Cancer, Miscellaneous
I Did Not Expect To Live In Diapers
What should men do if the doctor says, "You have prostate cancer"? This is a difficult question to answer because doctors cannot agree on the right treatment. Now, a report in The New England Journal of Medicine challenges the benefits of surgery. Its basic message to doctors is to follow the first principle of medicine, "First, do no harm". The lifetime risk for men of developing prostate cancer is about 16 percent, and the risk of dying from it only 3 percent. This indicates that many prostate cancers are not dangerous and that no treatment is the prudent option. The U.S. study involved 731 males with localized prostate cancer who were given the option of either surgery or watchful waiting. They were...Read More
Cancer, Lifestyle, Medicine, Miscellaneous, Women's Health
Sorry, But What We Told You Is Wrong
Winston Churchill, Britain's wartime Prime Minister, once remarked, "To every question there is a clear, concise, coherent answer that is wrong". In medicine there are also many questions, and all too often the answers from experts are found years later to be wrong, sometimes with devastating consequences. A report in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that 13 percent of research articles published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in 2009 reported reversals in medical findings involving drugs, screening tests and invasive procedures! For example, for years we've been told that increasing good cholesterol is a prudent move. But new research shows it does nothing to protect against heart attack, strokes and early death. Here's another hummer. Doctors have urged...Read More
Cancer
10 Ways to Reduce the Risk of Cancer
Here’s the bad news! Nearly half of today’s North American men and one-third of women will develop cancer, making it the second leading cause of death after heart disease. To some people, fate deals a bad hand when they inherit genes that increase the risk of cancer. But here’s the good news. Drs. John Swartzberg and Jeffery Wolf at the University of California say that lifestyle changes can help people reduce the risk of at least 65 percent of cancers. One – Use Alcohol Moderately Cancers of the esophagus (stomach tube), mouth, throat and larynx are linked to alcohol. The more you drink the greater the risk. For women who know they have a higher risk of breast cancer or have had...Read More
Cancer
Aspirin Decreases the Risk of Several Common Cancers
Is there anything more to be said about the multiple benefits of Aspirin? After all, it's been a star for over 100 years and stars are supposed to eventually burn out. But in spite of its longevity researchers keep findings new ways that Aspirin fights common diseases. It truly is the miracle drug of the last century. Dr. Alfred I Neugut, Professor of Medicine at Columbia University in New York City, reports in the Journal of the American Medical Association that Aspirin decreases the risk of breast cancer. In particular, breast malignancies that are stimulated by the female hormone, estrogen. For this study researchers conducted interviews with 1,442 women with breast cancer and equal number of women without this disease. They discovered...Read More
Cancer, Lifestyle
The Hazards Of The Closed Car
What’s the best way this holiday season to expose your child to nicotine and the cancer-causing compounds in tobacco smoke? A report in the British Medical Association Journal says it’s very easy. Take your children for a car ride, keep the windows closed and smoke cigarettes. Dr. Patrick Breysse, a researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, studied the cars of 17 smokers who commuted to work for 30 minutes or longer. He reports that nicotine concentrations were 50 percent higher than those found in restaurants and bars that permitted smoking. And that for each cigarette smoked in the car there was a doubling of the airborne nicotine concentration. This finding shouldn’t be shocking. After all, the car’s...Read More
Cancer
The Devil You Know? Or The One You Do not Know?
Lately many of the e-mails I’ve received have been from men. Why?” Because a panel of U.S. experts recently reported that healthy men should say “No” to the PSA test that diagnoses prostate cancer. To many this is like damning motherhood and apple pie as thousands of men routinely get this test every year. Several cancer specialists in Canada have openly criticized this report. They argue that the PSA test, although not perfect, does save lives. But the U.S. panel claims it has no significant effect on the number of deaths, and often the end result is serious complications from treatment. So who is right? ...Read More
Cancer, Dermatology
When In Doubt, Cut it Out
“Is it a benign mole or a malignant melanoma?” you wonder. This is an important question as the number of cases of melanoma continues to increase. It’s shocking that the incidence of new cases is now greater than the combined number of breast, lung, prostate and large bowel cancers. So how can you prevent dying from this disease? Rudyard Kipling, the English novelist, gave some sound advice when he wrote, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun”. Too much sun exposure is the cause of many melanomas. Remember that if your shadow is shorter than you, it’s time to get out of the sun. Dr. Allan Halpern, chief of dermatology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York...Read More
Cancer
X-rays to diagnose lung cancer not helping
The facts are depressing. Lung cancer kills more people than prostate, breast and colon cancer combined. Only 15% of those diagnosed with lung cancer are alive in five years. Now, a study by the National Cancer Institute shows that CT scans can decrease the number of these deaths from this deadly disease. But what is the medical and economic cost? Every year, 24,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in Canada and 157,000 people will die from this disease in the U.S. Patients with lung cancer complain of shortness of breath, frequent coughing, weight loss or coughing up blood. But too often, an X-ray reveals an advanced cancer. For years doctors have been searching for a better diagnostic tool. In 2002, The...Read More
Cancer
Man’s Best Friend, Or Colonoscopy
“Isn’t it wiser to suffer a little discomfort for a few moments than face the pain of terminal colon cancer?” I’ve lost count of the times I’ve asked this question of patients. But some still prefer playing Russian Roulette with malignancy than submitting to colonoscopy. So is “Fido” an alternative to this unpleasant procedure? A recent report in the medical journal, Gut, found that a trained Labrador retriever was smarter than doctors in diagnosing large bowel cancer. With a sniff of a stool the trained Fido was able to diagnose this malignancy. Researchers collected stool samples from 48 patients who had colon cancer and 258 healthy volunteers. Stools were placed in plastic containers covered by perforated lids. A Labrador retriever was trained...Read More
Cancer, Heroin, Pain
Dying in Pain Is the Number One Fear
Woody Allen once joked, “I’m not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” A world-wide survey by the Lien Foundation in Singapore recently reported the primary worry of the elderly is dying in pain. It listed England as the best place to die. Canada and the U.S tied for 9th place. As a physician I’ve always known that pain is the overwhelming fear, particularly for cancer patients. I’ve also known that heroin has been available in Britain for 90 years to ease the final agony of death. This knowledge triggered a visit to England to witness its use and to question why it wasn’t used for this purpose in Canada. I didn’t realize my probe...Read More
Cancer, Miscellaneous
I told My Son – Don’t Let Them Do It!
What’s the biggest problem facing airline travellers today? Ask this question and many would say it’s the long wait at airports, removing shoes, extensive screening procedures and that “Damn Pat-Down” by airport personnel. But during the public uproar about airport security some travellers will make a huge mistake. The U.S is replacing many metal detectors with more sophisticated equipment, better described as Personal Exposure Devices. In effect, the technology can detect articles beneath the clothing along with you-know- what, and this infuriates many travellers. There are two types of scanners. The millimeter wave machine is safe, creating an image of the body by using electromagnetic waves. The other, “Backscatter” devices, use low energy X-rays to produce a picture of the...Read More
Cancer, Miscellaneous
xZubi Device Protects You and Your Children From Dirty Electricity
Last week I reported that “dirty electricity”, generated by computers and other electrical devices, has been linked to unexplained aches and pains, depression, sleepiness, ringing in the ears, headaches, and a foggy brain. And that an international group of scientists believes that electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from dirty electricity can cause an increase in brain malignancy. Dirty electricity is produced when transformers convert clean 60 Hertz household current into low voltage power for electronic devices. This creates micro surges of electricity that contain up to 2,500 X the energy of a conventional 60 Hertz system. This electrical pollution causes a negative effect on our health. Dirty electricity is bad for everyone, particularly children. A Swedish study reported that teens who use...Read More
Cancer, Miscellaneous
How Dirty Electricity Affects Your Health
Are you feeling tired, suffer from sleepiness, depression, increased irritability, unexplained aches and pains, headaches, skin rashes, ringing in the ears, numbness, an irregular heart beat, increased blood pressure or a foggy brain? If so, you may be suffering from “Electrosensitivity”. Dr. Magda Havas, a renowned international expert on elctromagnetic radiation (EMR), says “dirty electricity” is a growing worldwide health concern. Today, few of us would want to discard our electronic devices. But before researching this and the next column, I never realized how modern electrical gizmos generated so much dirty electricity. Dr. Havas says clean electricity originally powered our homes and workplace using a safe frequency of 60 Hertz (Hz). Today, transformers convert 60 Hz to low voltage...Read More
Cancer, Genitourinary
Cooking The Prostate Gland
How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? No one knows. Nor has anyone, to this point, found the answer to treating prostate cancer. Now, a treatment called high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is available. So could this procedure be the ultimate way to cure prostate cancer? In North America, every three minutes, a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer and every 15 minutes a man dies from it. The major problem has always been, which men should be treated, and when should doctors follow a wait-and-see policy? Waiting to see what will happen has never been a logical move anytime cancer is diagnosed. The result is normally the spreading of the malignancy and eventually death. But prostate malignancy, unlike...Read More
Cancer, Gastroenterology
Laws of Physics Cause Esophageal Cancer
Do you suffer from a hot fire beneath the breastbone following a heavy meal? One that's often accompanied by belching and regurgitation of bitter fluid? If so, you're most likely suffering from heartburn. This common problem can be the forerunner of serious disease. But there are several ways to decrease the risk of developing one of the deadliest cancers. Heartburn is triggered by several factors. Like other muscles, the lower esophageal sphincter muscle (LES) at the lower end of the food pipe (esophagus), can become weak and inefficient. And if you eat "the whole thing" the laws of physics cause heartburn. Large meals trigger more gas and something has to give. Then the LES opens and gas, along with the stomach's...Read More
Cancer
Seven Things To Know About Prostate Cancer
One: Benjamin Disraeli, Queen Victoria's Prime Minister, once remarked "There are three kinds of lies, lies, damned lies and statistics". Disraeli, if he had been a doctor, could have been referring to the PSA test for prostate cancer. For instance, the New England Journal of Medicine has just reported a European study that showed that this blood test cut the death rate of this disease by 20 percent. But this impressive figure refers to a relative reduction in deaths. There's another way to look at the reduction in the number of deaths. 162,000 men were followed for 10 years. Of those given the PSA test 261 died, compared to 363 deaths of those who received routine care. A difference of 102...Read More
Cancer
Has Anyone Felt Your Testicles Lately?
How many women will have their breasts examined this year? I don't know the exact figure but it will be in the millions. But how many men will have their testicles examined during 2009? Again, I don't know the exact number but it will be miniscule compared to that of the fairer sex. Is this sexual discrimination? If so, we need a class action lawsuit to protect men's rights or, more to the point, our testicles. But more important, an increase in TSE (testicular self examination) would increase the survival rate of this malignancy. Testicular cancer is the number one malignancy in young males. Worldwide there are 48,500 males diagnosed with this disease and 9,000 will die of it. This is...Read More
Cancer
Sorry Doctor, I’d Prefer An Opinion From The Dog
What do dogs have that's lacking in humans? Harry Truman, the straight-talking former president of the United States, remarked that, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog." But friendship is not the dog's, only virtue. A dog's nose has 220 million cells that detect odours compared to a mere five million in humans. And although none have yet graduated from The Harvard Medical School, they can often outsmart doctors in recognizing serious disease. In 1989 the British Journal 'Lancet" reported that a female half-Border Collie was indeed a woman's best friend. Her dog kept sniffing at a mole on her thigh, but ignored other moles. In fact, the dog had actually tried to bite off the mole when...Read More
Cancer, Lifestyle, Philosophy
An Instrument That Could End Medical Madness?
Is there a device that could stop people from destroying themselves? An instrument that could prevent lunatic behaviour and premature death of millions of North Americans? It's a tall order. But Eureka, with the help of my children there's finally a solution. During a family dinner I told them about a frustrating situation that had occurred that day. My patient was taking her Mother to Florida for the winter. She also had to take along an oxygen tank. Unfortunately, her Mother suffered from incapacitating emphysema. She had destroyed her lungs from years of smoking. The daughter, a well-educated woman, was also smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. During our talk she was constantly coughing and it was obvious that she would...Read More
Cancer
Stop Lying To Women About Mammography
What's a "sacred cow"? One is a medical belief that's been etched in stone for years. For instance, to question the value of cholesterol lowering drugs is like damning motherhood. Or to challenge the belief that mammography does not save many lives may condemn you to hell. But everyone should be asking probing questions about the sacred cow of mammography. Dr. Peter Gotzsche, a leading Danish researcher, claims there is no convincing evidence that annual mammograms decrease the risk of death from breast cancer.To reach this conclusion Gotzsche and his colleagues analyzed international studies on half a million women. Dr. Michael Baum, professor of surgery at University College, London, England says, "The latest evidence shifts the balance towards harm and away...Read More
Cancer, Gynecology
Obese Men and Women More Likely to Die of Breast Cancer
What a devastating experience it must have been for Elizabeth Edwards, wife of the former U.S. vice-presidential candidate John Edwards, to be told on the day of his loss, after spending two grueling years campaigning with him that she had breast cancer. This was more than enough bad news for one day. Unfortunately for both sexes obesity increases the risk of many malignancies. Dr. Penny Anderson, a cancer specialist at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, reports that obese breast cancer patients are more likely to die than normal weight women. Yet another blow for Elizabeth Edwards who spoke candidly during the campaign about her struggles to control weight. Dr. Anderson and her colleagues studied 2010 women who had been treated...Read More
Cancer
Cigars – Which Rattlesnake Would You Prefer To Step On?
What do former President Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and many multi-millionaire sports celebrities have in common? They smoke cigars and for years they've sent the wrong message to teenagers. Now more teens are saying "Have a cigar". So what should we be telling them and others who decide to smoke a stogie? Some kids are getting smart. They've concluded that cigarette smoking is hazardous to health. A report in the Journal of Public Health says that cigarette consumption in the U.S. has decreased by 10 percent. But that cigar smoking has increased by 28 percent and some of this increase is due to teenagers. Today one in four college students smoke stogies and these are supposed to be enlightened individuals! Trying to...Read More
Cancer
Dad, How About Some Good News? – Melanoma
Who is a big supporter of my column? I would like to think my children as I e-mail them copies each week. But a recent e-mail response was, "Dad, you always have such cheery thoughts, like colonoscopy! What other forms of poking must you subject us to? Will it be root canals? How about one that's more dignified? So here's one that needs removal of clothing but no poking. Recently my wife asked me to check her body for suspicious moles. I didn't see any but it's never prudent to be your wife's doctor. If I missed diagnosing a melanoma my children might suspect I was after her insurance money. So I suggested we should both arrange for a molar checkup. Several...Read More
Cancer, Radiation
Mammography – “I’m Sorry I Don’t Know How Much Radiation Is Given”
I have previously reported on a study conducted by Peter Gotzsche, a leading Danish researcher. His study claimed there's no convincing evidence that annual mammograms decrease the risk of dying from breast cancer. But can repeated exposure to radiation cause breast cancer? Three decades ago I reported a shocking discovery. Some x-ray machines were exposing patients up to 60 X the amount of radiation necessary for some procedures. X-ray equipment was often old, others rarely calculated for radiation exposure, and some technologists were incompetent. This column did not win me friends. But it resulted in a crack down by the government. However, regulation of equipment still didn't teach radiologists enough to know you don't mess around with nuclear engineers. A few years...Read More
Cancer, Gynecology, Women's Health
Ovarian Cancer, Scaring Women Half-To-Death
It's been said that, "A little knowledge is an dangerous thing." A report from the Mayo Clinic shows that this is particularly true when the subject is ovarian cancer. And it illustrates how easy it is to both inform women and worry them at the same time. Mayo researchers have claimed recently that there are early symptoms of ovarian cancer. To prove this they reviewed the symptoms of 107 women, aged 38 to 96, in the two years prior to being diagnosed with this disease. The most common complaints were crampy abdominal pain, increased frequency, urgency or leakage of urine. And they urged women with these symptoms to seek medical attention. But there's a major problem. Doctors see hundreds of women...Read More
