MCL

By taking into account an individual’s genes, lifestyle, and environment, precision medicine offers the prospect of finding individualized therapies that might ultimately cure diseases such as cancer and diabetes. Yet, as with other technological revolutions, precision medicine’s quest for innovation bumps up against a host of legal issues—for patients as well as laboratories and providers of care.

This case presents a female patient in her 70s with pain in the right upper quadrant. An ultrasound showed pelviectasis bilaterally, right greater than left. What is the diagnosis?

A recent Mayo Clinic study has found that many U.S. health care providers are habitually ordering a mostly unnecessary, and quite expensive, genetic test to identify a patient’s hereditary risk of venous thromboembolism.

Mayo Clinic has launched a first-in-the-U.S. clinical test that will help patients who recently have been diagnosed with an inflammatory demyelinating disease but may be unsure of the exact disorder.

This case presents an unusual colon polyp on an asymptomatic early 70 year-old male. At the time of screening colonoscopy, two small left colon polyps were noted and excised. What is the diagnosis?

Ann Moyer, M.D., Ph.D., discusses an additional gene, NUDT15, which is important in the prediction of thiopurine-related toxicity This gene has been added to our TPMT genotyping assay available through Mayo Medical Laboratories.

In the war against microbes, human beings are vastly outnumbered—and losing the weapons race.

Ultimately, a pathologist has to commit to a diagnosis. Many trainees have difficulty committing to a diagnosis for fear of being wrong. Gary Keeney, M.D., Consultant in the Division of Anatomic Pathology at Mayo Clinic, provides a unique teaching approach with his cases, detailing the ancillary studies and discussing the differential diagnosis of the cases. View case #2.

Devin Oglesbee, Ph.D., Director of the Biochemical and Molecular Genetics Laboratories at Mayo Clinic, provides an overview of the lysosomal storage disease panel, when it is appropriate to order this test, what actions the results allow you to take, and how this test improves upon previous approaches.

In this month’s “Hot Topic,” Alicia Algeciras-Schimnich, Ph.D., will provide you with valuable information regarding the utility of the prostate specific antigen test, and how the calculation of a prostate health index, or phi, can help to stratify a patient’s risk for prostate cancer and reduce unnecessary biopsies.

Teamwork is critical among staff from Mayo Clinic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Minnesota Department of Health, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison in order to keep tabs on tick trends and defend against vector-borne diseases.

Montana Smith, a student in Mayo Clinic’s Medical Laboratory Science program, reflects on her experience in the program.

Justin Kreuter, M.D., discusses the importance of identifying the "blind spots" in your career and shares some of his own experiences from a patient blood-management conference.