Dear “Robin,”
Nothing in my career in medicine has prepared me for being a friend to someone with such a terrible disease. As a doctor I dispense advice on a daily basis, but those interactions remain strangely impersonal. With you, cancer has invaded our inner circle, and we all share your shock and despair.
No one can know exactly what it feels like …
A doctor’s letter to a patient with newly diagnosed cancer
The holidays are a great opportunity to ask family members about their health history.
Learning about your family’s health history can help you answer your doctor’s medical history questions. It can even help your doctor determine if you may be at risk for an inherited cancer like breast, colorectal, ovarian, prostate or endometrial cancer, which sometimes run in the family.
Keep in mind that just a small portion of cancers – about 5 …
How to create your medical family tree
What does your breast type say about your cancer risk? Quite a bit, actually.
Whether you have large, small or lumpy breasts, self-awareness is very important. Getting to know how your breasts look and feel can help you recognize possible red flags.
Large vs. small breasts
When it comes to cancer risk, size really doesn’t matter. But, size can affect your mammogram and clinical breast exam.
For example, women with large breasts may need …
Breast cancer and understanding your breast type
NPR has a great blog on their website called Shots about current events in health care. Recently, Scott Hensley, the main blogger there, posted a recent article on treatment of prostate cancer from the Archives of Internal Medicine.
If you look at the article, you may notice a very small subheading above the article’s title. It reads “Less is More.”
Very telling.
The thrust of the article and the …
Watchful waiting is underutilized for most men with prostate cancer
If you’re relatively young and healthy, gynecologic cancers probably aren’t on your radar. But they should be.
This year, more than 80,000 women in the United States will get a gynecologic cancer, such as endometrial (a.k.a. uterine), ovarian or cervical cancer. In general, gynecologic cancers occur more frequently in women after menopause, although they can occur in younger women. While all women …
10 cancer signs women shouldn’t ignore
by Krupali Tejura, MD
I am treating a patient for head and neck cancer — which can be one of the most harrowing therapies.
To receive chemotherapy and radiation concurrently can be pretty debilitating. Swallowing foods can be next to impossible, and the taste changes and saliva changes are brutal. It’s one of the harshest areas to treat … and I warn the patients beforehand: …
Root beer bonds a chemotherapy patient with his oncologist
Pathologists and radiologists don’t have the luxury of spending time with actual patients so they have to render professional judgments and determinations based on indirect data (radiographs, a mashed up slice of breast tissue, etc.).
I don’t envy them; the utter detachment from patient care would make me miserable. But they do have a tough job. They get one shot at getting it right. There’s no patient follow up. They never …
When a biopsy cannot completely rule out cancer
by Michael Kirsch, MD
Does anyone out there know why President Obama underwent a virtual ‘colonscopy’ (VC) instead of a conventional colonoscopy earlier this year?
In my gastroenterology practice, we do not offer colon cancer screening to 48-year-old individuals, unless special risk factors are present. Of course, maintaining the president’s health is in the national interest, so I understand why professional screening guidelines might not apply to him. For …
President Obama should have had colonoscopy without sedation
by an anonymous radiologist
I recently read the article and comments on this link from this post, concerning radiologists, from Musings of a Dinosaur.
I was disturbed to discover the animosity with which this topic is covered. The tenor of the blog is that radiologists are greedy, self-serving and are out to erode the doctor-patient relationship. The suggestion that radiologists would schedule percutaneous breast biopsies for their financial enhancement is both …
Radiologists and communicating mammogram results to patients and their doctors
Orac, a general surgeon who blogs at Respectful Insolence, writes the most comprehensive entry I’ve seen thus far on Apple’s Steve Jobs’ liver transplant.
For those interested in the medicine behind the transplant, go and read his post in its entirety. I’d like to highlight some of the potentially questionable ethics surrounding the case.
For one, there is the question why Mr. …
Steve Jobs received a new liver, and the ethics surrounding his transplant
Have you ever wondered why doctors have to perform a digital rectal exam?
Well, look no further, as primary care doctor Rob Lamberts gives us the answers discerning readers demand.
Simply by looking at the rectum, which by the way, indeed “takes some getting used to,” can lead to significant diagnostic findings. Furthermore, does tight sphincter tone matter? And should you be worried about the large hands …
Why do I need a rectal exam, and what can doctors find with the gloved finger?
Comedian Bernie Mac dies at age 50 from pneumonia. Sad news.
He had been recently hospitalized, and as recently as two days ago, it was reported he was stable and responding well to treatment. What happened?
There is very little medical information to go on. It was known that he had …
Bernie Mac, pneumonia, and sarcoidosis
What is defensive medicine?
Defensive medicine is the deviation from sound medical practice to avoid the threat of malpractice litigation.
According to a 2005 study in JAMA, over 90 percent of physicians surveyed admitted to practicing defensive medicine. This can range from “positive” defensive medicine, like ordering unnecessary tests, referring to consultants, or performing unneeded procedures; to “negative” defensive medicine, like avoiding high-risk patients or procedures.
Read more…
Due to intense interest in the Anna Pou story, the following post will be republished to stay current.
Original post date: 7/19/2006
Waking Up Costs offers his support:
I just learned that a former colleague and friend has been charged with second degree murder in the death of four patients at a New Orleans hospital after Katrina. I worked with Dr. Anna Pou in the operating …
A former colleague comments on Dr. Anna Pou
Much denial-blogging today. Alisha’s mother-in-law won’t accept physical limitations imposed by her cancer. Orac tries to help a patient who rejects her malignant biopsy results. What is denial, and how should we approach it? (Pause for a quick check – has the Cheerful Oncologist posted about this yet? No? I’d love to know what he thinks!) Here’s Dr. Simon Wein, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering …
Man sues over “botched” testicular surgery: Another frivolous lawsuit?
“A man is suing a hospital and one of its surgeons, claiming one of his testicles was wrongly removed during surgery.
Danny Curtis claims the surgeon at Kern Medical Center did not conduct a biopsy before arranging urgent surgery to remove a testicular tumor in July 2004, according to the lawsuit filed in Kern County Superior Court.”
I …
Are testicular biopsies necessary for the diagnosis of testicular cancer?
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