https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us provides the latest news from University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences A new study led by University of Pittsburgh neurosurgeons, otolaryngologists and engineers demonstrates that a mixed reality (MR) streaming platform can deliver surgical performance comparable to traditional 2D video monitors during endoscopic endonasal skull base procedures. The cadaver study, published in Operative Neurosurgery, evaluated whether routing the endoscopic camera feed directly into a surgeon's mixed reality headset could maintain precision while improving ergonomics and workflow. Researchers found no significant differences in key performance measures between the MR view and a conventional 2D display. Additionally, surgeons reported reduced task load when using the MR interface. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-reality-platform-par-standard-screens.html Tue, 14 Apr 2026 12:40:03 EDT news695387942 For women age 70 and over with a common form of breast cancer, determining "the right size" of treatment can be challenging, in part because clinicians have limited tools to guide individualized treatment decisions. In a study published today in Clinical Cancer Research, scientists at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that a blood-based test may help guide treatment decisions for a carefully selected group of women age 70 and over who have estrogen receptor–positive breast cancer, who were considering endocrine (or hormone-blocking) therapy as the primary treatment and forgoing surgery and radiation. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-blood-tailor-breast-cancer-treatment.html Sat, 21 Mar 2026 12:00:04 EDT news693141596 Severely injured patients are more likely to survive if they are initially treated by an emergency medical services (EMS) clinician who sees a high number of trauma patients, rather than a clinician in a quieter area even if they have been on the job longer, reveals new research by UPMC and University of Pittsburgh surgeon-scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-frequent-patients-years-job-ems.html Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:36:27 EST news690654961 A team of scientists has uncovered a critical mechanism that could pave the way for safer and more effective obesity treatments. The findings, published in Nature Communications, shed light on how leptin, a hormone that regulates appetite and energy balance, works in the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-key-enzymes-fat-loss-muscle.html Fri, 06 Feb 2026 12:20:05 EST news689601788 More than 25% of pregnant or postpartum women who suffered an acute stroke had had encounters with health care providers for stroke-related symptoms within the prior month but did not receive a timely diagnosis, finds University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analysis. The study highlights a critical opportunity to improve maternal health outcomes through better clinician education and decision-support tools. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-pregnancy.html Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:35:40 EST news688664101 Clinician-scientists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that significantly improves diagnostic accuracy for functional seizures—a condition often misdiagnosed as epilepsy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-neurologists-ai-diagnostic-gaps-seizure.html Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:41:44 EST news687631261 A new study led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine clinical scientists and UPMC neurosurgeons challenges assumptions about early withdrawal of care in patients with severe traumatic brain injury, or TBI. The research, published today in the journal Neurosurgery, suggests that more than 1 in 3 critically ill patients with TBI could have achieved partial independence if their life-sustaining care had not been withdrawn. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-early-limit-recovery-severe-brain.html Tue, 13 Jan 2026 21:50:02 EST news687531914 The ratio of a person's waist measurement compared to their height is more reliable than body mass index (BMI) at predicting heart disease risk, according to new research from UPMC and University of Pittsburgh physician-scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-waist-height-ratio-outperforms-bmi.html Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:16:03 EST news681387361 The availability of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic improved access to endocrinology care for rural patients with type 2 diabetes and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh published today in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-telemedicine-access-endocrinology-rural-patients.html Tue, 20 May 2025 13:11:03 EDT news666965461 A multi-disciplinary team of UPMC clinicians has developed comprehensive clinical protocols for managing hospitalized patients exposed to xylazine—a veterinary sedative increasingly found in the unregulated opioid supply. Xylazine has been linked to severe and unique clinical complications, including difficult-to-manage withdrawal symptoms and necrotic skin ulcerations that are prone to infection and can develop into chronic, non-healing wounds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-protocols-patients-xylazine-wounds.html Thu, 17 Apr 2025 11:21:03 EDT news664107661 Traumatically injured women are considerably less likely to receive whole blood transfusions within the first four hours of injury compared to men, despite whole blood being associated with reduced mortality in both women and men, according to new research led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-reveals-gender-gap-trauma-blood.html Fri, 11 Apr 2025 13:58:38 EDT news663598714 For some patients born with a certain skull abnormality, unexpectedly early cognitive decline and symptoms of depression and anxiety may be corrected with a brain surgery, report University of Pittsburgh neurosurgeons today in the Journal of Neurosurgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-surgery-chiari-malformation-psychological-health.html Fri, 21 Feb 2025 09:11:04 EST news659351461 The prevalence of daily low-dose aspirin use fell significantly after the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association narrowed recommendations in 2019. However, new research published Jan. 22 in JAMA shows that message has not reached all population segments equally, leaving some groups at greater risk of adverse effects like gastrointestinal bleeding and intracerebral hemorrhage. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-marginalized-patients-daily-aspirin.html Thu, 23 Jan 2025 10:59:03 EST news656852341 Humans and mice exposed to long-wavelength red light had lower rates of blood clots that can cause heart attacks, lung damage and strokes, according to research led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC surgeon-scientists and published today in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-01-red-linked-lowered-blood-clots.html Fri, 10 Jan 2025 11:28:16 EST news655730890 Researchers have been unable to explain why after giving birth, Black patients are two to three times as likely to retain or gain additional weight compared to their white counterparts, even when pre-pregnancy weight and gestational-weight trajectories are comparable. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-discrimination-linked-postpartum-weight-retention.html Mon, 11 Nov 2024 11:43:16 EST news650547791 Youth living in neighborhoods with more community assets—such as parks, libraries, health services and transportation options—were less likely to report feelings of hopelessness, according to a new JAMA Network Open study from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-community-resources-linked-teen-mental.html Wed, 25 Sep 2024 14:00:14 EDT news646491601 Women diagnosed with breast cancer who had regular screening mammograms every year were less likely to have late-stage cancer and had higher overall survival than those who received screening every other year or less often, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-annual-breast-cancer-screening-women.html Mon, 26 Aug 2024 14:31:41 EDT news643901497 Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to command attention from senior leaders in health systems as executives search for ways to leverage the technology, according to the Top of Mind for Top Health Systems survey published by the Center for Connected Medicine (CCM) at UPMC. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-08-ai-potential-health-survey.html Fri, 23 Aug 2024 12:43:02 EDT news643635781 An intensive, 12-week pain self-management program has been shown to reduce pain and improve mood in a large clinical trial of people with both HIV and chronic pain. The research, led by University of Pittsburgh physician-scientist Jessica Merlin, M.D., Ph.D., found participants in the Skills to Manage Pain (STOMP) program also reported more confidence in their ability to manage pain both immediately and three months after the study period. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-07-patients-hiv-chronic-pain.html Mon, 15 Jul 2024 16:13:29 EDT news640278806 Middle-aged women experienced increases in alcohol-related health complications during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new research led by a University of Pittsburgh physician-scientist and published today in JAMA Health Forum. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-pandemic-middle-aged-women-hardest.html Fri, 12 Apr 2024 11:44:39 EDT news632141070 New research from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC shows that telemedicine visits conducted for children with primary care providers (PCPs) are associated with fewer antibiotic prescriptions than telemedicine visits with virtual-only direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-primary-telemedicine-linked-antibiotics-children.html Tue, 19 Mar 2024 11:02:29 EDT news630064945 Very few health systems have written formal policies addressing the use of artificial intelligence (AI), and even fewer have policies specific to generative AI, reflecting the rapid advances the solutions have made in health care, according to a new survey from the Center for Connected Medicine at UPMC (CCM). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-02-ai-oversight-health-survey.html Fri, 16 Feb 2024 12:35:04 EST news627309302 A cancer diagnosis can greatly disrupt treatment with methadone, a medication used to treat patients with opioid use disorder, according to a perspective piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine by University of Pittsburgh researchers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-cancer-patients-opioid-disorder-obstacles.html Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:02:54 EST news620636571 The federal Modernizing Opioid Treatment Act, or MOTA, would expand methadone access to an additional 14% of census tracts in the U.S., according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh published recently in Health Affairs Scholar. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-11-law-methadone-access-gaps.html Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:41:03 EST news619375261 Patients who first seek physical therapy or chiropractic care have better outcomes and shorter episodes of acute care for low back pain, according to new research from the University of Pittsburgh and published today in the journal Physical Therapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-09-pain-episodes-shorter-patients-physical.html Tue, 26 Sep 2023 17:03:04 EDT news614966582 Researchers and physicians at the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC used machine learning to create and deploy an accurate and flexible model for predicting patients at high-risk for complications after surgery, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-07-machine-high-risk-surgery-patients.html Mon, 10 Jul 2023 10:24:03 EDT news608203441 When three prime-time TV medical dramas—"Grey's Anatomy," "New Amsterdam" and "Chicago Med"—coincidentally featured storylines about the dangers of youth vaping within a few weeks of each other, University of Pittsburgh social scientist Beth Hoffman, Ph.D., saw an opportunity to engage real-life adolescents in a discussion about electronic cigarettes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-06-tv-dramas-effectively-prompt-middle.html Wed, 14 Jun 2023 15:41:53 EDT news605976109 Severely injured patients who meet criteria for care at a trauma center have nearly double the odds of surviving if they are transported directly by medical helicopter to a Level I or II trauma center, compared to those first driven to a regular hospital and then flown to a trauma center, according to a new analysis led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC physician-scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-02-helicopter-trauma-patients-survival-severe.html Mon, 06 Feb 2023 09:37:48 EST news594898666 Black patients with atrial fibrillation are less likely to be prescribed newer anticoagulant medications when they leave the hospital compared to their white counterparts and are consequently more likely to experience adverse outcomes, including stroke and death, according to a new study led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine physician-scientists and published today in JAMA Cardiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-10-black-patients-atrial-fibrillation-adverse.html Thu, 27 Oct 2022 09:20:03 EDT news586081201 Nearly a third of pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries who have opioid use disorder and are screened for hepatitis C test positive for the potentially deadly, liver-destroying virus, according to new findings made by a research consortium led by University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health scientists. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2022-05-hepatitis-rarely-high-risk-postpartum-medicaid.html Tue, 17 May 2022 11:45:04 EDT news572006702