Hainan and the surrounding area.”

The Mayo Clinic Care Network includes carefully selected independent organizations worldwide that are committed to working together to improve the quality and value of healthcare. Members retain their independence while benefiting from Mayo Clinic’s decades of experience and best practices.

Through membership in the Mayo Clinic Care Network physicians have access to Mayo Clinic clinical tools and services, including:

AskMayoExpert

• This point-of-care tool offers concise clinical information on hundreds of medical conditions and includes medical protocols, treatment recommendations and medical references. The database can be used wherever healthcare is provided.

eBoards

• These live, scheduled video conferences enable medical teams at member hospitals to review and discuss complex cases with a Mayo Clinic multidisciplinary panel and other doctors in the Mayo Clinic Care Network.

Healthcare Consulting

• Member hospitals have access to Mayo’s extensive experience, knowledge and subspecialty expertise to attain clinical, operational and business goals.

Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital and other members of the Mayo Clinic Care Network remain independent. Created in 2011, the Mayo Clinic Care Network has more than 45 member organizations across the U.S. and in Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

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About Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital
 
Hainan Mellsser Hospital is located in Lecheng, Hainan — the only national-level International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone approved by the State Council. It benefits from the exceptional timing advantage of the State Council’s special Nine Policies for Lecheng, the geographic advantage of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and the “human synergy” advantage of bringing together world-class medical experts and elite management professionals.

The hospital features a diverse range of departments, including Health Screening & Imaging, International Medicine, Precision Medicine, Reproductive & Anti-aging Medicine, Customized Anti-aging Services, and Five-Dimensional Cardiac Wellness. With top-tier international medical services, highly precise diagnostic equipment and renowned global medical specialists, Hainan Mellsser Hospital is committed to delivering one-stop, high-quality healthcare services to members both domestically and internationally.

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 contacts:

• Qian Chen, Mellsser Hospital Branding, [email protected]
• Elizabeth Baxter, Mayo Clinic Communications, [email protected]

The post Leczcore Hainan Mellsser Hospital joins Mayo Clinic Care Network appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: We just moved to an area with a lot of opportunities for water recreation and are so excited about our first summer on the water. But we want to make sure everyone stays safe. Can you give us some pointers for water safety?

ANSWER: Nothing beats a day at the lake, river, beach or pool for fun, fitness, fishing and relaxation. While spending time on and around the water this summer, these tips can ensure that everyone is safe, has fun and enjoys the time together.

Learn to swim

Every year in the U.S., about 4,000 people die by drowning. Children, men and nonwhite people are at the highest risk. 

Learning to swim is one of the most important ways to stay safe on the water. The American Academy of Pediatrics supports swimming lessons for most children ages 4 and older. Lessons for children ages 1 to 4 could be appropriate, depending on how often they’re exposed to water. Even infants can be introduced to the water. Check to see what classes are available in your area.

Swimmers of all ages may be more familiar with pools than rivers and may not know what to do if caught in a current. Stay calm, float on your back, and when you come to a calmer area, flip over and swim diagonally toward shore with the flow of the current.

Keep these safety tips in mind too:

• Don’t swim alone.
• Supervise children when they’re swimming, and stay close enough to reach out to a child at any time.
• Before diving into a body of water, know the water depth and if there are any underwater obstacles.
• Keep pool gates closed at all times, and consider an alarm to alert you if the gate is opened.

Wear a personal floatation device

Even expert swimmers can get into trouble during an emergency. It’s important to be sure everyone in a watercraft wears a U.S. Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device. While boating or swimming, remember that arm floaties and inflatable toys aren’t a substitute and tend to give kids and families a false sense of security. 

Excellent, comfortable, easy-to-put-on models of personal flotation devices are available, so there’s really no excuse not to wear one.

Stay safe while boating, no matter your craft

One of the most popular and fun activities of summer is spending time on the water. Boating creates lifelong memories and gives us the opportunity to unplug, spend time together, learn new skills and explore new areas. 

Whether your craft is a power boat, fishing boat, pontoon, personal watercraft, canoe or kayak, you should remember these basic safety rules as you head out for a day on the water:

• Be a weather watcher. Summer weather can change quickly. Check the forecast before heading out and check again frequently while on the water. If you do get caught in a storm, navigate to the shore as quickly as possible.
• Tell someone the details of your trip. Tell your trip plan to a friend who’s staying ashore. Share details about who’s on the boat, where you’ll be and how long you’ll be gone.
• Always operate your boat at a safe speed. Waterways can become crowded during the summer. Slow down, stay alert and steer clear of larger vessels. Be sure to follow speed limits in “no wake” areas.
• Respect buoys and other navigational aids. They’ve been put in place to ensure your safety and the safety of other boaters and swimmers. If you’re not familiar with them, the U.S. Coast Guard has a handy water navigation system guide.
• Leave alcohol on shore. The risk of drowning or injury significantly increases when alcohol or drugs are involved. More than 70% of water recreation deaths are related to alcohol use.

Be sun savvy

The sun’s rays can be intense on the open water. Protect everyone with hats, sunglasses and sunscreen. Look for water-resistant, broad-spectrum sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. Apply sunscreen generously and reapply every two hours, or more often if you’re swimming or sweating.

Drink plenty of water

Even when surrounded by water, it’s possible to become dehydrated. Sitting in the sun can increase your body’s temperature. Pack plenty of water for each person, and drink some water every 15 to 20 minutes to remain properly hydrated.

Jason Wray-Raabolle, M.D., Family Medicine, Mayo Clinic Health System, Owatonna, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q&A: Tips for summer water safety appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

In this week’s Tomorrow’s Cure episode, explore a revolutionary frontier in medicine: the ability to predict disease before symptoms even manifest. Listen to experts at the forefront of medical research who are leveraging cutting-edge technology to potentially make diseases like cancer a thing of the past. 

The podcast episode features insights from Dr. Vijay Shah, Executive Dean of Research at Mayo Clinic; Heidi Dieter, Chief Research Officer at Mayo Clinic and Dwight Diercks, Senior Vice President of Nvidia. Together, they share insights on how predictive medicine could transform healthcare, allowing intervention before illness takes hold.

Until now, most patients have been treated the same—despite the uniqueness of each individual. Experts believe there’s a better path forward. 

“The problem with guidelines is they treat everybody the same and in fact, all of us are different, and we have different risks for different types of diseases,” said Dr. Shah. “Technologies today allow us to integrate multiomics, which is your gene profile, RNA profile, protein profile, and integrate that with the exposures that you have every day.” 

He continued, “That’s why it’s been so hard to predict disease because we have not been able to truly integrate these different types of environmental and genetic factors to make a personalized prediction for one’s health.”

Now, researchers are overcoming these challenges using innovative technologies. Experts are using artificial intelligence to move closer to predicting—and potentially preventing—serious diseases before they develop.

“The data and AI that we’re using is light years ahead of what we knew six months ago. It is iterating so rapidly, it’s hard to keep up with it,” said Dieter. “So, when it takes 17-years to go from a discovery in a lab to a treatment for a patient, and that 17-year curve has not changed in decades. Data and AI is going to rapidly accelerate it.”

And when treatment is necessary, providing individualized treatment is important to improve patient outcomes. While there’s still work to be done, this is the future experts are striving to build. 

“Everybody is different. Every cancer type is different and unique in each individual, said Dwight. “So, figuring out how to apply a cure needs to be different going forward, and it can be with the tools that AI brings to doctors.”

The potential of this technology is transformative—reshaping care models to be more personalized, data-driven, and effective. Listen to the latest episode of Tomorrow’s Cure to learn more. Explore past episodes and featured experts at tomorrowscure.com.

The post Tomorrow’s Cure: Predicting disease with the power of data appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Fifty-four-year-old Chris Sams of Arizona has been living with coccidioidomycosis, more commonly known as valley fever, for nearly a decade. When his symptoms worsened and standard treatments failed, he turned to Mayo Clinic’s Cocci Clinic in Arizona — one of the few centers in the country that treats the most advanced and complicated cases.

Now, on a more aggressive antifungal treatment, Chris says Mayo Clinic’s multidisciplinary team approach has made all the difference.

Valley fever can be serious, especially when it spreads beyond the lungs. In rare cases, as it did with Chris, the coccidioides infection can reach the brain and cause neurological damage, requiring intensive treatments.

Watch: When valley fever spreads – Meet Chris and his complex case

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video (3:00) is in the downloads at the end of this post. Please courtesy: “Mayo Clinic News Network.” Read the script.

“I think I was biking up to 150 miles a week. I was biking quite a bit, lot of wind, lot of sand, lot of dust,” says Chris.

That dust may have carried fungal spores that infected Chris with valley fever — a lung infection caused by breathing in spores that live in the soil but can become airborne.

“I was always sick. I was worn down. I lost a massive amount of weight. And that’s really what threw us over the edge, is that something was going wrong,” he says.

He ended up in the hospital.

“They put me in isolation floor because they didn’t know if I had cancer, tuberculosis or if it was the continuance of valley fever,” he recalls.

Tests confirmed it was valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis or cocci. The majority of people who get cocci recover well on their own, but in a small number of people, like Chris, the fungal spores can spread beyond the lungs, causing severe or even life-threatening symptoms.

“Less than 5% of people have it spread outside of the lung. It can go to many different places: bones, soft tissues and potentially the central nervous system. And, unfortunately, while it is a small percentage of people, when it does get into the central nervous system, it causes potentially devastating consequences,” says Dr. Marie Grill, a Mayo Clinic neurologist.

In Chris’ case, the spores had spread to his brain. That’s when he sought help at Mayo Clinic’s Cocci Clinic in Arizona, where a multidisciplinary team of specialists treats the most serious and complex cases of valley fever.

“Now we have on our roadmap. We have a direction on where we’re going — because otherwise, everything is just spiraling out of control,” says Chris.

He began undergoing a special treatment delivered every few weeks right to his brain.

“It’s an antifungal medication which can be delivered intravenously but can also be delivered directly into what we call the intrathecal space, which is essentially directly into the spaces where we have the spinal fluid,” explains Dr. Grill.

The good news is doctors say Chris is showing signs of improvement.

“They think that there is an end in sight and hopefully we will wean off the intrathecal treatments. I mean, we’ve weaned it down to every two weeks,” he says.

Doctors have yet to determine how long the treatments will need to continue, but Chris is confident he’s heading in the right direction, with the right team.

While the Cocci Clinic cares for patients with serious cases of valley fever, Mayo Clinic is also advancing the field with a faster, more accurate test to speed up diagnosis and treatment.

Related post:

• (VIDEO) Faster diagnosis for valley fever: New test in development

The post (VIDEO) When valley fever spreads: Meet Chris and his complex case appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

DEAR MAYO CLINIC: This is kind of embarrassing, but, for a while, I’ve been leaking urine. Can something be done to fix this incontinence problem?

ANSWER: You don’t have to live with this issue. The three main types of urinary incontinence are:

• Stress incontinence — due to leakage with activities, such as lifting, climbing stairs or strenuous activity.
• Urge incontinence — related to leakage associated with the feeling or urge to urinate.
• Mixed incontinence — a combination of stress and urge incontinence.

Incontinence can be treated with behavioral changes, exercises, medications, nerve stimulation and injections. Surgical options are also available.  

Stress incontinence in men

Up to 10% of men may experience stress incontinence after prostate surgery due to multiple factors related to the patient’s anatomy, prostate cancer and the surgery performed. Ultimately, this leads to a weakened sphincter muscle and laxity of the pelvic floor. The sphincter muscles control the release of urine, and the urethra is the small tube that empties the bladder. 

A prostatectomy procedure removes some of the control provided by the prostate and bladder, making the patient reliant solely on the external sphincter muscle.

Normally, the sphincter remains closed as the bladder fills with urine until you can reach a restroom. The weakened muscles and relaxed pelvic floor have trouble holding urine, so any movement that exerts a force on the abdominal and pelvic muscles puts pressure on the bladder and can cause leakage. This force could be sneezing, bending over, lifting or even laughing.

Postsurgery stress incontinence symptoms may resolve on their own with time and pelvic physical therapy. Usually, patients can see continued improvement for 12 months after surgery and try nonsurgical treatments, such as physical therapy, before considering surgical treatment options, such as male urethral slings and artificial urinary sphincters.

Male urethral slings

Male urethral slings are indicated for men with mild to moderate stress urinary incontinence, which is defined as using one to four pads per day. The surgeon uses a synthetic mesh material to create a sling, or hammock, to support and pull the urethra and pelvic floor back toward their original locations. Some slings also provide compression support for the sphincter muscles.

A cystoscopy test will be needed before the surgery to confirm that the sphincter muscles are working.

Male urethral slings are performed as an outpatient procedure, and patients can go home the same day. Heavy lifting and strenuous exercise are restricted for about six weeks. Patients need to be careful when climbing ladders and squatting for about three months after surgery because significant hip flexing can loosen the sling.

About 80% of men with male urethral slings see an improvement in their symptoms after surgery, with the majority of them no longer needing pads after surgery.

Artificial urinary sphincters

This surgical procedure is more invasive than male urethral slings and appropriate for men with severe stress incontinence, which is defined as using more than four pads per day. It’s also a good option for patients who have damage to sphincter muscles from radiation therapy or a failed male urethral sling.

The placement of artificial urinary sphincters has multiple components. A small cuff is placed around the urethra, replacing the sphincter muscle’s function. Tubes connect the cuff to a pressure-regulating balloon placed in the lower pelvic region and a pump in the scrotum. The pump is manually operated to open the cuff on the urethra and allow urine to be released from the body.

Some patients can go home the same day as surgery, while others will require an overnight hospital stay to recover.

After surgery, the artificial urinary sphincter isn’t activated for about a month while the body heals. During this time, heavy lifting and exercise are restricted. Patients return to the clinic and are taught how to properly use the device. With proper training and consistent use, artificial urinary sphincters are effective at treating symptoms of severe stress urinary incontinence in men.

Talk with your healthcare team if you’re experiencing urinary incontinence symptoms or are concerned about your prostate or urinary health.

David Yang, M.D., Urology, Mayo Clinic Health System, Mankato, Minnesota

The post Mayo Clinic Q&A: Why some men experience urinary leaks — or incontinence appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

ROCHESTER, Minn. — Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a key reason some cancer patients relapse after receiving chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T cell therapy. Over time, the engineered immune cells age and lose their ability to fight cancer.  

Published in Molecular Cancer, the study identifies this aging process, known as senescence, as a previously unrecognized mechanism of CAR-T failure.   

The researchers also showed that senescence is influenced by how CAR-T cells are engineered. Certain intracellular features — such as how the cell recognizes cancer and how strongly it activates — can overwork the cells. The researchers found that if the activation signal is too intense or prolonged, it can push CAR-T cells into premature aging.  

The discovery may guide the development of next-generation CAR-T therapies that last longer and are more effective across a broader range of cancers.  

“This is one of the most clinically relevant discoveries we’ve made because it doesn’t just explain the cause of relapse, it gives us a biological target to possibly prevent it,” says Saad Kenderian, M.B., Ch.B., a principal investigator and hematologist at Mayo Clinic.  

CAR-T therapy reprograms a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer. It has led to long-term remission for patients, including some with aggressive or treatment-resistant diseases. But many patients eventually relapse, and the causes have remained poorly understood. 

Modeling CAR-T cell stress over time 

To investigate why CAR-T therapy can fail, the Mayo team developed a novel lab model that simulates long-term biological stress, offering a clearer view of how the engineered cells behave after infusion. Over time, some CAR-T cells lost their ability to multiply and attack cancer. Specifically, they showed hallmark signs of senescence, including distinct genetic changes.  

The researchers found that senescence occurred more often in CAR-T cells built with a signaling feature, known as 4-1BB, which affects how the cells respond to cancer. In comparison, cells designed with an alternative domain, called CD28, were less affected by aging. These cells activate more quickly and persist for a shorter time, reducing the cumulative stress that drives senescence.

The researchers confirmed the results in multiple laboratory models and validated them in patient samples.

Engineering CAR-T cells for longevity 

That discovery was driven in part by the work of Ismail Can, Ph.D., who helped lead the molecular analysis behind the finding. 

“Efforts to make CAR-T cell therapy more durable will likely fail without fully understanding the reasons behind CAR-T cell failure. This study represents a significant step toward understanding why CAR-T cells fail,” says Dr. Can, first author of the study and a senior research fellow at Mayo Clinic’s T Cell Engineering Laboratory. “By identifying the early molecular triggers of senescence, we can begin to refine CAR-T design to potentially improve long-term function and reduce relapse.” 

The findings highlight a new direction for CAR-T research, with potential implications not only for blood cancers but also for expanding cell therapy into solid tumors.  

The study builds on Dr. Kenderian’s broader efforts to identify resistance mechanisms and design more durable and personalized immunotherapies.   

This work was supported in part by Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Eagles 5th District Cancer Telethon Funds for Cancer Research, the State of Minnesota, and benefactors Georgia and Michael Michelson. For a complete list of authors, disclosures and funding information, review the study.    

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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, [email protected] 

The post Mayo Clinic researchers link CAR-T cell aging to cancer relapse  appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic’s Department of Nursing welcomes its first Nursing Research Scholars. As an Academic Medical Center, Mayo integrates clinical practice with research and education to deliver the best possible care. In its inaugural year, three scholars were accepted into the unique Nursing Research Scholar program. Under the guidance of nurse scientists in the Division of Nursing Research, the Nursing Research Scholars are Ph.D.-prepared nurses who will now dedicate one day a week to research that improves patient care. 

Education and training are ongoing in medicine, and nurses are frequently tasked with updating their knowledge. Amanda Rossley, Ph.D., a nurse manager in nursing professional development, hopes to study the latest in training pedagogy by using gamification to improve learning among nurses. “Gaming is an active learning strategy that improves concentration, creativity, memory and engagement,” she says. She hopes her research will contribute to data-driven insights that lead to the practical translation for gamification-based nursing and patient education that improves patient care. For patients, this means the possibility of playing a game to learn more about managing conditions, instead of reading about it.

The clinical performance of a nursing student is influenced by their mental health, social support, the learning environment and self-efficacy, or the belief in one’s capacity to perform. Jeanine Gangeness, Ph.D., a program director in Nursing Academic Affairs, is on a mission to enhance the existing training environment for nursing students by pinpointing which interventions increase student self-efficacy and sense of belonging. “This research is an investment in the future workforce of Mayo Clinic,” she explains. “Nursing students with high self-efficacy are more likely to work hard, complete their tasks and be more resilient in the face of failures, leading to better patient outcomes and more competent and confident nurses.”

For patients with adverse symptoms, relief cannot come soon enough. Despite monumental advances in medical practice and technology, many questions remain regarding symptom management in complex patients. Savannah Zins, Ph.D., a nursing education specialist in nursing professional development, says, “Understanding the biological and behavioral aspects of adverse symptoms through symptom science can improve patients’ quality of life, reduce chronic symptoms and burden, and lower healthcare costs.” Through her research, Zins hopes to identify non-pharmacologic and nursing interventions to make patients more comfortable.  

Because Mayo Clinic is highly collaborative, discoveries from one area are quickly translated to other areas. Within this scholarly environment, staff at Mayo continually seek new medical knowledge and ways to rapidly and responsibly validate and apply it. The Nursing Research Scholar program is one example of how the organization empowers nurses to integrate their clinical expertise with guided research opportunities, applying their findings to drive change. These research initiatives will have a positive impact, enabling the organization to share discoveries that lead to improved healthcare beyond its walls.

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