Psychoanalytic therapies have been in professional use for over a century, but a new study from physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center is the first to show that a classic psychoanalytic talk therapy is efficacious in treating panic disorder.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital's Westchester Division will participate in a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) clinical research study of anorexia nervosa, the serious and potentially lethal eating disorder that mostly afflicts teenage girls. The groundbreaking collaborative undertaking, which will also include the participation of five other leading medical research institutions, will begin accepting patients who wish to participate on May 1.

Minimally invasive catheter-based interventions are increasingly used to treat the estimated eight million Americans with severe blood-vessel blockages in their legs, a painful condition known as lower extremity arterial vascular disease. A new study shows the approach is safe and effective and may now be considered a first-line intervention for all patients—even those with the severe form of the disease associated with risk for amputation.

It's never too late to take precautions against skin cancer. The incidence of melanoma, a potentially fatal skin cancer, is increasing dramatically. It is currently the most common type of cancer in young women between the ages of 25 and 29.

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A small number of patients diagnosed with polyps in their large intestine have extensive or difficult-to-remove polyps, such as those that are flattened against the colon wall or in hard-to-reach places. As with all polyps that may develop into malignant cancers, they must be removed. Unlike regular polyps, extensive or difficult-to-reach polyps have, until now, necessitated open surgery with a lengthy recovery time. Now, an experimental procedure, laparoscopic surgery combined with carbon-dioxide assisted colonoscopy, allows most patients to return home in less than a day -- a potential advantage over traditional open surgery, which requires a three-to-seven-day hospital stay. The new procedure was developed and offered exclusively in the New York area by colon and rectal surgeons at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

There are estimated to be between 50,000-100,000 individuals in the U.S. diagnosed with chronic Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), an autoimmune disease that dramatically reduces the number of platelets in their blood—causing bruises, nosebleeds and, sometimes, life-threatening brain hemorrhages. Now, the results of an international multicenter clinical research study led by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center demonstrate that an investigational oral platelet growth factor called eltrombopag successfully increased platelet counts and decreased bleeding in patients with the condition.

Approximately one in every 500 to 650 baby boys is born with an extra X chromosome, a variation in their genetic code that until a few years ago was thought to result in infertility in all cases. However, this is no longer the case. A recent conference hosted by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and advocacy organization KS&A focused on raising awareness of the condition and the recent availability of treatments for both children and adults.