Saturday October 12th my father was finally scheduled for his long awaited PET scan. My parents and I arrived at the hospital at 7am. Within less than five minutes someone cam back to explain the scan to my father and escort him back to the scanner. As soon as my father was out of sight, I turned and asked my mother how she was doing. She just looked at my and begin to weep. I leaned...
Since the mid 1990’s, delays in patients beginning treatment for cancer care have been increasing. As the population of the U.S. continues, more people will continue to be diagnosed with cancer, and as new therapies continue to extend survival rates, the demand for health services focusing on cancer will continue to increase and stress the healthcare system. In the below chart you can see how the time it takes from a patient having a biopsy, being...
So the morning came and by about 10am I was done waiting to hear from my mother and I called her for an update. She had informed me that as of that moment, no one had called her or my father back. I encouraged her to call both the primary care physicians office as well as the GI surgeon. She had to leave messages. About an hour later, the nurse for the GI surgeon gave my...
A new article was published in the current issue of JAMA Pediatrics. (Abstract here) It was a retrospective look at children under the age of 15 who were administered a CT Scan from 1996 to 2010including just over 4.8M child years of observation. The researchers used The Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation II Report for most major cancers that was published by the National Cancer Institute. (Find it here: NCI) The researchers were able to conduct...
This was a recent commentary I made in the Evening Standard...
I have been making observations that patients are simply waiting too long before they have the information that they need in order to make an informed decision. I have been receiving quite a few emails and phone calls talking to lots of patients and family members out there about their diagnosis and experiences. I thoroughly enjoy being able to touch base and to hear all of your own personal stories and triumphs. At the same time, it...
I just wanted to let everyone that I have not forgotten about the site, I am in the middle of the vital stages of construction for a new cancer facility. I am still answering emails and will be creating some new posts soon. I also was just awarded membership to the Healthcare Bloggers Code of Ethics. Member Perspective Confidentiality Disclosure Reliability Courtesy http://medbloggercode.com/ As always, if you or a loved one have any other questions, comments, or concerns; if you would like more information in...
Yesterday was the last day of the month of October and I thought it would be nice to end the month with the topic of Breast MRI for Breast Cancer. One has to remember, that with all of these tools, Ultrasound, Mammography, PET, MRI, Genetic Testing, and Hormone Testing that none of them on their own are the best diagnostic test, but in the correct combination based on each patients particular diagnosis, they can be essential...
Well this week is the official American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology meeting in Los Angeles, CA. It is always a wonderful meeting with a lot of good information for other oncologists (cancer doctors) and other cancer care professionals. This is typically where a lot of studies will be reported on, results from clinical trials, new methods, new techniques, and where new and exciting treatments are unveiled and shared with everyone in attendance....
In an early release of the Journal of Clinical Oncology on-line dated Oct. 22, 2007 is a report on a study conducted at the University of Minnesota on the increase of patients choosing to have a mastectomy performed on the opposite unaffected breast in order to prevent cancer in the future. For women diagnosed with Breast Cancer, it has always been an option to have the entire breast surgically removed. As more and more...