Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 30

How can doctors stop fake medical news

February 27, 2019Feb 27, 20192

When I started on my path in medicine, I was an optimistic, wide-eyed, enthusiastic medical student. I had fond memories of rounding on Sundays with my vascular surgeon father as a child, and I remembered the appreciation his patients would express when we would run into them at our local grocery store. My dad never complained about taking call or not having enough time to spend with his patients. The …

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How can doctors stop fake medical news

Physician voices

An oncologist’s battle with imposter syndrome

Shikha Jain, MD

February 25, 2019Feb 25, 2019

Somewhere between medical school, residency and fellowship, I lost my voice. I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I thought I knew where I wanted to be in my career, and how to accomplish those things … until one day, I wasn’t so sure. I don’t know if it happened when I was applying for fellowship or when I returned from maternity leave as a trainee and …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 75-year-old man with progressive dysphagia

mksap

February 23, 2019Feb 23, 2019

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 75-year-old man is evaluated for progressive dysphagia of 8 months' duration for both solid food and water, and the necessity to induce vomiting…

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.

A 75-year-old man is evaluated for progressive dysphagia of 8 months’ duration for both solid food and water, and the necessity to induce vomiting several times each month to relieve his symptoms. He also has experienced chest pain and heartburn symptoms. He has lost approximately 6 kg (13 lb) …

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Conditions and diseases

Should we start screening for colon cancer at age 45?

Peter Ubel, MD

February 17, 2019Feb 17, 2019

Here’s what most medical experts agree on: People 50 and older should be screened for colon cancer. Here’s what is more controversial: Whether that screening should start, routinely, at age 45. Recently, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommended that colon…

Here’s what most medical experts agree on: People 50 and older should be screened for colon cancer.

Here’s what is more controversial: Whether that screening should start, routinely, at age 45.

Recently, the American Cancer Society (ACS) recommended that colon cancer screenings start at age 45. Their recommendation was based in large part on an uptick in the number of people 45 to 50 years old who are being diagnosed with colon cancer …

Physician voices

6 resources on the power of narrative medicine

Jennifer Lycette, MD

February 8, 2019Feb 8, 2019

When I first turned to writing, I had no knowledge of the field of narrative medicine. It took four years of medical school, three years of residency, three years of subspecialty fellowship and over a decade in practice before I…

When I first turned to writing, I had no knowledge of the field of narrative medicine.

It took four years of medical school, three years of residency, three years of subspecialty fellowship and over a decade in practice before I learned of it. (That’s more than 20 years, for those counting.)

Throughout, I’ve struggled to hold fast to my core belief that the key to patient care is to allow the telling …

Physician voices

Radiation oncologists aren’t just strangers in the basement

Mudit Chowdhary, MD

February 6, 2019Feb 6, 20192

“We have a consult for radiation oncology regarding a 60-year-old gentleman with a history of lung cancer and is currently admitted. His oncologist is Dr. Heme Onc.” As a new radiation oncology resident, I was surprised to hear the consulting…

“We have a consult for radiation oncology regarding a 60-year-old gentleman with a history of lung cancer and is currently admitted. His oncologist is Dr. Heme Onc.”

As a new radiation oncology resident, I was surprised to hear the consulting physician refer to the patient’s medical oncologist as “his oncologist.” What about the patient’s radiation oncologist? Indeed, I remembered the patient well: he was diagnosed with Stage IIIB non-small cell lung …

Health technology

Will artificial intelligence be able to have this conversation?

Shannon Dowler, MD

February 5, 2019Feb 5, 2019

Transformation of health care is underway: The landscape is filled with innovation, and the horizon is dotted with technological possibilities of “Star Trek” ilk. In a recent New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst article, there was a compelling argument for how artificial intelligence (AI) of the future will help deliver us from a high cost, high variability, poorly resourced state and help deliver the IHI triple aim quest we in …

Conditions and diseases

Do you know why you’re having surgery?

Alexandra Lackey

February 4, 2019Feb 4, 20193

During my third year of medical school, I completed a clinical rotation in surgery. I was certain that it would be horrible. I envisioned myself in the OR, getting lightheaded, passing out onto the sterile field and being yelled at by my attending physician. I worried that the medical knowledge I’d worked so hard to learn would be neglected in favor of memorizing the steps of surgical procedures. My parents, …

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Do you know why you’re having surgery?

Conditions and diseases

“The Wait” after a mammogram changes lives

Shannon Dowler, MD

January 30, 2019Jan 30, 20192

There is something both intimate and mysterious about the waiting area for mammograms. You sit in a relatively small space; chairs close together with a gown tied to cover your nakedness, your normally restrained lady parts flopping free against the scratchy fabric. There are young and old, black and white, grey and blond and even sometimes bald. There are women with coiffed hair and manicured fingers bright with diamonds and …

Conditions and diseases

A story of treatment failure and end-of-life decisions

Iris Kulbatski, PhD

January 30, 2019Jan 30, 2019

Part 4 of a series. By the time my father’s metastatic prostate cancer was diagnosed, he was already experiencing symptoms of poor appetite and weight loss, which grew progressively worse following his first hospital admission. As his nutritional status continued…

Part 4 of a series.

By the time my father’s metastatic prostate cancer was diagnosed, he was already experiencing symptoms of poor appetite and weight loss, which grew progressively worse following his first hospital admission. As his nutritional status continued to decline, the protein level in his blood decreased, causing significant fluid buildup in his legs and abdomen. During his hospital stays, we consulted with dietitians who created individualized …

Drugs and prescribing

Generics aren’t going to help the cost of chemotherapy drugs

Peter Ubel, MD

January 29, 2019Jan 29, 2019

Chemotherapy drugs have become ridiculously expensive. Many new drugs come to market costing more than $100,000 per patient for a full course of treatment. Often, patients have to pay a significant portion of these costs. For example, a 20% co-insurance rate, typical for basic Medicare coverage, leaves patients responsible for more than $20,000 of chemotherapy costs, an often crippling burden.

Fortunately, many expensive cancer drugs are going …

Conditions and diseases

What clothing choice says about a patient

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

January 23, 2019Jan 23, 20194

The woman waiting to see me looked every inch a lawyer or accountant in her black pencil skirt, pink shirt, and a Chanel-style houndstooth jacket. Her ankle boots were reminiscent of those worn by women in Victorian times with a row of small buttons up the side. She had a scarf loosely knotted around her shoulders, and her hair was …

Conditions and diseases

A stage IV lung cancer survivor story

Jennifer Lycette, MD

January 23, 2019Jan 23, 2019

I want to share how the era of immunotherapy, specifically immune-checkpoint-inhibitors, has changed the landscape of community oncology practice in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, for oncologists and, more importantly, patients. I want to tell you the story of Joe. A…

I want to tell you the story of Joe. A stage IV lung cancer survivor story. (Name and details changed to protect anonymity.)

In 2015, Joe was diagnosed with stage IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), adenocarcinoma. He had multiple metastases to other organs. …

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A stage IV lung cancer survivor story

Conditions and diseases

Why did it take over a week for doctors to initiate treatment?

Iris Kulbatski, PhD

January 22, 2019Jan 22, 201920

Part 3 of a series. Patients with advanced cancer are particularly vulnerable to infection due to a compromised immune system. Moreover, the typical symptoms of serious infection, such as fever and chills, may be absent in cancer patients. If not…

Part 3 of a series.

Patients with advanced cancer are particularly vulnerable to infection due to a compromised immune system. Moreover, the typical symptoms of serious infection, such as fever and chills, may be absent in cancer patients. If not identified and treated early, infection can lead to sepsis, a life-threatening reaction of the immune system that causes organ failure, shock, and death, as …

Conditions and diseases

Behind the recent good news in cancer statistics

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

January 21, 2019Jan 21, 2019

Good news is always welcome, especially when talking about something as serious as cancer. And there is plenty of welcome information in the American Cancer Society’s release of our annual report on "Cancer Statistics, 2019" and its accompanying consumer-oriented version…

Good news is always welcome, especially when talking about something as serious as cancer. And there is plenty of welcome information in the American Cancer Society’s release of our annual report on “Cancer Statistics, 2019” and its accompanying consumer-oriented version of “Cancer Facts & Figures 2019.”

Among the good news in this report: A significant decline in death rates from cancer — especially among some of the most common cancers, significant …

Conditions and diseases

10 essential questions to ask when diagnosed with bladder cancer

Naeem Rahman, MD

January 9, 2019Jan 9, 2019

Over 80,000 new cases of bladder cancer are diagnosed every year. Of the new cases, over 62,000 are men, and over 18,000 are women. Whites have higher incidence rates than blacks, although black patients have higher mortality rates, particularly black women. The majority of cases are found with painless gross hematuria (although most patients with gross painless hematuria don’t have bladder cancer). Nearly 80 percent of patients diagnosed with bladder …

Conditions and diseases

A story of missed opportunities and medical missteps

Iris Kulbatski, PhD

January 9, 2019Jan 9, 20193

Part 2 of a series. My own self-appointed role as my father’s health care advocate during his prostate cancer battle was a natural consequence of my training as a medical researcher. After earning a PhD in medical science, I became…

Part 2 of a series.

My own self-appointed role as my father’s health care advocate during his prostate cancer battle was a natural consequence of my training as a medical researcher. After earning a PhD in medical science, I became the elected family health and wellness guru, offering insight into everything from hangnails to stem cells, with the ongoing disclaimer that “I’m not a doctor, I just play one …

Conditions and diseases

Sun exposure makes people both more and less likely to die of melanoma. How can that be?

Peter Ubel, MD

January 8, 2019Jan 8, 2019

Quick quiz question: two people are diagnosed with melanoma -- Sarah Sunburn, an adamant sun-worshipper, and Paula Pale-All-The-Time, a fanatical sun-avoider. Who is more likely to die of the disease? The answer is pale-faced Paula. Surprised? Let me unpack this…

Quick quiz question: two people are diagnosed with melanoma — Sarah Sunburn, an adamant sun-worshipper, and Paula Pale-All-The-Time, a fanatical sun-avoider. Who is more likely to die of the disease?

The answer is pale-faced Paula. Surprised? Let me unpack this mystery and explain why sun exposure simultaneously kills people, while making the cancers they are diagnosed with appear to be less life-threatening.

I will start with what you probably know already. Melanoma …

Health policy

Despite progress in cancer care, cost and equity challenges still must be addressed

David M. Aboulafia, MD

January 7, 2019Jan 7, 2019

As a physician who has spent his career taking care of people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and various blood disorders, this is an amazing time to be working in these overlapping fields of medicine. I began my training when roughly half…

As a physician who has spent his career taking care of people with HIV/AIDS, cancer and various blood disorders, this is an amazing time to be working in these overlapping fields of medicine.

I began my training when roughly half the people diagnosed with HIV were destined to develop cancer, and nearly everyone died shortly after they progressed to AIDS. In resource-rich countries today, HIV care is often as simple as …

Medical education

What’s barbaric in medicine?

Lisa Masson, MD, MBA

January 3, 2019Jan 3, 20197

Late one evening, I received a text from my oldest daughter. “What in medicine, that we do now, will we think is barbaric in 50 years?” Wow. They play more provocative bar games now than they played when I was…

Late one evening, I received a text from my oldest daughter.

“What in medicine, that we do now, will we think is barbaric in 50 years?”

Wow. They play more provocative bar games now than they played when I was in my 20s.

I promptly texted back my knee-jerk response: “chemotherapy.” As we are on the brink of precision medicine, what will the next generation think of our “slash, burn and poison” paradigm …

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What’s barbaric in medicine?

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 30

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