Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 53

Does Brittany Maynard’s decision affect the future of oncology?

November 8, 2014Nov 8, 201443

Would you base a life or death decision based on one doctor’s opinion? One research article? Google searches? What would it take? I recently read that Brittany Maynard took her own life. Plagued by glioblastoma, she chose to reject chemotherapy,…

Would you base a life or death decision based on one doctor’s opinion? One research article? Google searches? What would it take?

I recently read that Brittany Maynard took her own life. Plagued by glioblastoma, she chose to reject chemotherapy, radiation, and hospice. Tomorrow, I have a schedule packed with glioblastoma patients who personify courage, determination, and faith.

Glioblastoma (GBM) …

Medical education

A medical student diagnosed with cancer

Cherie Fathy

November 7, 2014Nov 7, 20146

Ironically, we had just finished our endocrine unit when I noticed a lump in my neck. Perhaps school had made me more vigilant, or perhaps I merely fell into the realm of hypochondriac medical student, but I couldn’t ignore this…

I set up an appointment with my doctor fully expecting a diagnosis of medical student neuroticism. Instead she agreed that it was …

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A medical student diagnosed with cancer

Conditions and diseases

No CT scans for old smokers?

Dr. Saurabh Jha

November 6, 2014Nov 6, 20143

"Traditionally, doctors used to be called in when needed. But this is now changing. Increasingly it is the doctor who calls the person in by issuing an invitation. Healthy people are asked to visit the surgery for a 'check-up,' or…

“Traditionally, doctors used to be called in when needed. But this is now changing. Increasingly it is the doctor who calls the person in by issuing an invitation. Healthy people are asked to visit the surgery for a ‘check-up,’ or ‘screening,’ when their computerized records show they are ‘due.’ Non-attendance is known as ‘non-compliance,’ indicating an element of recklessness and irresponsibility.”

– Petr …

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No CT scans for old smokers?

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Conditions and diseases

The nuances of breast cancer surgery don’t fit in a headline

Pat Whitworth, MD

November 3, 2014Nov 3, 2014

Recently, NPR published the results of a study confirming that removal of both breasts (a double mastectomy) fails to improve the chance of survival compared to breast conserving treatments for breast cancer. The headline of the story was “Double Mastectomies…

This finding is not actually news to informed physicians. Since the 1980s, there has been widespread recognition that both mastectomies and lumpectomies offer an …

Conditions and diseases

After a prostate cancer diagnosis: The urgency to treat

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

November 2, 2014Nov 2, 2014

Hearing the words “you have cancer” changes everything. In my role as clinical nurse specialist in a busy prostate clinic, I see the effects of these three words on men and their families every day. The shock and disbelief, the fear and confusion as most men feel perfectly well with no symptoms at all. Many men want to do something …

Physician voices

Quit smoking: It takes a community to spread the word

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

October 24, 2014Oct 24, 20145

You never know when something special is going to happen, as in one of those times when you just wish you had a camera rolling to capture a moment, a comment, a statement about the way the world is --…

This past weekend my wife and I were attending a meeting in …

Drugs and prescribing

Which is the right flu vaccine for you?

Albert Fuchs, MD

October 23, 2014Oct 23, 2014

The best way to avoid the flu is spending the months from fall until spring in a solitary bunker, communicating with other people only electronically. The second best way is getting the flu vaccine. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the flu vaccine for everyone over 6 months who doesn’t have a specific contraindication to it.

Because of the increasing number of different flu vaccines that are now …

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Which is the right flu vaccine for you?

Physician voices

When hospice is about living, not dying

James C. Salwitz, MD

October 21, 2014Oct 21, 2014

Not too long ago I suggested hospice to a patient who had progressive cancer, although she likely had months to live. “I don’t think it is time,” she replied, “hospice is for morphine.” “That is not how I see hospice,”…

Not too long ago I suggested hospice to a patient who had progressive cancer, although she likely had months to live. “I don’t think it is time,” she replied, “hospice is for morphine.”

“That is not how I see hospice,” I replied, “I think hospice is about getting the best care and support, even if there is no real treatment for the disease. It is about living well, maybe better. Even …

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When hospice is about living, not dying

Conditions and diseases

The Fault in Our Stars: Should thyroid cancer be renamed?

James Flory, MD

October 18, 2014Oct 18, 20142

John Green’s novel -- and recent film -- The Fault In Our Stars (TFIOS) is a new classic of young adult fiction, deservedly famous, and it’s easy to see why. The story is simultaneously deeply sad and really funny, mostly…

John Green’s novel — and recent film — The Fault In Our Stars (TFIOS) is a new classic of young adult fiction, deservedly famous, and it’s easy to see why. The story is simultaneously deeply sad and really funny, mostly due to the narrator, Hazel. She is an intensely likable 16-year-old, who charms you even while she explains, stoically, that she is dying of thyroid cancer that has spread to …

Conditions and diseases

Breast cancer awareness: It’s more than mammograms

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

October 15, 2014Oct 15, 20147

It's October and that means we are about to see a lot of pink for the next 31 days. And virtually all of the work comes down to one simple -some might say overly simple-message: Get a mammogram. But as…

It’s October and that means we are about to see a lot of pink for the next 31 days. And virtually all of the work comes down to one simple -some might say overly simple-message: Get a mammogram.

But as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), begins, I find myself one again asking some difficult questions: Are we …

Conditions and diseases

Proton beam therapy: We need more than informed hope on social media

J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD

October 10, 2014Oct 10, 20143

I had an interesting day this past week. Sadly, it left me wondering why the same "hope and hype" directed at cancer patients and their families decades ago when I started my oncology career was still alive and well today.…

I had an interesting day this past week. Sadly, it left me wondering why the same “hope and hype” directed at cancer patients and their families decades ago when I started my oncology career was still alive and well today. But then, maybe I am the naïve one to think that anything should have really changed.

In the morning …

Physician voices

When treating seriously ill patients, learn to suppress The Look

James C. Salwitz, MD

October 8, 2014Oct 8, 2014

A friend of mine plays a mean game of poker. She comes out ahead in Atlantic City, finishing near the top in hold ’em tournaments. She is a poker savant. Not long ago I asked her secret to playing the…

“I learned to play cards when I was being trained to treat cancer.”

“Oh,” I said, “the discipline, memorization, patience and statistics?”

“No, that is when I learned not to …

Physician voices

The public perception of oncologists: Is it really true?

Don S. Dizon, MD

October 7, 2014Oct 7, 201411

I had taken care of her for years. We had faced a new diagnosis, the toxicities of adjuvant treatment, the promises of having no evidence of disease (NED as my friend, Molly, refers to it), only to have it shattered with the first recurrence. Over the next three years, she had undergone treatment — chemotherapy, a trial of endocrine therapy, …

Physician voices

How to talk to a patient with terminal cancer? Not like this.

Allen Frances, MD

October 6, 2014Oct 6, 20146

A friend of mine has been living well with lung cancer for five years -- working, running several miles a day, traveling, doing good stuff with his family, and generally enjoying the pleasures of everyday life. He knows the cancer…

A friend of mine has been living well with lung cancer for five years — working, running several miles a day, traveling, doing good stuff with his family, and generally enjoying the pleasures of everyday life. He knows the cancer will eventually kill him, but has been making the most of every remaining minute.

Then, a month ago, things suddenly turned dramatically south. Severe shortness of breath, constant coughing, sleeplessness, fatigue, …

Physician voices

There’s a part of us that’s unafflictable

Kenneth D. Bishop, MD, PhD

October 2, 2014Oct 2, 2014

We’re born into our bodies, and we take that for granted. Our first job is to take a breath, something we’ll hopefully do many millions of times and never think about. That first breath changes everything: Our blood starts to…

We’re born into our bodies, and we take that for granted.

Our first job is to take a breath, something we’ll hopefully do many millions of times and never think about. That first breath changes everything: Our blood starts to flow through our heart and lungs in a different way and for the first time we taste a new world.

Before we’re born, all our needs are met via an artery and …

Drugs and prescribing

Estrogen therapy and breast cancer: The pharmacist said no

Anne Katz, RN, PhD

September 28, 2014Sep 28, 20146

It’s not often that I find myself speechless. I have heard all sorts of stories in my office -- as a sexuality counselor, I am often humbled by the trust that people place in me and how much they disclose…

It’s not often that I find myself speechless. I have heard all sorts of stories in my office — as a sexuality counselor, I am often humbled by the trust that people place in me and how much they disclose about their private lives. But one conversation I had with a patient literally made my jaw drop.

The patient is a …

Conditions and diseases

Exploring the Angelina Jolie effect in breast cancer screening

Alan Cassels

September 26, 2014Sep 26, 2014

Up to this point, it had only been a hypothesis: That celebrity firepower can definitively drive consumer health behavior in a certain direction. The case here concerns whether women wish to embark on a genetic hunting expedition to see if they are at high risk of developing a particular disease such as breast cancer, and the motivator in this case is Angelina Jolie.

The actress underwent genetic testing for mutations related …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 69-year-old woman with a lump under her arm

mksap

September 21, 2014Sep 21, 2014

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 69-year-old woman is evaluated for a lump under her arm found on self-examination. She is otherwise healthy and has no other symptoms. Medical…

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

A 69-year-old woman is evaluated for a lump under her arm found on self-examination. She is otherwise healthy and has no other symptoms. Medical and family histories are unremarkable, and she takes no medications.

On physical examination, temperature is 37.4 °C (99.3 °F), blood pressure is 110/70 mm Hg, pulse rate is 72/min, …

Physician voices

Two women, two cancers, two different pathways

Don S. Dizon, MD

September 19, 2014Sep 19, 2014

I sometimes wonder what I would do if I was told I had cancer. How much would I subject myself to in order to survive, or to achieve remission? As a parent, I can answer only that I would likely…

I sometimes wonder what I would do if I was told I had cancer. How much would I subject myself to in order to survive, or to achieve remission? As a parent, I can answer only that I would likely go through hell and back if it meant being there for my kids — to watch them grow up, graduate …

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 53

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