Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 42

A physician-mother’s call to action at a medical meeting

November 29, 2016Nov 29, 2016

As a physician and mom, I hate the work culture that generates the glass ceiling for women. Like many professional environments, Medicine is a hierarchical culture dominated by men. The leadership positions are mostly filled by men- including the hospital…

As a physician and mom, I hate the work culture that generates the glass ceiling for women.

Like many professional environments, Medicine is a hierarchical culture dominated by men. The leadership positions are mostly filled by men- including the hospital CEOs, department chairpersons, and medical school deans. This reality begs the question: if nearly half of medical school graduates are women, why don’t we see more female …

Physician voices

This holiday season, pass the family history

Cedrek L. McFadden, MD

November 29, 2016Nov 29, 20162

This morning, I diagnosed a 49-year-old female with stage 4 colon cancer. She will probably not be alive in 5 years. She could have possibly prevented this diagnosis if she had known her family history. Many people don’t know the health history of their family. This holiday season is a perfect time and opportunity to delve into this history and prevent more senseless deaths.

The apple really doesn’t fall too far …

Physician voices

Yes, cancer kills oncologists too

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

November 23, 2016Nov 23, 20162

I was sitting in a meeting, listening and participating, but at the same time keeping an eye on my email. I always do this, sometimes to my peril. Email is distracting, and more than once I have been called on to say something and I have no clue where the discussion had gone as I glanced at my inbox. At this …

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Yes, cancer kills oncologists too

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Physician voices

What you think is wrong: Real men cry

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

November 16, 2016Nov 16, 2016

We’ve come a long way from the 1940s and 1950s when men didn’t cry — not when they stubbed a toe or came back from the war and certainly not in front of strangers. In the last 20-plus years, we have seen a loosening up of the “stiff upper lip,” and we now see men crying in all sorts of places. …

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What you think is wrong: Real men cry

Physician voices

Saying goodbye to a patient who’s your friend

Don S. Dizon, MD

November 15, 2016Nov 15, 2016

Sometimes, I think that many folks see oncology as an acute care specialty: patients get cancer, get sick, and then they die. There’s an impression that we meet patients only for a moment in time before they are gone forever.…

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 57-year-old man with a right-sided pleural effusion

mksap

November 12, 2016Nov 12, 2016

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 57-year-old man is evaluated in follow-up for a right-sided pleural effusion. He initially presented with increasing dyspnea and a constant dull ache on…

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

A 57-year-old man is evaluated in follow-up for a right-sided pleural effusion. He initially presented with increasing dyspnea and a constant dull ache on his right side. He also has lost 9.1 kg (20.0 lb) over the last 6 months. Medical history is otherwise unremarkable, and he takes no medications. He has never …

Physician voices

Doctors are not superhuman. They are simply human. And that’s OK.

Anonymous

November 11, 2016Nov 11, 20162

A letter from a physician to her former employer. This may seem to come out of the blue for you, but for me, it is something I have thought about often. You will likely not remember the details like I…

A letter from a physician to her former employer.

This may seem to come out of the blue for you, but for me, it is something I have thought about often. You will likely not remember the details like I do, so let me spark your memory.

It was a Thursday, and my husband, who I have known since I was 19 — not unlike you and your wife — was diagnosed …

Physician voices

A doctor thinks a patient is prepared for death. He’s wrong.

Don S. Dizon, MD

November 8, 2016Nov 8, 2016

Milly* was 82 years old and had been diagnosed with a recurrent ovarian stromal tumor — one that is typically seen in much younger women. Surgery was ruled out, and a colleague from outside of Boston sent Milly to me for an opinion about medical treatment. I reviewed her case before I met her: no significant medical problems, …

Physician voices

The stories that patients tell me are always a gift

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

November 8, 2016Nov 8, 2016

My background in nursing has given me a perspective that many physicians don’t have. From the beginning of my career, I have valued the information that patients have provided me about the context of their lives, family, work, and beliefs. I have never cared for a knee or a prostate, but rather I have cared for a person whose life experiences …

Physician voices

The pink bag that symbolizes how far this physician has come

Ashley Sumrall, MD

October 30, 2016Oct 30, 20165

When I graduated from medical school, my dad gave me several hundred dollars with instructions to buy something special. It was a kind gesture, but the pressure to self-select a meaningful gift was almost too much. I wanted something to…

I wanted something to commemorate my transition from student to doctor. Books, stethoscopes, and the like seemed so uninventive. I wanted something for residency that would be …

Conditions and diseases

What breast reconstructive surgery taught me about womanhood

Melissa Poh, MD

October 30, 2016Oct 30, 2016

When I was a little, I used to love puzzles. You could find me with pen in hand, sprawled out on my bedroom floor, nose buried deep in word searches or my Highlights magazine. I wanted to know how things worked. I loved building block sets and making up games with my older brother during summer vacations. Over the years, that curiosity eventually morphed into my current profession as a …

Conditions and diseases

Biomarkers in metastatic breast cancer: Do they make a difference?

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

October 27, 2016Oct 27, 2016

When it comes to our health and our health care, we love the numbers. Sometimes, we even fall in love with the numbers, assuming that the numbers tell us the whole story when, in fact, that may not be the case. Cholesterol numbers, blood pressure numbers, body mass index, whatever. As patients and consumers, we are frequently defined by our numbers.

But what happens when those numbers and other medical tests, …

Physician voices

What’s the one word cancer patients never want to hear?

Don S. Dizon, MD

October 26, 2016Oct 26, 20164

She had come to see me in consultation. A professor at a local university, she was well until four years earlier when she developed abdominal bloating and pain — telltale signs of ovarian cancer. Surgery followed, then adjuvant chemotherapy with intraperitoneal treatments. (“Terrible regimen,” she said.) She was fine for two years, until the bloating recurred heralding …

Conditions and diseases

How can hope help make cancer a chronic disease?

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

October 21, 2016Oct 21, 2016

Perhaps, doctors struggle more than most with memories that mark sad moments in their careers. For me, one of the most indelible was of a wonderful young man with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). When I started my oncology career in…

Perhaps, doctors struggle more than most with memories that mark sad moments in their careers. For me, one of the most indelible was of a wonderful young man with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML).

When I started my oncology career in the early 1970s, CML was almost always fatal. It would start with a chronic phase, which was treated with pretty simple medications. But those medications didn’t cure the disease.

The “almost always” …

Patient voices

October should focus more on incurable breast cancer

Carol Chaoui

October 18, 2016Oct 18, 20162

Seven years ago, when I was first diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer, I approached it with a determination to win. As a competitive runner, that’s what I’ve always done. Cancer would be another uphill battle, with tough stretches as…

My oncologist encouraged me to keep running during all my treatments, telling me it would help on many levels. He and I knew it would …

Conditions and diseases

Take the time to understand patients’ goals when giving treatment recommendations

Peter Ubel, MD

October 17, 2016Oct 17, 20165

A recent study of men with early-stage prostate cancer found no difference in 10-year death rates, regardless of whether their doctors actively monitored the cancers for signs of growth or eradicated the men’s cancers with surgery or radiation. What does…

What does this study mean for patients? Based on research we have conducted on prostate cancer decision-making, the implications are clear: Patients need to find physicians who will interact with …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 54-year-old man with low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome

mksap

October 15, 2016Oct 15, 2016

A 54-year-old man is evaluated during follow-up consultation regarding laboratory studies completed for a life insurance policy. He reports no symptoms. On physical examination, temperature is 37.2 °C (99.0 °F), blood pressure is 131/76 mm Hg, pulse rate is 88/min,…

A 54-year-old man is evaluated during follow-up consultation regarding laboratory studies completed for a life insurance policy. He reports no symptoms.

On physical examination, temperature is 37.2 °C (99.0 °F), blood pressure is 131/76 mm Hg, pulse rate is 88/min, and respiration rate is 15/min. No splenomegaly is noted.

Laboratory studies:

Hemoglobin 8.9 g/dL (89 g/L)
Leukocyte count 3000/µL (3.0 × 109/L) with 30% neutrophils, 10% monocytes, and 60% lymphocytes
Mean corpuscular volume 105 fL
Platelet count 75,000/µL …

Conditions and diseases

Did a prostate cancer test save actor Ben Stiller’s life?

Dr. Saurabh Jha

October 12, 2016Oct 12, 2016

Ben Stiller—one of the few comedians on this side of the pond who can make me laugh—said prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing saved his life. I suspect he wasn’t being funny. Stiller had Gleason Grade 7 localized prostate cancer. Is he…

Is he right?

The honest answer is that we don’t know for certain. Before I get granular, we must visit proof, level of proof and burden of proof. The statement, “there’s …

Conditions and diseases

How clickbait headlines affect prostate cancer diagnosis and management

Matthew N. Simmons, MD, PhD

October 6, 2016Oct 6, 20162

Our culture has taken a strange turn where the truth is relative, and where conspiracy theories rule the day. News sources and social networks are rife with political agendas, fake articles, and disguised advertisements. This chaos harms our social welfare, but can also impact physical health. Misleading news reports of new clinical studies make it difficult to discern medical fact from fiction.

I spend hours in clinic justifying recommendations to patients …

Physician voices

Evidence should not be used to enforce mandates

Don S. Dizon, MD

October 5, 2016Oct 5, 2016

Evidence-based medicine. It is what we all strive to provide. It means employing the most up-to-date knowledge to the approach of medicine, from preventive care to screening to the diagnostic work-up and treatment. Wherever the data point us, that’s what…

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 42

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