Pelvic organ prolapse – which occurs when the uterus, bowel, bladder or top of the vagina “drops” or bulges into the vagina – affects one in four women in their 40s and half of all women in their 80s, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The condition can cause serious discomfort and affect everything from a woman’s ability to work, exercise and control her bowel and bladder function. When treated, it can result in the resolution or minimization of symptoms.

Robotic technology is being used in the operating room as a tool during surgery. The technology gives transplant surgeons additional flexibility, dexterity, articulation, visualization and stability, all of which are used to retrieve kidneys from living donors and transplant them into people in need of a new kidney. Pulmonologists rely on those same robotic qualities to perform biopsies of small tumors located deep inside the lungs.

For the past six years, the Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT) has provided a watchful eye over 60 operating rooms at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, serving nearly 1,000 patients per week. Like the air traffic control tower, the ACT provides additional sets of eyes to help anesthesia clinicians head off and troubleshoot rare but potentially life-threatening perioperative events that can occur unpredictably.

For people who have experienced a heart attack or stroke, taking a daily aspirin has been shown to prevent a second one. Yet, despite aspirin’s low cost and its clear benefits in such scenarios, fewer than half of people worldwide who have had a heart attack or stroke take the medication, according to a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and University of Michigan.

More than 7 million people in the U.S. live with a movement disorder called essential tremor. Because essential tremor can make everyday tasks—shaving, writing, driving a car—difficult if not impossible, living with essential tremor presents significant challenges. Treatment for essential tremor includes medication, a surgical option called deep-brain stimulation and a newer, non-surgical therapy known as high-intensity focused ultrasound.