Hard as it may be to believe, life did exist beyond COVID-19 this year and, while many healthcare professionals tended streams of patients with the virus, others logged key advances in their realm.

Here are 10 stories from Hartford HealthCare in 2020 that have nothing to do with the pandemic:

1.     Using an endoscopic robot to detect lung cancer.

2.     Approaching pain and spine care holistically at new wellness center.

3.     Using deep brain stimulation to help control epileptic seizures.

4.     Setting up virtual appointments for men with prostate cancer with all of the necessary specialists at once, from the comfort of their homes.

5.     Tapping new radiotherapy technology to help when cancer spreads.

6.     Understanding how weather changes the brain size and, thus, affects physical and psychiatric conditions.

7.     Backing development of digital psychiatry tools.

8.     Using joint fusion techniques to provide back pain relief.

9.     Getting digital backup from artificial intelligence when reading mammograms.

10.  Helping cancer patients preserve their hair through treatment.