Conditions

The power of nutrition in cancer prevention

Conditions

February 13, 2024

In its annual cancer statistics report released this week, the American Cancer Society (ACS) predicted over 2 million new cancer cases and over 600,000 cancer deaths in the United States in 2024. The ACS cites decreased smoking rates, earlier detection, and improved treatments as the primary reasons for decreased death rates from cancer in recent decades. Missing from the report, however, is the fundamental recommendation to shift from the traditional …

Exploring neurodivergence: a specialist psychiatrist’s journey

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Conditions

February 12, 2024

I read about a psychiatrist whose interests are in medical ethics and the improvement of medical care for youth coping with the complexities related to neurodivergence and significant mental health conditions. Additionally, she specializes in work with twice-exceptional (2e) individuals – those with exceptional talents and abilities who also navigate challenges related to disabilities or psychiatric illness.

Neurodivergence and 2e individuals are fairly new concepts for me. Back in the day, …

Not all patients are on disability

Benita Talati

Conditions

February 11, 2024

A recent conversation with a relative inspired me to write this post. She is a physical therapist who often rants about how patients with chronic pain or chronic illness don’t work and are just on disability. I know she’s far from the only health care provider with the same belief. She and her coworkers spend time ranting and complaining about their patients who don’t work and use the therapy sessions …

Read more…

Not all patients are on disability

Shared decision-making in health care: promise vs. reality

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions

February 11, 2024

The American Heart Association (AHA) recently published a statement on the importance of shared decision-making (SDM) between physicians and patients. This concept, though at least 50 years old, has become popular in the last decade or so, with expectations of improving patient care, satisfaction, safety, care efficiency, and cost reduction. Though some preliminary research appears to support these promises, other researchers have found that it can increase costs and decrease …

Why lab-grown meat matters: USDA approval and environmental impact

Dinesh Arab, MD

Conditions

February 10, 2024

In June of 2023, a release was buried in the cacophony of news stories that the USDA had approved two companies for selling lab-grown meat. This news followed the FDA’s conclusion that lab-grown meat was safe for human consumption. The two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods, have been working on various lab-grown types of meat, including steak, seafood, and pork, but have been given the regulatory go-ahead for Chicken.

The …

There’s no place like home when it comes to health care, except for those who fall through the cracks

Gary Marc Rothenberg, DPM

Conditions

February 9, 2024

Maria (name changed to protect patient privacy) is a brilliant woman with a troubled health history. After a mental health diagnosis cut short her career as a high-level government official, Maria has struggled with diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, depression, and advanced kidney disease, leading to a series of toe amputations and a decade of disability.

She lives alone, about a half-hour from the nearest hospital, where she has been in and out …

Empowering Pakistani women: Surviving cancer and challenging traditional norms

Dr. Damane Zehra

Conditions

February 9, 2024

We have a female patient admitted to our oncology ward for a week. I’ve known her for a long time. She works in our hospital’s dental department as a technologist. She is currently 40 years old. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2009. She underwent maximum safe resection; it was oligodendroglioma grade 3. She underwent concurrent chemoradiation followed by chemotherapy and received a few more cycles of adjuvant …

Prioritizing mental health for doctors and families

Leanne Rowe, MD

Conditions

February 8, 2024

In 2022, the World Health Organization released the World Mental Health Report: Transforming Mental Health for All, which recognizes the critical importance of mental health to everyone, everywhere – including doctors and their families.

The consequences of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and other major issues such as climate change, global conflict, and economic downturns are continuing to have a big impact on the mental well-being of many parents …

Do parasites predispose to dangerous behaviors in humans?

L. Joseph Parker, MD

Conditions

February 8, 2024

Those of you who have followed the game or series The Last of Us will recognize the name Cordyceps. This is the fungus that causes a global pandemic of zombies to break out and start attacking their fellow humans. The writers, in this case, did a good job by using this infection in their story.

Cordyceps is a genus of over 600 fungal species spread around the world called endoparasitoids, meaning …

Haunted by sleep: the chilling reality of hypnagogic hallucinations

Greg Smith, MD

Conditions

February 8, 2024

“What did you see?” I asked her, as she sat across from me, wide-eyed and obviously unnerved even thinking back about the episode.

“It was horrible,” she said, “just horrible. I was lying on my back, and I saw it in the doorway, a big, dark, shadowy figure, blocking the door to my bedroom. I tried to scream, and nothing came out. I tried to raise my hands, to shield my …

The surprising truth on how to avoid postpartum depression

Alan Lindemann, MD

Conditions

February 7, 2024

The current popular notion is that postpartum depression (PPD) cannot be prevented. Rather, it can only be diagnosed with an Edinburgh test once the patient has PPD. Often PPD is considered to be both surprising and mysterious. In reality, it is neither. PPD is nothing new. We’ve known about it for years. My first experience with postpartum depression goes back to 1976, when I was a third-year medical student.

I listened …

A people-first approach to cardiac rehabilitation

Melissa Tracy, MD

Conditions

February 7, 2024

How do you change the paradigm in a rigid system? When the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in 2020, my team and I didn’t have a choice. We had built our hospital’s in-person cardiac rehabilitation program from the ground up, but this was a moment of reckoning. Our program would need to incorporate virtual care.

Completing cardiac rehabilitation can increase a patient’s life expectancy by up to five years, Read more…

A people-first approach to cardiac rehabilitation

Treating inflammation provides hope in the fight against Parkinson’s

Ken Blaker

Conditions

February 5, 2024

The acceleration of new Parkinson’s disease cases outpaces other age-related conditions, and as a result, the patient population is growing quickly. In 2022 there were about 90,000 new diagnoses in the U.S., versus the previous prevailing estimate of 60,000. While some of the increase can doubtless be attributed to improved diagnostics and improved access to health care, those factors affect the statistics of other diseases and cannot explain why …

NICU tragedy: How new nurses’ nail choices led to a newborn’s heartbreaking fate

Debbie Moore-Black, RN

Conditions

February 5, 2024

A small, cliquish bevy of nurses was working their way through orientation in the NICU straight out of nursing school. They were happy and thrilled to be accepted into this specialized nursing unit: the NICU.

Practicing good hygiene, washing hands up to the elbows with soap each time one entered a baby’s cubicle, and gowning and gloving was a standard and mandatory protocol before touching the babies.

These were preemies in the …

The opioid addiction epidemic and its impact on health care costs

Brocha Kagan, PA-C

Conditions

February 5, 2024

The opioid addiction crisis has escalated into a formidable challenge within the U.S. health care system, causing widespread devastation. The opioid epidemic has not only devastated communities and individual lives but has also inflicted a substantial economic toll on the health care system. The opioid epidemic has led to a surge in health care costs, stemming from the increased demand for addiction treatment, including psychiatric and psychological evaluations, emergency room …

A dementia patient’s poignant return to childhood

Dr. Damane Zehra

Conditions

February 2, 2024

I recently watched an Indian movie called The Three of Us, which revolves around a woman named Shelujah. She is in her late 30s, very charming, traditional, and intelligent. She works as a marriage counselor, leading a happy married life with one son studying abroad. Shelujah diligently maintains a diary, documenting even her minor daily chores. Often, she becomes engrossed in her thoughts, even failing to respond when called by …

Unlocking emotional healing: the power of EMDR therapy

Maire Daugharty, MD

Conditions

February 1, 2024

The therapeutic modality developed by Francine Shapiro and referred to as eye movement desensitization reprocessing or EMDR, when embedded in the context of a wider lens, focuses on specific events and feelings with a view to overarching goals. We become who we are in a relationship, and specifically in our earliest relationship with a primary caregiver who shapes our worldview before we can give this active consideration. Subsequently, we develop …

EMDR therapy: From walk to wonder, unmasking trauma’s secrets

Maire Daugharty, MD

Conditions

January 31, 2024

In 1987, Francine Shapiro went for a walk and discovered eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) as a therapeutic technique for traumatic experiences with lasting impact. Some thirty years later, with a substantial body of research confirming its efficacy, the mechanism of action remains a mystery. However, the treatment has expanded to focus on chronic pain, addictions, attachment trauma, among other areas. So, what is EMDR exactly? First and foremost, like …

Clinicians and management at odds in health care

Michele Luckenbaugh

Conditions

January 31, 2024

In a survey conducted by a University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing team led by Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, of 21,050 physicians and nurses at 60 hospitals, it was found that more than 40 percent of clinicians were not confident that hospital management would act to resolve problems that clinicians identify in patient care. Close to one-third of clinicians said their values were not aligned with those of their hospital’s …

Urogynecologists tackle the stigma of incontinence

Sarah Boyles, MD, MPH

Conditions

January 30, 2024

As a urogynecologist, my clinic is full of women with bothersome bladder issues. And while this likely does not appeal to you, curing incontinence is my favorite clinical endeavor.

Urinary incontinence seems like a minor medical problem. After all, it isn’t heart disease or cancer. However, urinary incontinence has a dramatic and negative impact on the quality of life. On any given day, I talk to women who have stopped exercising …

Conditions

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts