Oncology/Hematology

Why cancer care remains inaccessible for India’s poor

Physician
March 23, 2025

Cancer is a disease that demands long-term, resource-intensive treatment, posing an especially heavy burden in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In nations like India, where a significant portion of the population comprises daily wage earners, farmers, and small shop owners living in villages, the challenges are even more pronounced. For these individuals, a cancer diagnosis can feel like a death sentence—not just due to the disease itself but because of …

Read more…

When caring for pets becomes a life lesson

Physician
March 21, 2025

I had two bunnies over a year ago. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a proper environment for them, just a large cage in the courtyard. During the day, they would roam freely, and I would lock them in the cage at night for their safety.

They were very dear to me. I talked to them, cuddled them, and let them eat whatever I ate. They loved eating from my hands. …

Read more…

The personalization of cancer care in 2025

Conditions
March 8, 2025

In the past 50 years, cancer in many cases has morphed from a certain death sentence into a chronic illness. However, cancer is unlike other chronic conditions. There are hundreds of different cancers, classified by where they start in the body and how their cells behave. To turn cancer from an acute, life-ending illness into a chronic one, we now understand that cancer must be treated with a targeted, personalized …

Read more…

The inspiring journey of a medical physicist and her unbreakable friendship

Physician
March 7, 2025

M has always been very close to me. She joined our hospital’s oncology department over ten years ago as a radiation technologist. Currently, she works as a medical physicist in our department and is the only female physicist in our hospital.

Her presence here is not due to luck or extraordinary circumstances; she has dedicated immense effort to her career. While many of her peers in the same position remain in …

Read more…

Do microplastics cause dementia?

Conditions
March 5, 2025

Let’s begin by understanding the scope of the dementia problem: According to data from Alzheimer’s Disease International, before you finish reading this sentence, someone, somewhere in the world will have developed dementia. Here comes another sentence, and there goes another new case of dementia. There goes another. And so on.

In 2020, the organization estimated that more than fifty-five million people across the globe were suffering from dementia. What’s more, this …

Read more…

How doctors’ words can make or break patient care

Physician
March 4, 2025

Perhaps almost as important as our history-taking, our diagnosis, and our care of patients are the words we use to communicate that history-taking, that diagnosis, and that care.

Scenario one: the not so good

A while ago, I happened to witness a family hospital conference about their dad’s new diagnosis of cancer. There were ten family members present, all very devoted and concerned, though not particularly …

Read more…

What’s going on with left-sided breast cancer: a curious phenomenon

Conditions
March 3, 2025

In clinical research, chart review is nearly as familiar as daily functions like walking or breathing. My days are full of identifying missing variables, finding them in the electronic medical records, then documenting them in my meticulously organized data sheets. However, during these chart reviews, my mind tries to find a way to break out of autopilot by looking for trends in the data. That’s how I recently noticed the …

Read more…

How innovation can reduce disparities in cancer care [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 2, 2025
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Physician executive Shamar Young discusses his article, “Geographic disparities in advanced cancer care: a call for innovation,” highlighting the uneven access to emerging cancer treatments across different health care systems. Shamar explores …

Read more…

A cold evening and the lesson a child selling eggs taught me

Physician
February 27, 2025

I was leaving the mall after purchasing a gift for a friend. Her birthday was the next day, and after spending hours searching for the perfect present, I finally bought an expensive wallet that I was sure she would love.

It was a chilly evening, and as soon as I left the mall, I immediately felt the real intensity of the cold. The heating system inside the mall had masked the …

Read more…

Beyond chemotherapy: a story of resilience, faith, and quality of life

Physician
February 24, 2025

In 2023, Peggy, a vibrant 63-year-old woman, entered my life under the most challenging of circumstances. She was diagnosed with inv(3) acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive and relentless disease, and faced a grim prognosis. From our very first conversation, I knew Peggy was different. She exuded strength, determination, and an unyielding zest for life.

AML with inv(3) is a rare and particularly life-threatening subtype of acute leukemia associated with primary …

Read more…

From surviving to thriving: a new era in breast cancer care

Conditions
February 17, 2025

Breast cancer recovery is about more than survival—it’s about reclaiming a vibrant, fulfilling life. Instead of focusing solely on survivorship, we need to embrace what I call “livingship”: the journey of truly thriving after treatment. This approach focuses on ensuring patients not only survive but thrive in their cancer-free lives.

A personal journey in medicine

My path to becoming a breast cancer specialist was shaped by early aspirations and personal experiences with …

Read more…

How I rediscovered love and forgiveness for my parents

Physician
February 11, 2025

My mother has always been very close to me. I was her eldest daughter, born in an unfamiliar city where she had relocated as a newlywed bride. She didn’t have any family or friends in this unfamiliar city. I was practically her only friend.

My mother began sharing her problems with me when I was very young. Sometimes I think she shared too much. She also told me intimate details about …

Read more…

Chadwick Boseman’s cancer battle reveals urgent need for personalized screenings [PODCAST]

Podcast
January 30, 2025
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Arnold Eiser, an internal medicine physician and author, discusses his KevinMD article, “What Chadwick Boseman’s death reveals about cancer prevention and risk factors,” examining how environmental toxins and systemic health inequities shaped …

Read more…

The miracle of immune checkpoint inhibitors: a physician’s unforgettable journey

Meds
January 22, 2025

Even a half-century later, a physician cannot forget the first death of a patient under their care. It happened for me during my postgraduate medical training in the 1970s in an academic medical center hospital in the western half of the United States.

She was a delightful young married woman who was the mother of three small children. She was admitted to the hospital for recurring seizures. Her workup revealed a …

Read more…

From strawberries to stethoscopes: lessons in humanity from a future oncologist

Physician
January 15, 2025

Every year, medical trainee hopefuls submit the dreaded personal statement. Most follow a familiar formula based on advice from mentors, peers, or online guides: “Don’t stick out,” “Tell a story about a patient,” and so on. While this approach isn’t wrong, it leaves little room for the “personal” aspect—the only part of the ERAS application that truly allows insight into the individual behind the resume. Before submitting mine, I was …

Read more…

I’ve felt the pain of 3 generations of nicotine addiction

Conditions
January 13, 2025

“Almost everyone I know has either quit” – my friend paused, “… or died.” She said the “or died” part with a bit more resignation than horror.

We were having this conversation outside of our busy local pub a few weeks ago. Some of us had stepped outside to get some fresh air, and someone pulled out a package of cigarettes and offered them around.

What was once a common occurrence now …

Read more…

A heartfelt journey from oncology to the ER: How mentoring young doctors changed me

Physician
January 7, 2025

I have worked in clinical oncology in Pakistan. As an oncology physician, I was not supposed to interact with patients in the ER. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with recent medical graduates in an emergency medicine setting. This experience was new for me, as I have been focused on oncology for a long time.

However, that’s the beauty of life—it pushes us to do things we never thought we …

Read more…

How lab values management can improve cancer testing and treatment

Conditions
January 6, 2025

When it comes to medical breakthroughs, it can be a long journey between discovery and implementation.

Implementing new technologies and therapies for patients is often hindered by slow adoption, inaccurate application, and delays caused by the rapid pace of guideline updates, which providers may struggle to keep up with. These challenges can prevent patients from fully benefiting from medical breakthroughs, leaving their potential only partially realized.

For example, the development of genomic …

Read more…

I knew hospitals were not taking good care of doctors. But when I became a patient, I experienced it.

Conditions
January 2, 2025

I have spent nearly half a century in the world of health care leadership, first in management and later as a consultant. Throughout my career, one of my most consistent observations has been that most health care organizations do not treat physicians very well.

I knew it because I saw it nearly every day in the hospitals I worked with. But it wasn’t until this year that I experienced firsthand how …

Read more…

22
pages

CME Spotlights