Lots of mammography labs promote the latest technology to detect suspicious images on breast scans, but according to a recent study, the computer-assisted diagnosis is no better at screening for breast cancer. But it is more expensive. As reported recently by the Associated Press (AP), the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine followed nearly 324,000….
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Q&A on the Female Libido Drug
Last week, the FDA approved the first prescription drug aimed at boosting women’s libido. The process of approval was controversial, as we wrote recently in our blog, “An ‘Astroturf’ Grassroots Campaign for a Female Viagra.” The reference to the fake grass came from a commentator writing on HealthNewsReview.org, (HNR) whose point, with which we agree,….
Continue ReadingMore Evidence that Breast Cancer Overtreatment Does Not Extend Life
An impressive study published last week strongly suggests that when it comes to a certain kind of breast cancer, early, aggressive intervention has no effect on a patient’s survival 10 years later. The research in JAMA Oncology reviewed the records of more than 100,000 women. After being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), the….
Continue ReadingFDA to Revisit Safety of Essure
Essure is the only nonsurgical permanent birth control option approved by the FDA. And thousands of women are wondering why it’s still on the market. Many women who have undergone the procedure to implant Essure have had it removed after experiencing a range of side effects, including chronic fatigue, migraines, joint pain, digestive issues, back….
Continue ReadingERs Often Misdiagnose Urinary Tract Infections
Anyone who’s ever had an urinary tract infection (UTI) understands the misery it causes and the urgency of its victims to resolve it. Even worse is when you’re diagnosed with a UTI and you actually have something else. It’s more than a little unnerving that urinary tract and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in women are….
Continue ReadingRecommendation for Female Libido Drug Gets Mixed Reviews
An FDA panel’s recommendation earlier this month for what’s known as the “female Viagra” is being hailed in some quarters, and criticized in others. The first group believes the drug addresses a long-overdue acknowledgment that women’s sexual health has been treated as secondary to men’s. The second group believes the drug’s benefits do not outweigh….
Continue ReadingNew Cancer Screening Guidelines
So many screening tests, so little time to make sense of them all, never mind the ability to pay for them, or figure out if your insurance does. The American College of Physicians has decided “enough” of this lunacy of over testing , and has issued new clinical guidelines for five common types of cancer…..
Continue ReadingU.S. Mammogram Recommendations Reinforced by Global Studies
A couple of months ago, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) stirred the cancer screening pot with its opinion that mammograms are of limited use as cancer screenings for younger women and that, mostly, only women 50 and older should get them regularly. This month, its recommendation (in draft form) received support from the….
Continue ReadingFBI Investigates Power Morcellator Manufacturer
Last year, after a surgical device was determined to raise the risk of spreading aggressive forms of uterine cancer, one manufacturer recalled all of its power morcellators used to remove uterine fibroids. Now, it’s reported that the FBI has been investigating the company, Johnson & Johnson and its Ethicon subsidiary, over the timing of when….
Continue ReadingAn “Astroturf” Grassroots Campaign for a Female Viagra?
That’s what one drug industry skeptic is calling the successful effort last week to persuade an FDA advisory committee to reverse itself and recommend the agency approve a drug for “female hypoactive sexual desire disorder” called flibanserin. The objective evidence is that the drug, which has to be taken daily, is only a smidgeon more….
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