writer, health care advocate, physician
As a society, we can’t treat our way out of breast cancer.
It would be far too expensive. Although surgery, radiation, and
medical therapies for breast cancer have improved, the physical toxicity—and expense—of treating advanced-stage cancers would be too great.
No question about cancer is more contentious than its causes.
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.
These results have the potential to reduce overtreatment of breast cancer—stopping patients’ unnecessary exposure to chemotherapy—in a large fraction of cases.
For patients with metastatic breast cancer, doctors don’t yet know how to predict long-term responses to this PARP drug.
What’s at issue is the right of all cancer patients—regardless of wealth—to obtain high-quality information about their conditions.
Social media does have its advantages for patients. But once you post about your medical condition, you can’t take it back.
Few doctors, even oncologists who subspecialize, can keep up with developments in the field.
The paradigm for using chemo first to treat advanced breast cancer may change, as we gain experience with these new drugs.
Before choosing any treatment after genetic testing, hit the pause button. Ask questions. Get a second opinion.
Perhaps the literature fails to capture the clinical value of oncology drugs. This could happen for several reasons.
A new type of cancer medication, called PARP inhibitors, is gaining traction in clinical practice.
Who should decide when evidence for a drug sufficient to support a patient’s decision to give it a try?
“Medicine is rapidly falling behind business in the accrual of high-quality evidence,” Califf said.
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.
“This tool brings us closer to the country doctor model,” Basch said. “I never thought that survival would be impacted.”
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.
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..
None of 42 experienced radiologists recalled having seen a single case of breast cancer vanish or regress without treatment.
My enthusiasm for this new drug, Stivarga, is tempered by the low response rate and toxicity.
What’s most compelling about the new movie is that it illuminates the patient, Henrietta Lacks, and renders her unforgettable.
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.
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.
Is there such a thing as statistical gas-lighting?
Can you perform a sentinel lymph node biopsy, and avoid removing all of the glands from my armpit?
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.
Are unbridled profits necessary to drive medical innovation and progress?
The new agent, a monoclonal antibody to CD22 with a toxin attached, is manufactured by Pfizer. It’s called inotuzumab ozogamicin.
Prior to the program’s start, maternal mortality for women with sickle cell disease exceeded 9% at the teaching hospital. With team-based care, the death rate fell to 1%.
We need and can afford both: to raise the bar so that everyone has access to modern healthcare, and to advance treatments through medical science.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the basketball legend, announced on November 7, 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV.
The overdiagnosis campaign reflects a lack of respect for women’s capacity to act rationally upon receiving an abnormal test result.
Ribociclib is one of several CDK inhibitors being tried in breast cancer and other malignancies.
Their on-air chat cannot be summarized by “It’s all good. Just do it!” Rather, it’s about the value of men speaking and asking questions of their doctors.
