Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 39

Artificial intelligence in medicine is still a long ways off

July 10, 2017Jul 10, 2017

"Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability." - Sir William Osler Two people presented to my clinic on the same day with classic symptoms of head and neck cancer. Each reported several weeks of unilateral throat…

“Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability.”
– Sir William Osler

Two people presented to my clinic on the same day with classic symptoms of head and neck cancer.

Each reported several weeks of unilateral throat discomfort, ear pain, and a neck mass. Each was having some trouble swallowing and had changed his diet to accommodate the soreness. When they opened their mouths, each had a mass with a …

Physician voices

Her patients helped this doctor out of her despair

Jennifer Lycette, MD

July 8, 2017Jul 8, 2017

Recently I found myself sitting in my car in the parking lot of my clinic, unable to will myself to open the door. I didn’t want to head into the clinic that morning. Instead, I was filled with despair; overwhelmed…

Recently I found myself sitting in my car in the parking lot of my clinic, unable to will myself to open the door.

I didn’t want to head into the clinic that morning. Instead, I was filled with despair; overwhelmed with the events of the world.

How can I do it? I thought. How can I walk in there and summon the energy to see my patients?

An even worse thought: Why should …

Physician voices

Scared of clinical trials? 7 reasons to not be.

Stephanie Graff, MD

July 2, 2017Jul 2, 20174

I see more and more patients decline to participate in clinical trials. Simultaneously, I hear patient advocates on the national stage clamoring for better trial access. Why the disconnect? Let’s explore 7 reasons why clinical trial participation is right for…

I see more and more patients decline to participate in clinical trials. Simultaneously, I hear patient advocates on the national stage clamoring for better trial access. Why the disconnect?

Let’s explore 7 reasons why clinical trial participation is right for you:

1. The smartest minds in medicine designed this for you. Clinical trials are not designed by one doctor on the fly. Most oncology drugs have been studied for at least six years …

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Conditions and diseases

We must address young patients’ pain and suffering from the start of their cancer journey

Jennifer Mack, MD, MPH

June 30, 2017Jun 30, 2017

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, overwhelmed parents and patients are often laser-focused on the path to cure. Even though parents do not welcome pain or discomfort for their child, they may feel that symptoms are a necessary cost of curative care. Likewise, it is easy for us, as pediatric oncologists, to accept symptoms and side effects of treatment as normal. Important new research challenges this assumption and …

Physician voices

Where physician and mother meet

Stephanie Graff, MD

June 30, 2017Jun 30, 2017

In 2017, results of a study were published in JAMA suggesting women are better doctors than men. While I celebrated the acknowledgment for myself and my female physician peers, it prompted me to reflect on how my gender impacts how…

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Where physician and mother meet

Physician voices

What a patient taught her doctor about defying death

Linda Girgis, MD

June 29, 2017Jun 29, 2017

The answer reflected off of her face, and I knew my news would be no surprise. Nonetheless, the lump in my throat grew as I hesitated to tell her the latest we found on her recent scans. The fact that…

The answer reflected off of her face, and I knew my news would be no surprise.

Nonetheless, the lump in my throat grew as I hesitated to tell her the latest we found on her recent scans. The fact that this was a recurrence of a previous cancer and she dealt with this inhumanity in the past also did not make it any easier.

It was then that Mrs. B spoke up, …

Conditions and diseases

There is no place for blame in cancer

Jennifer Lycette, MD

June 26, 2017Jun 26, 2017

I recently read a post by oncologist Dr. Stephanie Graff on the experience of blame, from self and others, that people with cancer are subjected to: The talk about risk factors and early detection makes us think we can achieve…

I recently read a post by oncologist Dr. Stephanie Graff on the experience of blame, from self and others, that people with cancer are subjected to:

The talk about risk factors and early detection makes us think we can achieve perfection, and that cancer is somehow a personal fault … let us stop making accusations and blaming persons diagnosed with cancer. They are blameless.

Her post, ” …

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There is no place for blame in cancer

Conditions and diseases

Is the future of cancer screening at your local shopping mall?

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

June 10, 2017Jun 10, 20173

That’s the question sticking in my mind after reading a recent report about a local radiology practice opening a large mammography center in an upscale shopping mall in Long Island, New York. Let’s face it: Medical care is changing. And…

That’s the question sticking in my mind after reading a recent report about a local radiology practice opening a large mammography center in an upscale shopping mall in Long Island, New York.

Let’s face it: Medical care is changing. And with changes come new ideas. Some will work, some won’t. The thought of getting a mammogram while on a shopping trip may just be what the doctor ordered …

Physician voices

Let’s stop calling cancer a war

Don S. Dizon, MD

June 8, 2017Jun 8, 20173

I remember, when I was a kid, that my grandmother would spend time at our breakfast table reading the newspaper. Not cover to cover, mind you -- she seemed to always focus her attention on the obituaries. Sometimes she would…

I remember, when I was a kid, that my grandmother would spend time at our breakfast table reading the newspaper. Not cover to cover, mind you — she seemed to always focus her attention on the obituaries. Sometimes she would look up and tell anyone sitting around her about the death of someone near her age …

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Let’s stop calling cancer a war

Conditions and diseases

The only perfect cancer statistic is an imperfect one

Stephanie Graff, MD

May 30, 2017May 30, 20178

As an oncologist, I spend my days with women and men diagnosed with cancer. My patients, particularly my advanced-stage or Stage 4 (metastatic) patients, often ask what they did wrong. How did they end up with metastatic cancer? They share with me the subtle accusations made by friends, family and acquaintances that somehow they brought this on themselves. “If only Susan had done her screening mammograms faithfully, she never would …

Physician voices

Bearing witness: An oncologist’s role at the end of life

Jennifer Lycette, MD

May 27, 2017May 27, 2017

My patient was sitting in a wheelchair. He was in his mid-forties, and before the cancer, had held a physically demanding job that he loved. Now, the cancer in his spine had ended not only his ability to work, but…

His wife was devoted to him in a way that seemed as natural and understated and unobtrusive as breathing.

In order for me to examine him, she …

Conditions and diseases

The unhappy couples after a cancer diagnosis

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

May 26, 2017May 26, 2017

The couples I see for counseling are not always perfect, not that any couples ever are. But when cancer enters the relationship, for some couples, things get ugly and get ugly fast. I believe that we like to think that cancer makes people “better”; that people rise to the challenge and become the best they can be. I think that we …

Physician voices

What surgeons do is a violent act

Bruce Campbell, MD

May 18, 2017May 18, 2017

"I like good strong words that mean something." - Louisa May Alcott My resident and I are removing a large, recurrent cancer from the neck. Dense scar tissue is everywhere from prior surgery and radiation therapy. The going is slow.…

“I like good strong words that mean something.”
– Louisa May Alcott

My resident and I are removing a large, recurrent cancer from the neck. Dense scar tissue is everywhere from prior surgery and radiation therapy. The going is slow. Each move is arduous, and bleeding obscures the view of the anatomy.

“Watch out,” I tell her. “The jugular vein is nearby, probably buried in that scar.”

“Yeah,” she responds. “Look at this nerve! …

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What surgeons do is a violent act

Physician voices

To be an oncologist today is to be a part of a revolution in medicine

Don S. Dizon, MD

May 8, 2017May 8, 20173

When I was a resident, my colleagues chided me for wanting to be an oncologist. Back then (and it pains me to be old enough to use that phrase, by the way), oncology was thought of as a field of…

When I was a resident, my colleagues chided me for wanting to be an oncologist. Back then (and it pains me to be old enough to use that phrase, by the way), oncology was thought of as a field of futility. We administered toxic drugs to patients with cancer, and far more often than not, they …

Physician voices

5 things doctors should know about compassion fatigue

Jennifer Lycette, MD

May 5, 2017May 5, 20172

For many physicians, the term “compassion fatigue” may imply, as the words describe, that fatigue leads to the loss of ability to feel compassion for others. After all, what physician doesn’t have a day when s/he is too tired, running…

For many physicians, the term “compassion fatigue” may imply, as the words describe, that fatigue leads to the loss of ability to feel compassion for others.

After all, what physician doesn’t have a day when s/he is too tired, running on too little reserve, and feeling some degree of emotional numbness?

Many physicians may not realize, however, that compassion fatigue can go much deeper. According to the Compassion …

Conditions and diseases

More young people are getting colorectal cancer. What do we do?

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

May 4, 2017May 4, 20172

After years of declining rates of colorectal cancer (CRC), a study from the American Cancer Society raises the specter that not all is going as well as we would have hoped, especially among younger folks born since 1990. And that…

Conditions and diseases

What Netflix can teach us about treating cancer

Elana Fertig, PhD

May 4, 2017May 4, 2017

Two years ago, former President Barack Obama announced the Precision Medicine initiative in his State of the Union Address. The initiative aspired to a “new era of medicine” where disease treatments could be specifically tailored to each patient’s genetic code.…

This resonated soundly in cancer medicine. Patients can already manage their cancer with therapies that target the specific genes that are altered in their particular tumor. For …

Conditions and diseases

Widespread hype gives false hope to many cancer patients

Liz Szabo

May 3, 2017May 3, 20175

After Michael Uvanni’s older brother, James, was diagnosed with a deadly form of skin cancer, it seemed as if everyone told the family what they wanted to hear: Have hope. You can beat this, and we are here to help.…

The brothers met with doctors at a half-dozen of the country’s best hospitals, all with impressive credentials that inspired confidence.

Michael Uvanni was in awe when he visited the University of Texas …

Physician voices

What is the right way to deliver bad news?

Andrea Eisenberg, MD

May 2, 2017May 2, 20177

Recently, someone close to me was diagnosed with cancer. Due to a series of missed phone calls on both sides, he had not heard the results of his biopsy prior to his follow up appointment. When his young doctor walked in, he started with, “So you know you have cancer, right?” I just wanted to scream, “What the f*ck!” It is never easy to give someone bad news, but this …

Physician voices

How a cancer patient impacted her oncologist

Jennifer Lycette, MD

April 27, 2017Apr 27, 20175

The day after I told Nell she had seven metastases to her brain, she sent me flowers. She was my patient; I was her oncologist. I had met her one year prior, when she was well into her cancer journey,…

The day after I told Nell she had seven metastases to her brain, she sent me flowers.

She was my patient; I was her oncologist. I had met her one year prior, when she was well into her cancer journey, stage IV breast cancer at diagnosis. I took over from her current oncologist, who was moving. At our first visit together, she grilled me without mercy. Her questions were insightful, and …

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 39

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