A Landmark Study on Palliation of Bone Mets PainWhen a primary cancer such as cancer of the breast, prostate or lung spreads to the bone (bone mets), treatment strategies become complex. In today’s world of oncology, better systemic chemotherapies can add months and even years to a patient’s life; in addition, local cancer control of […] KEEP READING
What You Should Know About CartilageOne of the most fascinating components of the human body is cartilage, an incredibly versatile material. Trying to describe cartilage is like the six blind men who try to figure out what an elephant is: “The elephant is like a pillar,” said the man who touched his leg. “Oh no! […] KEEP READING
How Stress Makes Essential Tremor WorseEssential tremor (ET) is the most common form of uncontrollable rhythmic shaking, though it is sometimes misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s disease. The involuntary trembling results from abnormal communication between certain areas of the brain (cerebellum, thalamus, and brain stem). It is estimated that 10 million Americans suffer from ET, though many […] KEEP READING
Almost two million people in the U.S. suffer a mild traumatic brain injury annually. In some cases, these are isolated accidental injuries. However, athletes in high risk contact sports like football and hockey may have repeat concussions over months or years. While the word “mild” suggests minor injury… CONTINUE
Florida researchers report that over 40% of the retired NFL football players they studied had signs of brain damage. This sad and shocking statistic was the result of using diffusion-tensor MRI sequences, a specific “tuning” of magnetic resonance imaging that enhances… CONTINUE
Overdetection of Insignificant Prostate Cancer One of the problems with the conventional 12-core TRUS biopsy (transrectal guided ultrasound) has to do with the array of needle placement. It tends to miss cancers in two instances: a) cancers located in the anterior (front) zone of the prostate are easily missed, and b) tumors that have developed […] CONTINUE
“Stop Overtreating Prostate Cancer!” If the name of Dr. Otis Brawley is not as familiar as Dr. Salk or Dr. Spock, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s not exactly a household word. However, Dr. Brawley holds an important position as the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. As a practicing oncologist (specialist in treating […] CONTINUE
It’s exciting to be involved in medicine at this time in history when the pace of breakthroughs has accelerated. To put it in perspective, surgery has been around since ancient times, but it took thousands of years to overcome the problems of pain, bleeding and infection. It was only in the 19th… CONTINUE
It is always gratifying for a doctor when something he or she wholeheartedly believes in gets affirmed by published research. For me, this is the case with a new Italian study, “The Roles of Multiparametric MRI, PCA3, and PHI: Which Is The Best Predictor of Prostate Cancer After a Negative Biopsy?”1 The authors recognize the […] CONTINUE
The world of prostate cancer detection and diagnosis has been revolutionized by special imaging called Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging (mpMRI). Unlike conventional MRI, mpMRI uses two or more different imaging sequences or parameters to gain detailed information about normal and abnormal conditions in and around the prostate gland. The more powerful the magnet, the clearer […] CONTINUE
I recently posted a summary of an Italian study showing that mulitparametric MRI (mpMRI) was superior to other prostate cancer tests in terms of predicting the need for a repeat biopsy after a previously negative result. mpMRI is able to show if there is a need for another biopsy. This is happy news for patients, […] CONTINUE
