Sperling Medical Group

reading & research

Facet Pain

Landmark clinical study shows MRgFUS effective for bone mets pain.

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

Understanding cartilage increases awareness of its importance.

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

Essential tremor gets worse in stressful situations.

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

Can Headaches Come from Lower Back Pain?

It’s a simple fact: pain hurts. Sometimes, the source of pain is very clear. If you accidentally touch a hot pan, it instantly causes a burning sensation. Ow! But you can deal with it because you know a) what caused it, and b) it will soon lessen. But pain isn’t always that straightforward or simple. […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Facet Pain

Prostate Cancer in the Bone? Or Primary Bone Cancer?

The human skeleton is remarkable architecture. It is a framework of bone and cartilage that supports and gives shape to the body. It may be hard to imagine that bones can develop tumors, which are cells multiplying out of control, but it can happen. If it does, most of the time the tumors are benign […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Bone mets

3 Common Lower Back Pain Mistakes

Lower back pain is one of the most prevalent health conditions worldwide. In industrialized countries, it is estimated that 60-70% of individuals will experience low back pain severe enough to affect their work and quality of life. What causes aches and pains in the lower back? According to the World Health Organization, “Though several risk […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Facet Pain

Bone Marrow: A Magnet for Spreading Cancer Cells

Marrow is a “metastatic niche” Prostate cancer (PCa) and breast cancer (BCa) have some key features in common: When found early and properly treated, survival rates for each are very high Prostate and breast tumors tend to be hormone dependent (androgens for prostate, estrogen for breast) If treatment of the local tumor fails, both cancers […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Bone mets

Radium-223: A Molecular Smart Bomb for Prostate Cancer Bone Mets

Prostate cancer bone metastasis Roughly 11-12% of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer (PCa) in their lifetime. Upwards of 20% of treated patients will eventually experience recurrence. One out of 41 PCa patients will die from the disease, since PCa has the ability to metastasize (spread) to distant organs and skeletal sites. In fact, […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Bone mets

How Much is Your Lower Back Worth?

From a business standpoint, lower back pain costs a lot! It is the second most common cause of adult disability in the U.S., and estimates suggest that 149 million days of work per year are lost due to lower back pain.1 Some back-related absenteeism from work stems from on-the-job injuries. This leads to workers comp […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Facet Pain

Don’t Miss This Video on MRgFUS for Facet Joint Pain!

If you enjoy movies, you probably have a favorite category. You may prefer drama, suspense, action, romance, comedy, or sci-fi. Some people really go for documentaries. However, for pure entertainment, there’s nothing like a 12-minute educational presentation! (Okay, I’m partly joking.) Seriously, though, some lecturers are better at capturing audience attention than others, even when […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Facet Pain

MRI Confirms Focused Ultrasound Treatment for Facet Joint Pain

Lower back pain can become a chronic (ongoing) problem, affecting all aspects of a person’s day. In fact, it’s one of the leading causes of missing work. It is estimated that 5-15% of cases are due to worn out cartilage of the small spinal joints called facet joints. When cartilage becomes thin, or altogether worn […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Facet Pain

Breakthrough Gene Discovery May Predict BCa Bone Metastasis

As if a diagnosis of breast cancer (BCa) wasn’t hard enough, learning that the disease had spread to the bone (BCa bone mets) is especially scary. About 15-20% of BCa patients will have bone mets, which have to occur in order to be identified. By that time, there are many effective approaches for lesion control […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Bone mets

The ABCD’s that Support Bone Health

Bone basics Most of us don’t think very often about our bones until something goes wrong. Instead, we pay attention to daily maintenance of outer aspects that are changeable. For example, we care about how nice our hair looks, we want our skin to glow with health, and we worry if our overall appearance is […] CONTINUE

CATEGORY:
Bone mets