Medical | featured news

They savor pizza and burgers, no longer frighten children, and many of them can walk the streets without people knowing they have someone else's cheeks, nose, lips and skin. People who have had face transplants increasingly are going public, helping to transform an operation that six years ago was daredevil theory into one that is widely accepted....

Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia - turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells....

Watch out Mr. Hare, this tortoise has a wheel. A 12-year-old African tortoise that recently had its front left leg amputated due to injury is now moving just fine, thanks to a swiveling wheel attached to his shell by doctors at Washington State University's veterinary hospital.

Presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann isn't alone when it comes to suffering from migraines.

Scientists are closing in on a long-sought goal: A blood test to screen people for Alzheimer's disease. An experimental test did a good job of indicating how much of the telltale Alzheimer's plaque lurks in people's brains, Australian researchers reported Wednesday. If the test proves accurate in larger studies, it could offer a way to check people having memory problems to see who needs more definitive testing for the disease.

Two new studies found that daily pills prevented infection with the AIDS virus in heterosexual men and women in Africa, bringing new hope for someday offering a medical shield against HIV infection....

Marijuana has been approved by California, many other states and the nation's capital to treat a range of illnesses, but in a decision announced Friday the federal government ruled that it has no accepted medical use and should remain classified as a dangerous drug like heroin.

Face transplant recipient Dallas Wiens has been having some allergy problems but it is a small discomfort for a man whose face was burned away in an electrical accident less than three years ago.

The drugs, mainly for men with late-stage prostate cancer, can extend lives for additional months, but some cost more than $90,000 for a course of treatment.

The suicide of a Seattle nurse who accidentally overdosed a baby with 10 times too much medication has spurred new debate about how to treat medical providers who make serious, even fatal, errors.