Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 59

Cancer screening comes down to personal preferences

February 26, 2014Feb 26, 20146

I have been thinking a lot about cancer screening tests. It seems that there has been a constant stream of articles about screening in both the lay press and professional journals -- as well as the inevitable stories in the…

I have been thinking a lot about cancer screening tests. It seems that there has been a constant stream of articles about screening in both the lay press and professional journals — as well as the inevitable stories in the lay press about the reports in professional journals — but this is more personal. I have had two recent experiences that …

Conditions and diseases

Save mammography or save women? Supporters face a quandary.

Michael Kirsch, MD

February 25, 2014Feb 25, 201425

Sometimes, we play a little politics on this blog. I am a student of current events and enjoy following the dysfunction and absurdities in American politics. To paraphrase the legendary former British prime minister, "never has so little been done…

Readers know how skeptical I am about medical dogma. When I was an intern a quarter century ago, I didn’t grasp why routine measurement …

Conditions and diseases

Radiologists on the new mammogram study. Who’s right?

Jennifer Gunter, MD

February 24, 2014Feb 24, 20145

The BMJ recently published the latest results from the Canadian National Breast Screening Study (CNBSS). A brief summary of the CNBSS: Women were randomly assigned to annual mammography or breast exams and then the outcomes tracked. The results in the…

This is a very interesting study and when I first started working on this post I wanted to delve more into the science of …

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Are physicians ready for the e-patient movement?

Don S. Dizon, MD

February 21, 2014Feb 21, 20146

I gave a talk recently to a group of my peers about addressing the needs of patients after a diagnosis of cancer, emphasizing points where transitions occur -- from treatment, to end of therapy, surveillance, recurrence, and extending all the…

I gave a talk recently to a group of my peers about addressing the needs of patients after a diagnosis of cancer, emphasizing points where transitions occur — from treatment, to end of therapy, surveillance, recurrence, and extending all the way up to the end of life — and how important it is to consider the entire journey of a person …

Physician voices

Defeating cancer is not an armed conflict

James C. Salwitz, MD

February 20, 2014Feb 20, 20142

On December 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971, and declared the "war on cancer." The allusion to combat appealed to the soul of the American people not long after their success in World…

On December 23, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971, and declared the “war on cancer.” The allusion to combat appealed to the soul of the American people not long after their success in World War II and the humiliation of Vietnam; they intuitively understood the sacrifice, teamwork and massive effort, which is implied in the concept of War and they were ready for another victory. Committing dollars, …

Physician voices

The influence of Janis Babson can be felt by many physicians

Emily Gibson, MD

February 15, 2014Feb 15, 20142

I was 8-years-old in June 1963 when the Readers’ Digest arrived in the mail inside its little brown paper wrapper. As usual, I sat down in my favorite overstuffed chair with my skinny legs dangling over the side arm and…

I was 8-years-old in June 1963 when the Readers’ Digest arrived in the mail inside its little brown paper wrapper. As usual, I sat down in my favorite overstuffed chair with my skinny legs dangling over the side arm and started at the beginning, reading the jokes, the short articles and stories on harrowing adventures and rescues, pets that had been …

Physician voices

A cancer patient return visit after 20 years

Miranda Fielding, MD

February 13, 2014Feb 13, 201411

A couple of weeks ago my nurse came to me with a request for a consultation. Since our schedule has been packed full lately, she’s been asking me where I can squeeze patients in. She said, “I’m not sure about…

A couple of weeks ago my nurse came to me with a request for a consultation. Since our schedule has been packed full lately, she’s been asking me where I can squeeze patients in.

She said, “I’m not sure about this one — he says you treated him twenty years ago and he wants to see you. But there is no new pathology so I don’t know how urgent it is.”

I …

Conditions and diseases

My cancer has been knocked into oblivion

Elana Miller, MD

February 12, 2014Feb 12, 20143

From the beginning, there were so many signs that my cancer didn’t have a chance. First, there was the rock-hard lymph node above my collarbone that disappeared with one night of steroids, even before I started chemotherapy. Then, there was…

From the beginning, there were so many signs that my cancer didn’t have a chance.

First, there was the rock-hard lymph node above my collarbone that disappeared with one night of steroids, even before I started chemotherapy.

Then, there was the chest x-ray done only a few days after starting my first round of chemo. It’s not pretty, and you can see that the …

Conditions and diseases

Mammograms: Breast cancer screening as an individual patient decision

Kevin Pho, MD

February 12, 2014Feb 12, 201444

In a major cancer screening development, a study from the British Medical Journal found that an annual screening mammography didn't result in a mortality benefit: Women screened annually by mammography for 5 years had had a breast cancer mortality hazard…

In a major cancer screening development, a study from the British Medical Journal found that an annual screening mammography didn’t result in a mortality benefit:

Women screened annually by mammography for 5 years had had a breast cancer mortality hazard of 1.05 compared with the control group during the screening period. During follow-up for a mean of 22 years, the mammography group

…

Physician voices

Everyone should have a pleasant mammogram experience

Abigail Schildcrout, MD

February 12, 2014Feb 12, 2014

This morning I went for my annual mammogram. It’s not something I generally look forward to. In fact, I mildly dread it. In my personal experience, mammograms have ranged from quite uncomfortable to downright painful. And then there’s the general…

This morning I went for my annual mammogram. It’s not something I generally look forward to. In fact, I mildly dread it.

In my personal experience, mammograms have ranged from quite uncomfortable to downright painful. And then there’s the general unpleasantness of standing topless in a cold room. The first time I had this screening imaging study done, the plate pressed so hard into my sternum that I was almost in …

Patient voices

When medical wishes are respected

Kelly McCutcheon Adams, MSW

February 11, 2014Feb 11, 20142

In 2005, my husband and I bought a small farmhouse in northern New England next door to Tom and Sally. They were in their early seventies, married nearly fifty years, with a large family. Tom's grandfather had built a farmhouse…

In 2005, my husband and I bought a small farmhouse in northern New England next door to Tom and Sally.

They were in their early seventies, married nearly fifty years, with a large family. Tom’s grandfather had built a farmhouse in 1900 on the family’s small pig farm. In the 1970s, Tom and Sally had parceled off the land and built a modern house for themselves, a stone’s throw from the …

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When medical wishes are respected

Physician voices

After a cancer diagnosis: Giving a patient time

Jim deMaine, MD

February 7, 2014Feb 7, 2014

Ben's first symptom was coughing up blood. The cancer had been silently growing for months, if not a few years. He had no pain or shortness of breath. The chest x-ray showed a "5cm L hilar mass" and the subsequent…

Ben’s first symptom was coughing up blood. The cancer had been silently growing for months, if not a few years. He had no pain or shortness of breath. The chest x-ray showed a “5cm L hilar mass” and the subsequent CT scan showed enlarged lymph nodes and likely spread to the liver.

“So Doc, what is it? A cancer? How much time do you give me?” All these questions on a …

Physician voices

Did a New York Times column unfairly attack ER doctors?

WhiteCoat, MD

February 6, 2014Feb 6, 20144

Cardiologists are causing patients to get cancer. It’s true. Cardiologists routinely perform angiograms on patients who have no heart disease whatsoever. As shown in this Harvard newsletter, each angiogram exposes the patients to about 7 mSv of radiation. Add in…

Cardiologists are causing patients to get cancer.

It’s true.

Cardiologists routinely perform angiograms on patients who have no heart disease whatsoever.

As shown in this Harvard newsletter, each angiogram exposes the patients to about 7 mSv of radiation. Add in the myocardial perfusion imaging at another 25 mSv of radiation and you have enough radiation to cause cancer in an otherwise healthy individual.

And cardiologists routinely subject patients with normal …

Physician voices

Grateful for the pennies from heaven

Starla Fitch, MD

February 5, 2014Feb 5, 20142

A few short years ago, my wonderful father-in-law Bill was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer. My husband and I traveled to the Midwest to visit Bill and my mother-in-law Betty. We were happy to be able to spend a little…

A few short years ago, my wonderful father-in-law Bill was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer.

My husband and I traveled to the Midwest to visit Bill and my mother-in-law Betty. We were happy to be able to spend a little time with him, and he knew we were there.

Sadly, he passed away the night before we left.

We believe he held on until my husband arrived; all his other children lived nearby.

Later, …

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Grateful for the pennies from heaven

Physician voices

How I feel after chemotherapy

Elana Miller, MD

February 4, 2014Feb 4, 20143

I feel … Much better than I did after my last chemo cycle. I feel tired, but not bad. I feel really glad that using a smaller needle for the lumbar punctures spared me the headache. I feel thrilled to…

I feel …

Much better than I did after my last chemo cycle.

I feel tired, but not bad.

I feel really glad that using a smaller needle for the lumbar punctures spared me the headache.

I feel thrilled to have a port and have that PICC line out. There’s nothing like having medical tubes dangling out of your arm to make you feel extremely cancery. Plus, with the port buried under my skin, water …

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How I feel after chemotherapy

Physician voices

Cell phones and brain cancer: Is cellular technology innocuous?

David L. Katz, MD

February 4, 2014Feb 4, 2014

Increasingly, the stuff we buy is electronic. In fact, not only that, but increasingly the stuff we buy with is electronic, too. We are using gizmos to shop for gadgets, or possibly gadgets to shop for gizmos. In any event,…

In any event, we are ever more frequently in the company of the energy fields our electronic devices, and in particular our smart phones, generate. This deserves more attention than most of us accord …

Physician voices

When patients write to doctors, and what it means

Miranda Fielding, MD

January 31, 2014Jan 31, 20145

Where I come from, when most people refer to the Good Book, they are referring to the Bible. This is not true for my father, because to him, the Good Books are something else entirely. He describes a scene early…

Where I come from, when most people refer to the Good Book, they are referring to the Bible. This is not true for my father, because to him, the Good Books are something else entirely.

He describes a scene early in his career as a plastic surgeon, when he had taken his doting mother to see his new office. Coincidentally, a lovely thank you note had just arrived from one of …

Physician voices

Compassion is what connects us all

James C. Salwitz, MD

January 30, 2014Jan 30, 20144

A large woman, she has soiled herself. With practiced motion, Bob rolls his wife onto her side. Yellow diarrhea has leaked out of the diaper, soaking the nightgown and sheets, finding its way into each fold, crease, and flaw. The room fills with odor, but the winter house remains dark; outside wind blows down the empty street. It is 2:00am and Bob is cleaning shit. Only 90 minutes asleep, he …

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Compassion is what connects us all

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 59

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