by Paul M. Cinciripini, PhD
If you smoke, quitting the habit is the best New Year’s resolution you could make — and keep — in 2011. That’s true even if you’re just a social smoker.
A new report from the Surgeon General shows that even occasional smoking and secondhand smoke cause immediate damage to the body.
The good news is that people who stop smoking before age 50 cut their risk of dying …
Quit smoking in 2011: 5 steps you need to know
The mole on Ivis Febus-Sampayo’s face looked odd. But it wasn’t until her son needed treatment for acne that she went to a dermatologist.
“As mothers, we’re working, we’re busy,” she said. “I forgot about me and called the dermatologist to make sure my son was getting taken care of.”
The doctor removed a sliver of the mole, and reassured Ivis that it was probably nothing to worry about. Two weeks later, …
Check for skin cancer and melanoma, even with dark skin
Reading the newspapers and watching the news lately would lead you to believe that screening for cancer is largely a waste of time.
Yet, in the same week that the NEJM published Norwegian data showing a remarkably small survival benefit of 2% associated with screening mammography, HealthDay reported a decrease in cancer incidence of almost 1% per year from 1999 to 2006 and a decrease in cancer deaths …
Early detection and improving cancer cure rates
by Brian Loew
Travelers with medical conditions hope that the TSA pat-down incidents involving bladder cancer survivor Thomas “Tom” Sawyer, at Detroit Metro Airport, and to breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi, at Dulles Airport, are isolated incidents. But these reports are already creating a chilling effect on air travel for people with medical conditions and disabilities.
This group of travelers could benefit the most from holiday …
Travelers with medical conditions fear increased TSA security procedures
This is a topic close to home.
My wife was diagnosed with stage 3C cancer of the ovary a bit over a year ago. She was a chemotherapy superstar, had few complications, and has been in remission since her treatment finished last October. Still we know her chances of a cure are fairly low.
Understanding statistics is a mixed blessing. Even though her chances of this cancer never recurring are pretty low, …
Living with cancer is different from living after cancer
The New York Times recently ran an article tackling a complex ethical dilemma in cancer care: the withholding of treatment in clinical trials. Because I was treated in 3 clinical trials in the 1990s, the topic is close to my heart.
Scientists have advanced the treatment of disease using the scientific method. By that, I mean they have tested a theory using rigorous methods that give a reliable and reproducible answer. This …
Ethics of placebo in cancer treatment clinical trials
by Jessica Tekla Les, MD
During my third year of medical school I was performing a routine breast exam, more for practice than anything else. I was trying the concentric-circles-around-the-nipple technique, one of several I’d been taught. About halfway through the right breast I found a lima-bean-sized lump, not far from the breastbone. I took liberties with this particular exam. I poked the lump, tried to …
Breast cancer transforms a doctor in training to patient in an instant
The holidays are a great opportunity to ask family members about their health history.
Learning about your family’s health history can help you answer your doctor’s medical history questions. It can even help your doctor determine if you may be at risk for an inherited cancer like breast, colorectal, ovarian, prostate or endometrial cancer, which sometimes run in the family.
Keep in mind that just a small portion of cancers – about 5 …
How to create your medical family tree
There are very few oncologic emergencies. Neoplastic epidural spinal cord compression is one of them. The delay in diagnosis and treatment is often explained by the non-specific nature of the presenting signs and symptoms.
The patient developed urinary retention a couple of weeks prior to presentation. On the morning of admission he was fully functional. Later he sat down to have a cup of coffee and boom – he couldn’t feel …
Neoplastic epidural spinal cord compression is an oncologic emergency
For myself I am an optimist — it does not seem to be much use being anything else.
-Winston Churchill
Even before I met him, I could tell that his cancer was extensive. His problems had started several months before with a cough, a voice change, and some trouble swallowing. His primary doctor had not spotted anything but had kept an eye on him. Antibiotics and cough medicine had not helped. After …
Coping with frightening circumstances after a cancer diagnosis
Whether you’re newly diagnosed with DCIS or a more advanced form of breast cancer, you’ll notice it has a big time impact. One of the things that surprised me was just how much breast cancer chews up your schedule. I had something like 38 appointments in 20 weeks, and this did not include radiation, which was not in my treatment plan.
In case you’re wondering what all those appointments were for, I had two …
How much breast cancer chews up your schedule
Lung cancer screening has been an area of considerable controversy. Before today, there had been no evidence that screening patients for lung cancer, either with a CT scan or chest x-ray, saved lives.
For years, doctors have been waiting for the results of the large, randomized National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), conducted by the National Cancer Institute.
This morning, it was announced that the trial was stopped early, with a …
Screening for lung cancer with a CT scan: What the NLST results mean
Though I’ve spoken about breast cancer for Susan G. Komen for the Cure (emphasizing the importance of early screening and detection), until recently I had never had a mammogram. In my training I’d been taught that mammograms weren’t that accurate or useful in women under 40 (our health system’s protocols reflect that), so I got regularly checked by my physician whenever I had a physical and otherwise was waiting until …
What would you do if you had a year left to live?
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What does your breast type say about your cancer risk? Quite a bit, actually.
Whether you have large, small or lumpy breasts, self-awareness is very important. Getting to know how your breasts look and feel can help you recognize possible red flags.
Large vs. small breasts
When it comes to cancer risk, size really doesn’t matter. But, size can affect your mammogram and clinical breast exam.
For example, women with large breasts may need …
Breast cancer and understanding your breast type
NPR has a great blog on their website called Shots about current events in health care. Recently, Scott Hensley, the main blogger there, posted a recent article on treatment of prostate cancer from the Archives of Internal Medicine.
If you look at the article, you may notice a very small subheading above the article’s title. It reads “Less is More.”
Very telling.
The thrust of the article and the …
Watchful waiting is underutilized for most men with prostate cancer
The following list is from a cancer survivor, Judy Engibous, posted on Hester Hill Schnipper’s blog Living with Breast Cancer.
We first published it back in March of 2009 but are “reloading” it in recognition of Showtimes’ The Big C starring Laura Linney. We were wondering if the story could be considered an example of “Participatory Medicine” with Linney’s character being an “e-patient.”
10. Being able to shamelessly make fun …
10 good things that can happen from cancer
To screen or not to screen? That is not the question.
The question is not whether to screen, it is why, what, where, when, how, and how much, how often, and at what cost for what benefit.
Patients and physicians must and do screen. The issue is cautious appropriateness. Self-screening by patients is easy, free, and fundamentally harmless. Look at your skin for potential melanomas, be alert to warning symptoms of a …
Patients and physicians should screen for cancer, but cautiously
Why is Catherine Zeta-Jones so mad?
It’s a facetious question. Her husband, Michael Douglas, was recently diagnosed with throat cancer he described at “stage 4.”
She was quoted by People magazine as saying, “It makes me furious they didn’t detect it earlier.” They have young children, and anyone who hasn’t personally been faced with this threat can only imagine her fear and anxiety. I suspect no number of large houses, expensive cars, …
Catherine Zeta-Jones blames doctors for Michael Douglas’ throat cancer
The National Press Foundation is sponsoring a four-day, all expenses paid trip to Washington for 15 reporters to learn how to improve their coverage of cancer issues. Pfizer is funding the seminar.
Former University of Minnesota journalism professor Gary Schwitzer writes:
Even if National Press Foundation staff choose the speakers and set the agenda, even if the Pfizer “guy never even showed up” last year, even if one reporter doesn’t recall Pfizer …
Pfizer spending money to train journalists in how to cover cancer
by Krupali Tejura, MD
A fellow physician called me with a consult this afternoon.
He described the case as a 60 year old who had stridor (difficulty breathing) for the past week and was admitted to the hospital recently. A CT scan showed lymph nodes in his neck which was compressing the trachea, and other scans didn’t show much better. A biopsy was done but the final results were …
Cake with a terminal cancer patient
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