News by Subject Medicine & Health

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered that the spreading of seizures through the brain can be suppressed depending on the amount of pressure within the brain, an important discovery that may revolutionize the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy.

Unauthorized immigrants who receive liver transplants in the United States have comparable three-year survival rates to US citizens, according to a study by researchers at UC San Francisco. Yet access to life-saving organs for this population varies widely by state, in part due to a medical misperception that undocumented migrants face a higher risk of transplant failure.

A UCLA-led study has found that using three-dimensional virtual reality models to prepare for kidney tumor surgeries resulted in substantial improvements, including shorter operating times, less blood loss during surgery and a shorter stay in the hospital afterward.

Two surgical procedures used to repair vaginal prolapse -- hysterectomy and employing mesh support that preserves the uterus -- have comparable clinical outcomes after three years, according to new data from researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine.

Uterine prolapse happens when weakened muscles and ligaments no longer provide enough support for the uterus, which then protrudes into or out of the vagina. This randomized clinical trial compared the effectiveness of two surgical methods to treat women: a vaginal hysterectomy to remove the uterus with ligament suspension to support remaining tissue or uterus-sparing suspension techniques, known as hysteropexy.

Adding behavioral and physical therapy before and after surgery for women with stress and urgency urinary incontinence resulted in a small improvement in symptoms compared to women who just had surgery but that difference in symptoms may not be clinically important. There have been a lack of studies examining treatments for women with both stress and urgency urinary incontinence also called mixed urinary incontinence.