This year’s most-read Stanford Medicine magazine stories were all about the heart, surgery and the immune system - the themes of this year’s three issues. The top 10 (as determined by pageviews on our website):
- I can eat it - Taking a bite out of food allergies: Melanie Thernstrom's story on a revolutionary treatment for food allergies.
- Immune system disruption - The search for answers: An article by Kris Newby on a wide-ranging investigation into the biology of chronic fatigue syndrome.
- Opening up - The evolving world of surgery: Ruthann Richter provides an overview of the changes in surgery today.
- Easy does it - Aortic valve replacement without open-heart surgery gains ground: A report from Tracie White on an alternative to open-heart surgery to replace aortic valves.
- Brain attack - An explanation for a mental illness that strikes out of the blue: Erin Digitale's story on the struggle to help children with psychiatric illness caused by a malfunctioning immune system - a condition known as PANS or PANDAS.
- Hiding in plain sight - A high-cholesterol gene: Ruthann Richter writes about a man born with high cholesterol -- a surprisingly common but hidden and deadly condition.
- Fresh starts for hearts - Cardiovascular medicine looks to stem cells for answers: Krista Conger's look at the use of stem cells to revolutionize cardiac care, and her story about a family for which new treatments can't come soon enough.
- The swashbuckler - How Mark Davis snared a gene and explained one of our immune system’s greatest mysteries: The year was 1980 and Mark Davis took a stab at solving the puzzle of T-cell diversity -- and prevailed. Bruce Goldman tells the tale.
- The heart gadgeteers - Here they come: Kris Newby's story on the new wave of heart- and fitness-monitoring devices, and why it's hard to integrate them into the medical system.
- The ultramarathoner’s heart - Code blue on the running trail: A feature by Kris Newby on visionary computer designer Mike Nuttall's exploits as an ultramarathoner, despite having severe heart disease.
Previously: Stanford Medicine magazine's big reads of 2013 and Stanford Medicine magazine's big reads of 2012
Illustration, from the article "Brain attack" in the Fall 2014 magazine issue, by Jeffrey Decoster
