Opinion | ‘Would You Like to Keep This Pregnancy?’ I Asked My 13-Year-Old Patient
“Dr. Zha, for the new OB initial visit I put on your schedule next week, is it possible to schedule the patient with you sooner?” the OB coordinator asked me. “Why is that?” I responded, as there is usually no urgency for this type of visit. “Well, she is only 13. And she didn’t sound […]
Study identifies receptor that could alleviate need for chemo, radiation pre-T cell therapy
Before a patient can undergo T cell therapy designed to target cancerous tumors, the patient’s entire immune system must be destroyed with chemotherapy or radiation. The toxic side effects are well known, including nausea, extreme fatigue and hair loss. Now a research team, led by UCLA’s Anusha Kalbasi, MD, in collaboration with scientists from Stanford […]
Opinion | To Bill or Not to Bill, That is the Question
With the increased penetration of the patient portal and remote access among our patients, there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of messages we receive every day, and many different types of requests come to us through this portal. Before we had a portal within our electronic health record, pretty much the only […]
CDC: Monkeypox May Present With Genital Sores, No Prior Fever
Clinicians should be highly suspicious for monkeypox infection if a patient has an unusual rash, plus a travel history to a country with confirmed cases, among other factors, the CDC said on Friday. In a Health Alert Network advisory, the agency provided more detail about the type of lesions characteristic of monkeypox, as well as […]
Opinion | As a Fake Neuro Patient, I Got High-Quality Care
I was recently given the opportunity to act as a standardized neurology patient in a case simulation for a group of medical students. When I was in training, we often did simulations with mannequins, but since it is difficult for a mannequin to display subtle neurologic findings, having a neurology-trained doctor play the patient can […]
Opinion | Optimize Muslim Patient Health by Learning About Ramadan
When caring for any patient, having a basic understanding of their culture and values can go a long way towards building trust and improving their experience and outcome. This rings true especially during Ramadan, considered the most sacred month of the year in the Muslim calendar. A basic understanding of Ramadan will help promote shared […]
Should We Use PSA to Find Active Surveillance Candidates?
As a patient on active surveillance (AS) since 2010, I always considered AS a solution for men like me with very low-risk prostate cancer. Is it time to rethink that? E. David Crawford, MD, a urologist and a long-time prostate cancer researcher, surprised me when he explained that in his view, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing […]
Military Exposure to Burn Pits Under Scrutiny
Doctors, scientists, and patient advocates described the tremendous harms of burn pits to active duty service members and veterans, ranging from cancers to severe respiratory illness and death, during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel on Wednesday. Subcommittee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) opened the hearing by stating that service […]
Did HIV Status Affect Transplant Patients’ Long-Term Outcomes?
Patient survival in liver transplant recipients and graft survival in kidney transplant recipients was comparable among patients living with and without HIV, even 15 years later, researchers found in a retrospective study. For liver transplant recipients, patient survival at 15 years among those living with HIV was 70% (95% CI 60.6-80.8%) compared to 75.7% (95% […]
NCCN Reverses on Guideline Change for Surveillance in Prostate Cancer
After protest by urologists and patient advocates, the prostate cancer panel of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) reversed itself on Tuesday, with new guideline language restoring active surveillance (AS) as a preferred approach for “most” men with low-risk prostate cancer. In September, the NCCN panel had published guidelines that eliminated the word “preferred” for […]