journalist

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The war on cancer

Doctors today generally caution against framing malignancy as an enemy that one must personally defeat...

A Call For More Research On Cancer’s Environmental Triggers

No question about cancer is more contentious than its causes...

Commentary: How Patients Have Transformed A Medical Meeting About Breast Cancer

By speaking up, advocates at the meeting have shifted the direction of breast cancer research. Some are alive, improbably, as a consequence of new treatments enabled and promoted by their advocacy. ...

Many Breast Cancer Patients Can Safely Skip Chemo, Large Trial Confirms

These results have the potential to reduce overtreatment of breast cancer—stopping patients’ unnecessary exposure to chemotherapy—in a large fraction of cases...

PARP Drugs Help Some Breast Cancer Patients, But They’re No Magic Bullet

For patients with metastatic breast cancer, doctors don’t yet know how to predict long-term responses to this PARP drug...

Why All Cancer Patients Should Have Access To Genomic Testing

What’s at issue is the right of all cancer patients—regardless of wealth—to obtain high-quality information about their conditions...

For Patients, Social Media Provides Perks and Perils

Social media does have its advantages for patients. But once you post about your medical condition, you can’t take it back...

7 Key Cancer Trends For 2018

Few doctors, even oncologists who subspecialize, can keep up with developments in the field...

A New PARP Drug For Breast Cancer? I’m Thrilled!

The paradigm for using chemo first to treat advanced breast cancer may change, as we gain experience with these new drugs...

3 Lessons From An Alarming Case Of Mistaken Cancer Gene Test Results And Surgery

Before choosing any treatment after genetic testing, hit the pause button. Ask questions. Get a second opinion...

Actually, Many New Cancer Drugs May Be Helpful And Worth Trying

Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons...

Julia Louis-Dreyfus Raises Discussion-Worthy Points In Her Breast Cancer Update

Her disclosure reflects on the positive impact of awareness, the unfortunate frequency of breast cancer, and benefits of having medical insurance...

A Pill Might Control Pancreatic Cancer, Even If It Doesn’t Cure It

A new type of cancer medication, called PARP inhibitors, is gaining traction in clinical practice...

John McCain is a fighter, no question. But can attitude affect cancer?

Language can be a powerful tool in medicine. As with physical remedies, there are potential harms and risks to consider, but potential upsides, too...

When A Brilliant Mathematician Dies From Breast Cancer At Age 40

I hope for the future that other brilliant minds will have found and implemented ways to prevent most breast cancers, established accurate methods to detect it early, and developed better treatments, aimed at cures...

Is There A Better Place To Decide What’s Right For Patients?

Who should decide when evidence for a drug sufficient to support a patient’s decision to give it a try?...

Dr. Robert Califf Shares Ideas About Real-World Evidence And Health Data

“Medicine is rapidly falling behind business in the accrual of high-quality evidence,” Califf said...

At The World’s Largest Cancer Meeting, Doctors Discuss Safety Of Pregnancy After Breast Cancer

Now, there’s ample data to assuage most concerns. Among 1207 women with breast cancer before age 50, those who later delivered babies experienced no more likelihood of recurrence than did those who didn’t bear more children...

The Paradoxical Benefits Of A Web App For Cancer Patients

“This tool brings us closer to the country doctor model,” Basch said. “I never thought that survival would be impacted.”...

Precision Oncology Drug Shows Power Of Cancer Genomics

  The key to the positive results is molecular matching. Patients received larotrectinib, a TRK inhibitor, only if their cancers were marked by a switch…It’s a perfect example of how precision medicine can benefit patients with rare conditions...

In Bold Move, FDA Approves Cancer Drug For Any Advanced Tumor With Genetic Changes

The FDA’s accelerated approval of this drug might surprise traditional oncologists. It suggests the agency may be ditching an archaic system for classifying cancers based on body parts—like breast or liver or colon cancer—and instead will focus...

More Women Are Living Longer With Metastatic Breast Cancer, But Questions Remain

Metastatic breast cancer patients represent a significant group within the U.S. population who live with a chronic or terminal condition and stand to benefit from new treatments...

Debunking The Vanishing Breast Cancer Myth

None of 42 experienced radiologists recalled having seen a single case of breast cancer vanish or regress without treatment...

Bayer’s Stivarga Shows Slim Progress Against Liver Cancer

My enthusiasm for this new drug, Stivarga, is tempered by the low response rate and toxicity...

Why The Movie About Henrietta Lacks Matters Today

What’s most compelling about the new movie is that it illuminates the patient, Henrietta Lacks, and renders her unforgettable...

Which Patients Will Be Helped By Immune Cancer Drugs? This Test May Tell

It’s possible that tumor mutation burden (TMB) predicts if cancer―of any type―will respond to treatment with immune drugs, but this remains to be tested...

A PARP Inhibitor Keeps Some Cancers In Check For Years

Lynparza—a PARP inhibitor taken as an oral tablet, daily— keeps qualified cases of advanced ovarian cancer in check for two years, as compared to placebo...

The Personal Toll Of Practicing Medicine

In this article, I reflect on the circumstances that led me to stop practicing medicine—work that I loved—and why the health of experienced doctors should be valued, and protected. Here’s the full article and podcast...

At Penn State, THON—The World’s Largest Student-Run Charity—Helps Kids with Cancer

Dancing for cancer may seem a crazy idea, paradoxical, and wildly inefficient as a fundraising scheme. But it’s become the thing to do, a good karma-generating phenomenon, and year-round source of pride for the Penn State community...

The Latest Study On Breast Cancer Overdiagnosis Fails To Persuade

Is there such a thing as statistical gas-lighting?...

Why I’m Wary Of Grail And Its Plan To Develop A Cancer Detection Blood Test

My worry for Grail is that a lot of people will get worked up upon finding genetic changes of unknown significance. Meanwhile, it might fail to detect cancer in people who really have it...

Before Breast Cancer Surgery, A Question Every Patient Should Ask Her Surgeon

Can you perform a sentinel lymph node biopsy, and avoid removing all of the glands from my armpit?...

On The New Year, Broken Hearts Give Impetus For Exercise

The question for the new year is not if there’s reason to exercise, or to modify your habits, but if you want to do so...

We Need To Tame The Price Of New Cancer Drugs

Are unbridled profits necessary to drive medical innovation and progress?...

A New Antibody For Treating Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia?

The new agent, a monoclonal antibody to CD22 with a toxin attached, is manufactured by Pfizer. It’s called inotuzumab ozogamicin...
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