Oncology and hematology

2,498 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 78

Cancer has a way of teaching us poignant life lessons

February 9, 2012Feb 9, 20125

I just finished reading George’s recent post on Evelyn Lauder, who recently passed away from ovarian cancer, and am still stirred by the passing of Patrick Swayze from pancreatic cancer and Elizabeth Edwards from metastatic breast cancer. There’s a reason…

Drugs and prescribing

A look behind the growing cost of cancer drugs

Merrill Goozner

February 7, 2012Feb 7, 20122

Julie Gralow, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, recently prescribed an exciting new therapy for a 60-year-old woman with metastatic breast cancer. Three-and-a-half years into her battle against the disease, the patient had already exhausted three…

The newly prescribed drug, Novartis’ Afinitor, is one of the recently approved targeted therapies that have …

Conditions and diseases

How I approach ovarian cancer screening with patients

Kevin Pho, MD

February 7, 2012Feb 7, 20129

Ovarian cancer screening clearly touches a nerve. No one doubts that ovarian cancer is a devastating diagnosis, often found when the disease is at an advanced stage. Tests to look for the disease, such as the transvaginal ultrasound or the…

Ovarian cancer screening clearly touches a nerve.

No one doubts that ovarian cancer is a devastating diagnosis, often found when the disease is at an advanced stage. Tests to look for the disease, such as the transvaginal ultrasound or the CA-125 blood test, are not specific enough. That leads to false positive tests that necessitate more studies that may not be …

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Patient voices

Why we need to go from e-patient to i-patient

Jackie Fox

February 3, 2012Feb 3, 201210

I found a recent Associated Press article on an aspect of the new health care law that many of us may have overlooked. It requires consumer-friendly summaries of what insurance plans cover, a provision that now seems to be at…

I found a recent Associated Press article on an aspect of the new health care law that many of us may have overlooked. It requires consumer-friendly summaries of what insurance plans cover, a provision that now seems to be at risk. The insurance industry is up in arms about implementation costs and added regulatory burdens. (There’s a good story at NPR, which includes a link to an example of what …

Physician voices

Experiencing an uninvited gift

Carlene Oleksyn

February 3, 2012Feb 3, 201211

It's been five years since she was told she was cancer free. Today she was told it was back, and the future was quite grim. My job was to make sure she understood how to properly take the medication that…

It’s been five years since she was told she was cancer free. Today she was told it was back, and the future was quite grim.

My job was to make sure she understood how to properly take the medication that would reduce the swelling around the tumor so radiation could start as soon as possible.

That was my job. Clinically speaking it wasn’t the most challenging or difficult issue of the day as I …

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Experiencing an uninvited gift

Conditions and diseases

How the CA-125 became a $50,000 blood test

Keith Marton, MD

February 3, 2012Feb 3, 201233

What could be so simple as a blood test? A quick prick with a needle, a wait of a day or two for results and a discussion with the doctor about those results. In the words of our vaunted politicians,…

What could be so simple as a blood test?

A quick prick with a needle, a wait of a day or two for results and a discussion with the doctor about those results. In the words of our vaunted politicians, it would be an “up or down vote” on whether there was anything to deal with.

That was the thinking of my wife’s physician when she ordered a test called the “CA-125.” …

Health technology

How a doctor uses Google to market and recruit patients

Jamie Cesaretti, MD

February 2, 2012Feb 2, 201216

When I relocated my radiation oncology practice from Jacksonville to Tampa, Florida, I had to figure out how to compete against urologists in a market that was radically different from the one I had left. Unlike their peers in Jacksonville,…

To break the referral pattern, I updated and posted my physician profile for free on an online …

Health technology

How adopting an EHR is like treating cancer

Margalit Gur-Arie

January 31, 2012Jan 31, 201230

EHRs are not ready for prime time. EHR benefits are questionable and there are documented instances where patients’ deaths were directly attributed to an EHR. EHRs are cumbersome and slow. They are unnecessarily complex and built on very old technology. The people who build EHRs have no concern for the end user and therefore EHR usability is pretty abysmal. And EHRs are expensive to buy and expensive to maintain, not …

Physician voices

The sense of loss extends beyond the death of a patient

Don S. Dizon, MD

January 29, 2012Jan 29, 20124

At the end of the year, I find myself thinking about patients usually—and especially those that have passed away. I wonder how their families are coping, how their children are, and whether each day has gotten easier. I think about…

It’s an odd thing …

Conditions and diseases

MKSAP: 58-year-old woman with acute left-sided flank pain

mksap

January 28, 2012Jan 28, 2012

Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 58-year-old woman is hospitalized for acute left-sided flank pain. She has had fever and night sweats for 1 month and a 9.1-kg (20-lb)…

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

A 58-year-old woman is hospitalized for acute left-sided flank pain. She has had fever and night sweats for 1 month and a 9.1-kg (20-lb) weight loss over 6 months.

On physical examination, temperature is 37.7 °C (99.8 °F), blood pressure is 135/88 mm Hg, pulse is 88/min, …

Physician voices

Our society expends huge sums on futile care

Jim deMaine, MD

January 26, 2012Jan 26, 201218

Mike was a runner, outdoors-man, and fitness nut. This was not so much as for health reasons as for "feeling good", but he did hope that it would help him avoid illness. It was worrisome when he started with some…

Mike was a runner, outdoors-man, and fitness nut. This was not so much as for health reasons as for “feeling good”, but he did hope that it would help him avoid illness. It was worrisome when he started with some belly cramping and noticed some blood streaks in his stools. It took about a month until he could be scheduled for a colonoscopy. The news was shocking. “There’s a cancer …

Conditions and diseases

How Patrick Swayze died: Why we should care

Barron H. Lerner, MD

January 26, 2012Jan 26, 20126

When I finished my book on famous patients, the most common question I received was “Are the stories of sick celebrities really relevant to other patients?” My answer was that yes, with some caveats, these experiences are well-worth knowing. The…

The same can be said for the story of Patrick Swayze’s terminal pancreatic cancer, which has now been told by his widow, actress Lisa Niemi Swayze, in a new book, “Worth Fighting …

Conditions and diseases

Incorporating 12-step program concepts into cancer survivorship

Richard Just, MD

January 23, 2012Jan 23, 20122

The fact that the term “cancer survivorship” is now part of our vocabulary is a testimony to advances made in management of these diseases. Most cancer survivors, however, are not unscathed by the experience. As I tell my patients, they won’t be entirely as they were before treatment. How these issues are dealt with varies from person to person. But, awareness that chronic problems may persist long after treatments end …

Health technology

Google knows more about certain diseases than physicians ever will

Lukas Zinnagl, MD

January 21, 2012Jan 21, 20128

Professor Gunter Dueck, is a calm and eloquent german mathematician who’s also the CTO of IBM Germany. He studied mathematics and philosophy and eventually turned out to be a great writer and speaker. Unfortunately he only does so in German,…

In a recent talk he gave (German only), he talks about whether a connected and …

Physician voices

Stories help the public make sense of evidence

Kenneth Lin, MD

January 20, 2012Jan 20, 20122

Recently, I presented Family Medicine Grand Rounds at Georgetown University School of Medicine on resolving conflicts between screening guidelines. During the question and answer session, Department Chair James Welsh, MD asked how evidence from carefully conducted clinical trials can possibly…

I answered that evidence-based medicine’s supporters must fight anecdotes with anecdotes. For every person who believes his or her life was extended by a …

Health policy

The problem of insurance gaps in cancer patients

Richard Leff, MD

January 19, 2012Jan 19, 20123

Why are cancer organizations waiting until it starts to rain before they suggest buying an umbrella? “Join my Medicare Advantage plan and get free membership to a local health club, free glasses and dental care.” This time of year, during…

Why are cancer organizations waiting until it starts to rain before they suggest buying an umbrella?

“Join my Medicare Advantage plan and get free membership to a local health club, free glasses and dental care.” This time of year, during Medicare Advantage Annual Enrollment period, the only TV commercials that annoy us more often are for lawyers who want to help us if we were injured at work or in a …

Conditions and diseases

Why palliative care and hospice is the ultimate gift

Deb Discenza

January 19, 2012Jan 19, 201212

Dear Doctors: I am writing no less than 45 days after my mother died from a GI bleed from ovarian cancer. Not once did my mother's team of doctors mention palliative care. It was not until days and even hours…

Dear Doctors:

I am writing no less than 45 days after my mother died from a GI bleed from ovarian cancer. Not once did my mother’s team of doctors mention palliative care. It was not until days and even hours before her death that hospice was discussed and implemented. Our family was blindsided by this.

While no one likes to talk about the topic of death, it is important to remember that …

Conditions and diseases

Why mammography is an imperfect test

Stacey Vitiello, MD

January 15, 2012Jan 15, 201218

It is a scenario familiar to all breast imaging practices. A patient feels a lump in her breast and calls her doctor. The doctor examines her, agrees that a lump is present, and refers the patient to a breast imaging…

It is a scenario familiar to all breast imaging practices.

A patient feels a lump in her breast and calls her doctor. The doctor examines her, agrees that a lump is present, and refers the patient to a breast imaging facility for a diagnostic mammogram and breast ultrasound (also known as a sonogram). At her mammogram appointment, a little sticker is placed on the lump felt by the patient, and mammogram …

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Why mammography is an imperfect test

Conditions and diseases

Educate patients when it comes to cancer screening tests

Eugene Spiritus, MD

January 10, 2012Jan 10, 20123

Mammograms, pap smears and P.S.A. levels, what’s a patient to think? Each of these procedures has been widely accepted as a means of detecting cancer early and thereby improve ones chances of survival. The tests themselves are simple to perform…

Mammograms, pap smears and P.S.A. levels, what’s a patient to think?

Each of these procedures has been widely accepted as a means of detecting cancer early and thereby improve ones chances of survival. The tests themselves are simple to perform and have become an accepted standard of care. Patients are now being told that the United States Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) an independent panel of non-Federal experts in prevention and …

Conditions and diseases

Birth control and cancer: What you should know

Helen Rhodes, MD

January 10, 2012Jan 10, 2012

Does your birth control pill put you at risk for cancer? Or, does it actually protect you from the disease? Recent headlines might have you wondering. Here’s what we do know: oral contraceptives — better known as the pill —…

Does your birth control pill put you at risk for cancer? Or, does it actually protect you from the disease? Recent headlines might have you wondering.

Here’s what we do know: oral contraceptives — better known as the pill — may impact a woman’s chances of developing breast and gynecologic cancers. In some cases, that means a bigger chance of cancer. In others, it means protection against cancer.

The reason? Most oral …

Oncology and hematology

Articles, page 78

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