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
Medical school is not for the faint of heart, and just as in other professions, passing an exam to qualify for licensure is a dreaded ritual. The Royal College of Radiologists is not a “college” the way we normally think of such an institution. It is a society chartered to promote the science and clinical […] CONTINUE
Go online and do a search for “how to measure a wound.” You will find general principles, but you’ll also discover small variations in instructions on how to measure an open wound. How long is it? How wide? Are there irregular spaces below the skin surface or the floor of the wound where infection could […] CONTINUE
No one is born knowing the names of all the objects around them. We learn them as parents, older siblings and others show us the object and say its name, or point to things in picture books and repeat the word that matches it. We learn words like cup, ball, shoe, bunny, blanket for items […] CONTINUE
Dementia is not fun. The symptoms and conditions that signal mental deterioration are a slow and inexorable crumbling process that eventually incapacitates a person. This process places burdens on the individual patient, his or her loved ones, and even society as people are living longer. According to the Alzheimer’s Foundation, “Dementia is a general term […] CONTINUE
Imagine this scenario. Your doctor orders a pelvic CT scan to check if the pain you’re experiencing is due to a kidney stone or other blockage. After the scan, he says, “I’m happy to tell you there’s no evidence of stones and your kidney looks fine. Oh, and incidentally, you have prostate cancer.” Of course, […] CONTINUE
What do the Great Sea Scrolls have in common with diagnosing disease? This blog takes a detour from Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine to a different realm before circling back to clinical use: how many individual scribes contributed to the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Dead Sea Scrolls In 1946, a treasure trove of ancient Jewish […] CONTINUE
In 1854, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.” The metaphor of marching to the beat of a different drum is an apt one for the Sperling Prostate Center and Sperling Medical Group, especially when it comes to incorporating […] CONTINUE
Sharing who we are, what we think, how we feel, etc. is human nature. We want to be connected with others. We are curious to learn from them, from simple information to what it means to be human. Today, social media platforms like Facebook have exploded the number of people with whom an individual can […] CONTINUE
By analyzing thousands of known proteins and their physical shapes, a neural network can learn to predict the shapes of others.[i] Imagine you are a biologist who has spent your career devoted to a puzzle that could change the future of medicine—yet reaching your deathbed without the answer? Perhaps, as you breathe your last, you […] CONTINUE
Cancer that metastasizes (spreads) to the bone can eventually lead to severe bone pain. Initially, the pain may come and go. Often, it’s worse a night. Early on, there are medications that can relieve the pain, but as it becomes more agonizing many patients end up on morphine. In addition, bone mets can weaken bones […] CONTINUE
