March 14th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, News, True Stories
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I have many reasons to use Twitter. One of them is that it’s quite easy to get feedback from doctors who also use Twitter for communication. Now one of my stories was featured in the New York Times.
Some people are even using Twitter for more urgent questions. Bertalan Meskó, a medical student at the University of Debrecen in Hungary, wrote a post about a patient with mysterious symptoms: “Strange case today in internal medicine rotation. 16 years old boy with acute pancreatitis (for the 6th! time). Any ideas?”
Within hours, specialists worldwide had responded, suggesting gallstones, lupus or growths on the pancreas. One of the suggestions helped the doctors with a diagnosis.
“It would have been impossible to find that specialist through e-mail, because we had no idea who to contact,” Mr. Meskó said.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
February 25th, 2010 by Harriet Hall, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, Research
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Everybody knows that colonoscopy is the best test to screen for colorectal cancer and that colonoscopies save lives. Everybody may be wrong. Colonoscopy is increasingly viewed as the gold standard for colorectal cancer screening, but its reputation is not based on solid evidence. In reality, it is not yet known for certain whether colonoscopy can help reduce the number of deaths from colorectal cancer. Screening with fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) and flexible sigmoidoscopy are supported by better evidence, but questions remain. It seems our zeal for screening tests has outstripped the evidence.
Statistics show that the life-time risk for an adult American to develop colorectal cancer (CRC) is approximately 6%. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. In the US there are currently 146,970 new cases and 50,630 deaths each year. Between 1973 and 1995, mortality from CRC declined by 20.5%, and incidence declined by 7.4% in the United States. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
February 16th, 2010 by Toni Brayer, M.D. in Better Health Network, Quackery Exposed, Research
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The internet is full of colon cleansing methods that tout the benefits of colon detox. I saw one website that showed long “worms” that live for years in the colon that “need” to be removed with special expensive potions. One of the most common questions for GI doctors is about colon cleansing and if it is beneficial. I don’t know any physicians who believe the colon needs “detoxification” or special cleansing, but until now I didn’t have a scientific way to answer that question from patients.
A study from the Am J. Gastroenterology now gives us the answer. The study authors looked at all relevant articles published between 1966 and 2008. They blinded the articles and measured outcomes and adverse events. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at EverythingHealth*
February 14th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion
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While the news reports that Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania died after complications from gallbladder surgery, the question no one is asking is whether his death was a preventable one or simply an unfortunate outcome. According to the Washington Post, Murtha had elective laproscopic gallbladder surgery performed at the Bethesda Naval Hospital and fell ill shortly afterwards from an infection related to his surgery.
He was hospitalized to Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Virginia, to treat the post-operative infection. His care was being monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU), a sign which suggests that not only was the infection becoming widespread but also that vital organ systems were shutting down. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
December 8th, 2009 by Bongi in Better Health Network, True Stories
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I have already spoken about the hazards of doing favours, but recently I was reminded of another example when I was still a registrar where I only just escaped the proverbial falling anvil.
It was not an unusual case but still fairly challenging for a registrar like myself. The old man presented with an acutely tender abdomen and free air revealed on x-rays. If you ignore the outside horses for a while, this is either a perforated peptic ulcer or complicated diverticulitis (some people would throw complicated appendicitis into the mix, but I’m going to leave it in the stable with the outside horses if there are no objections). The patient needed an operation and soon. So with the sun shining happily over Australia somewhere, I took him to theater. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at other things amanzi*
