In 2002, 53-year-old David Sturges made an appointment with a cardiologist to screen for heart disease, which ran in his family. He underwent electron beam computed tomography (CT) to check calcification in the arteries, an indicator of the disease.
Although significant calcium buildup was not detected, he saw something else in the results.
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The Question Remains in Prostate Cancer
John Salata says he is grateful his prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was tested when it was, even if it was by accident.
When Salata was 48, his primary care doctor mistakenly checked the box for a PSA test when ordering his panel of bloodwork. When Salata’s score came back high, she referred him to a urologist who gave him an antibiotic.
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Newer cancer therapies easily cost upward of $100,000. Why so much? Who sets the prices and what can patients do if they can’t afford them?
On Halloween of 2010, David Mitchell got out of bed and immediately fell to the floor with pain so excruciating he was unable to move. A few days later, the results of his MRI showed malignant-appearing lesions up and down his spine and ribs, and he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
Multiple myeloma is incurable but treatable, ...
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In 2017, Mike Nilsen, PT, DPT, determined that 40% of his patients with neck pain failed to progress or show clinically meaningful improvement.
“I wasn’t very happy with this,” he says, “so I started performing chart reviews. I looked at the patients who didn’t improve to see if I’d made any glaring mistakes. Did I not assess something? Did I not progress something?”
Nilsen, a staff physical therapist (PT) with Intermountain Healthcare in West Valley City, Utah, reviewed APTA’s clinical practice guidelines ...
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Maybe you’re a parent who teaches or a teacher who parents. Maybe you’re both. This last year the lines between work and home have blurred so badly it’s become difficult to find them. What is work-life balance? Is that still a thing?
One thing is certain: there’s plenty of stress to go around.
On the brighter side, summer is coming and many of us are vaccinated. Maybe this means we can finally unwind and let our shoulders down. Maybe we can find ...
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A study out of Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center (SKCC) at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia found that 87% of survivors of breast, pelvic, endometrial, prostate, bladder and rectal cancer said treatment affected their sexual function or desire.
A month after Alegra Woodard received a diagnosis of stage 1 cervical cancer, she underwent a radical hysterectomy, a surgery that removes the uterus, ovaries, fallopian tubes, left and right pelvic nodes, cervix, tissue around the cervix, and the upper part of the vagina. ...
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Black and Latino patients are more likely to receive a diagnosis of and die of cancer than White patients. How can we end this disparity?
Here’s the grim truth of the matter: According to the National Cancer Institute, Black people are more likely to die of most cancers than any other racial group.
Despite improvements in cancer outcomes across the population in recent years, racial disparities remain. Dr. Luis Raez, chief scientific officer and medical director of Memorial Healthcare System’s Memorial Cancer ...
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For many, the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), a disease of the nervous system that disrupts the flow of information in the brain and the body, means they have to limit their activities. While the cases and symptoms are unpredictable and varied, evidence has shown that exercise and movement slows the progression of the disease.
The disease makes movement more difficult but also more important than ever. As a result, treatment often involves physical and occupational therapies that keep patients moving. However, doctors are finding that treatment doesn’t have to be confined to the gym with its weights, elastic bands and three sets of ten. It doesn’t have to be limited to repetitive movement. Treatment can involve going outside and having fun or doing things patients have always wanted to do – like skiing or skydiving.
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A liquid biopsy may soon be available to find early signs of cancer in asymptomatic patients when the disease is still treatable and even curable.
Picture this: At your annual doctor’s appointment when they draw your blood to check your cholesterol, thyroid and liver enzymes, they also run a test for cancer. That little vial of blood, however, doesn’t just screen for a few types of cancer but for all 100-plus of them — including hard-to-find forms like pancreatic and ovarian.
And ...
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More cancer centers are introducing virtual reality headsets, which can help relieve anxiety and pain and educate patients about their treatments.
Given the choice of being on a beach or in an oncology ward, most people would choose the beach. So, if there was a technology that allowed you to take a mini-vacation while you waited for your appointment or received your treatment, you’d want to use it, right?
There is, and you can. Heather Bucalos of upstate New York learned the ...
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