Growing up in Tokyo, Dr. Shuichi Suzuki was well aware of the destruction that stroke can cause. Stroke was Japan’s No. 1 cause of death at the time. He knew neighbors who died of stroke, was aware of others who suffered life-changing disabilities, and saw how the disease affected not…
Minimizing a cancer patient's radiation exposure during diagnostic scanning and treatment is a continuing goal in oncology. As the recent debate over mammograms shows, physicians struggle with the issue of radiation exposure even in preventive procedures. Since January, UC Irvine's Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has used an innovative radiotherapy…
In 2003, oncologist Dr. Rita Mehta had "the kind of moment everyone lives for" — everyone, that is, who's working to find a cure for cancer. Mehta, a health sciences associate professor of medicine at the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, was one of the first researchers to use chemotherapy…
Kerby Mellott enjoyed being physically active all his life. When he was younger, Kerby loved to play sports. Tall, lean and athletic in his youth, Kerby was a high school state basketball team champion and played for his college’s championship football team. After college, he began steadily gaining weight. A…
John G. Lee, MD, is director of Pancreaticobiliary Services at the H.H. Chao Comprehensive Digestive Disease Center. He is an expert in diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the pancreas and biliary tract using minimally invasive techniques. These include ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, which employs a thin flexible tube called…
Surgery without large, open incisions is a proven advancement offered at UC Irvine, where women may have many treatment options when they face gynecologic conditions such as uterine fibroids, endometriosis and ovarian cysts. The term for such procedures is “minimally invasive surgery,” or MIS. It includes a variety of techniques…
At 49 years old, Trevor Mackay was the picture of health—participating in Pilates, jogging several times a week and training for a triathlon. So when the results of his annual PSA test revealed a slight increase over his previous test, he wasn’t the least bit concerned. But his doctor referred…
When retiree Dan Christensen moved to Orange County from his native Oregon in September 2010, he immediately began searching for volunteer opportunities. "I wanted to be somewhat intellectually stimulated so that I didn’t get rusty, so to speak," Christensen says. His wife, Susan Christensen suggested he look at UC Irvine…
Carey Moyer was 31 and still a newlywed when she felt a lump in her right breast in January 2010. "It felt like a rock, but it didn’t hurt when I touched it," Moyer recalls. "So, of course I went online." She found little reassurance. When her gynecologist felt the…
When Debra Giesy began experiencing lower back pain, she thought it was sciatica, a condition caused by compression of the lumbar or sciatic nerves in the spine. She took ibuprofen and hoped the pain would go away. She never imagined it would lead her to UC Irvine Medical Center. Giesy…
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