From the category archives:
January 1, 2010 Journal Watch summarizes a remarkable article entitled “Investigation of incidental findings on cardiac CT.” The article was based on a study conducted at a Canadian institution where the investigators evaluated the incidence, clinical importance, and costs of these incidental findings. It’s first important to note that these researchers used the word incidental [...]
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For a comprehensive review of literature dispelling the myth that there is a big difference between high risk and low risk patients and screening for cervical cancer please read NUNS, VIRGINS, AND SPINSTERS’. RIGONI-STERN AND CERVICAL CANCER REVISITED, MALCOLM GRIFFITHS. Put simply, over a long period of time a concept often explained and often repeated, [...]
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According to the American Cancer Society’s most recent estimate for 2009, 11,270 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed and 4,070 women will die from the disease. Prior to 1955 cervical cancer was one of the most common causes of cancer death for American women. As a result of the development of the [...]
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November 16, 2009 the Washington Post reports new screening guideline issued by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force now recommending against women receiving routine screening with mammograms for breast cancer prior to age 50. Petitti, Chairman of the Task Force, asserts that the new recommendation will result in “just” 0.7 deaths for every thousand women [...]
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Gardasil is a HPV vaccine produced by Merck. HPV, Human Papilloma Virus, has clearly been demonstrated to increase the risk of a woman developing cervical cancer so it would seem to be a good idea to provide young woman, even as teenagers, with a vaccine that would guard against the virus and prevent the development [...]
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In a previous post I briefly discussed how communication failures in the transmission of test results are common. Many people think that widespread use of electronic medical records systems throughout all of our health systems will improve medical care. You cannot improve a physician’s standard of practice simply by altering the means by which records [...]
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The Archives of Internal Medicine, June 22, 2009, published results of a retrospective medical record review involving nineteen community based and four academic medical center primary care practices. The researchers were intent upon examining how frequently patients were not informed of clinically significant abnormal outpatient test results. The researcher’s conclusion was that it is common [...]
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The April 2, 2009 Issue of the New England Journal of Medicine includes a report of a study recently concluded concerning the value of HPV screening for cervical cancer in rural India. HPV stands for Human Papilloma Virus. The current standard of practice in the United States requires that all women be tested for the [...]
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According to Alan Mozes’ report, Monday October 10 in Health Day Reporter, a new study suggests more than 12 percent of cancer patients in the U.S. are undiagnosed initially. Apparently this leads to treatment delays and lost opportunities for better outcomes. The study was conducted by a team of researchers from Canada, China and the [...]
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In a recent publication of a British Medical Journal (October 13, 2008), the findings of a joint European study are reported. The purpose of the study was to establish whether frequent HPV and Pap smears are really necessary. On the basis of their study they concluded that screening at six-year intervals would be safe and [...]
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