reading & research

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Will Artificial Intelligence Put Radiologists Out of Business?

AI applications are entering clinics at a rapid rate, and physicians have met the technology with equal parts excitement about its potential to reduce their workload and fear about losing their jobs to machines.[i]   Who’s afraid of the big bad computer? Apparently, some radiologists—and even medical students contemplating entering that field—are fearful of being […] CONTINUE

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Deep Learning in Image-Based Prostate Cancer Diagnosis

Gone are the days of “exploratory surgery.” Today’s magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a widely used scanning method that provides accurate 3D pictures of physical anatomy and bodily processes. It is noninvasive, and there is no exposure to radiation as with CT/PET scans. MRI detects changes in atoms under high frequency radio waves within a […] CONTINUE

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: A New Series Introduction

There’s no way around the fact that humans will be technically outsmarted by machines in the near future, so the best thing we can bring to health care is those traits (like empathy and concern) that are uniquely human. – Idea embraced by Eric Topol, M.D. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly advancing information technology, […] CONTINUE

Time to Start Thinking About Your Back—and Taking Care of It

Becoming aware of your back and how you can prevent arthritis in the spine’s facet joints is an investment in years of back health. CONTINUE

3 Simple Practices Your Spine Will Appreciate

Could you afford to be out of work for several weeks? Back pain is not only a leading cause for calling in sick, it prolongs absence for weeks at a time. According to one study, “…the proportion of people with back pain returning to work was 68.2% at 1 month, 85.6% at 1-6 months and […] CONTINUE

How Can Pain Come from Joints in Your Spine?

When you think of joints in your body, the “usual suspects” come immediately to mind: knees, ankles, wrists, knuckles in fingers and toes, shoulders and elbows. Even before you can remember, back when you were learning to talk, your parents may have played a little game with you. Where’s your nose? Where’s your ear? Where’s […] CONTINUE

Is Your Back Pain All in Your Head?

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is not picky. Like an equal opportunity employer, it chooses all ethnicities and excludes no genders. “The prevalence of CLBP in adults has increased more than 100% in the last decade and continues to increase dramatically in the aging population … with a significant impact on functional capacity and occupational […] CONTINUE

Second Time Around: Glucosamine and Facet Joint Pain

If something is worth writing about, it’s worth writing about twice. This is the second time I have occasion to bring up glucosamine in connection with facet joint pain. The first time was an article called “Can Glucosamine Prevent Facet Joint Pain?” in which I indicated that evidence of cartilage benefit in the spine is […] CONTINUE

How Much Are You Willing to Pay for Facet Joint Pain?

Lower back pain is one of the most common sources of discomfort, often severe enough to hamper normal daily activities. Family life, job performance, and social activities start to slip. It may be short-lived, e.g. due to injury, and manageable with over-the-counter pain relievers and home treatment so it soon eases off. However, other conditions […] CONTINUE

Does Focused Ultrasound for Bone Mets Spark Wider Antitumor Activity?

If cancer spreads from the primary tumor (e.g. breast cancer, prostate cancer, etc.) to the bone, it can do a lot of damage. Metastasis to the bone—or bone mets—can weaken the bone, making it vulnerable to a fracture that’s difficult to repair. Even more frightening, bone mets cause fierce pain for 50-75% of patients. For […] CONTINUE