From robotic surgery to catheter-based and endoscopic procedures, advanced technology is increasingly used in the operating room. Now, technology is being used to transform the entire room itself. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is opening "smart" operating rooms that give surgeons and clinicians instant access to an unprecedented amount of vital information about the patient and the procedure.

A breakthrough new procedure may improve quality of life for children and adults with a common type of congenital heart defect that interferes with the body's ability to oxygenate blood through the lungs.

Each year, 40 to 60 percent of American adults suffer from chronic back pain. More than one million spine surgery procedures are performed annually, with medical costs to treat back pain approaching $24 billion per year.

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center physician-scientists are presenting exciting new research at the 2007 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., May 19-24.

Medical and surgical endoscopists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center removed a woman's gall bladder using a flexible endoscope with only minimal external incisions. The revolutionary procedure is offered as part of an ongoing clinical research trial and may prove to have advantages, including reduced pain, quicker recovery time and absence of visible scarring.

Physician-scientists from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College are presenting exciting new research at the 2007 Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) in Baltimore, June 6-10.

In response to a glut of confusing and sometimes incorrect information about public and private banking of umbilical cord blood, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has issued new recommendations that seek to clarify the options available to parents. Among several recommendations, the report encourages parents donate to public cord blood banks and discourage parents from using private cord blood banks – unless they have an older child with a condition that could benefit from transplantation.

Leading hematologists from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center are presenting new basic and clinical research findings at the 46th annual American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in Atlanta, Dec. 8-11.