Janet Bunch of Chicago had just experienced another "excruciating" bout of diverticulitis, an inflammation of the pockets in the lining of the colon. "It was the second time in 19 months and the pain was worse than you could imagine," said Bunch, 64, a resident of Chicago. Mild cases of diverticulitis can be treated with changes in diet, rest and antibiotics...

Texas Children's Hospital is the nation's first pediatric hospital to discharge a child while on an intracorporeal ventricular assist device (VAD), a feat previously accomplished only at adult institutions. The patient, 16-year-old Francisco "Frank" De Santiago, who was implanted with a mechanical heart pump called the HeartMate II on May 19, 2009, was discharged on Oct. 29, 2009.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) announced that it performed its first, and the nation's sixth, hand transplant on March 14. Former Marine Josh Maloney, 24, who lost his right hand in a military training accident, is the first patient to be treated with the "Pittsburgh Protocol," a new immune modulation therapy that aims to reduce the risk associated with toxic anti-rejection drugs.