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About 15 years ago, groundbreaking injections became available as a treatment option for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD). These injections provide patients with a safer, more sight-sparing treatment option than lasering, or killing off, the abnormal blood vessels formed with wet AMD.

Tens of thousands of Americans apply to U.S. medical schools each year. Only a fraction gain admission. The University of Arizona, for instance, posted a 1.9% acceptance rate in 2018. UCLA, Florida State University and Wake Forest accepted fewer than 3% of applicants.

It makes sense that a former engineer would find robotics surgery fascinating.

The clinical community oncology program led by Ascension Via Christi has joined the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology — part of the National Cancer Institute’s National Clinical Trials Network, or NCTN. It also has a new name: Cancer Research of Kansas.

Most patients diagnosed with cancer aren’t eager to spend months getting treatment or recovering from surgery. But patients referred for treatment at Ascension Via Christi CyberKnife Center in Wichita don’t have to, because CyberKnife can hone in on lethal cancerous or unhealthy tissue with pinpoint precision in just one to five treatments and requires no incisions or sedation.

When Wichitan Mike Ellis was diagnosed 25 years ago with keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea becomes misshapen, his treatment options were to monitor its progression and get stronger corrective lenses until the severity of his vision loss would require a corneal transplant.

More than 225 Kansas infants die before their first birthday, according to a Wichita-based center that researches and implements programs to combat infant mortality. But the good news is that more efforts are being taken by local community groups to help educate parents about factors that can lower the risk for infant mortality.