The PSA screening test for prostate cancer causes far more men to undergo unnecessary and harmful treatment than it saves lives, according to two large new studies. As reported by Gina Kolata in the New York Times, one study that followed 77,000 American men for a decade found zero benefit in lowered death rates, while….
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Questions Patients Must Ask Before an MRI or CT Scan
It’s always intimidating to undergo an MRI scan or CT scan. The machines are loud and enormous and seem to swallow your body. For all the trouble and expense, patients deserve the very latest scanning equipment and should have their images read by only the most highly qualified doctors. Alas, there is a quiet scandal….
Continue ReadingAnnual Inspection May Reduce Deaths from Oral Cancer
One of the less common forms of cancer, oral cancer was diagnosed in about 35,300 Americans last year and caused the death of 7,600 people. Although oral cancer is one of the easiest to detect and diagnose, the five-year survival rate is only 59%, and more than 60% of cases are diagnosed in the late,….
Continue ReadingError Rates Mean Patients Should Carefully Select Colonoscopists
Colonoscopy is widely known as a powerful screening/early detection test for colorectal cancer, capable of preventing, or so it was thought, up to 90% of cancers. However, recent studies show that colonoscopy misses many cancers, according to the New York Times in an article by Gina Kolata. A newly published Canadian study documents the low….
Continue ReadingAbnormalities in Scans Can Be Misleading
A torn meniscus that shows up on the MRI scan may not be the reason why your knee is hurting. For Cheryl Westein, who demanded an MRI and saw a torn cartilage on the scan, the culprit behind her painful knee was actually arthritis. Gina Kolata in a New York Times article reports recent scientific….
Continue ReadingImage Quality of Scans: A Mystery?
Patients who go in for MRIs are often told nothing is wrong, when in fact the scan is of poor quality and so misses the problem, as Gina Kolata’s story demonstrates. Doctors all agree that it is a good idea to get MRIs and other scans done at centers accredited by the American College of….
Continue ReadingOnline Anonymous Notification of Sex Partners For STDs
An online service called inSPOT allows patients who test positive for STDs to use a website to notify sexual partners, anonymously if they so choose, of the possibility that the partners were infected. A report done by the San Francisco Department of Public Health finds that since 2004, 30,000 people have used the service to….
Continue ReadingNew Ovarian Cancer Test Raises Doubts Among OB-GYNs
A new LabCorp blood test called OvaSure is aimed at early detection of ovarian cancer, but OB-GYNs doubt its efficacy and safety, as false positives might lead to unnecessary surgery and extreme anxiety. Ovarian cancer often goes undetected until later stages, by which point it can be too late to treat it effectively. A test….
Continue ReadingDr. John Hickner on Test Results and Avoiding Injury from Miscommunication
The NY Times Well blog has a podcast of Dr. John Hickner, professor of family medicine at the University of Chicago, discussing why patients should always call their doctors to follow up after having a medical test done. We have previously discussed the issue of medical test results getting lost in transmission: the patient will….
Continue ReadingCommon Testing Mistakes at the Family Doctor’s Office
A new study from the journal Quality and Safety in Health Care, and discussed in the NY Times Well blog, reveals common testing mistakes by primary-care doctors. Of course, the same kinds of errors can happen in hospitals and other health care settings. Out of close to the 1,000 mistakes experienced by 590 patients, the….
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