A Demonstration of Engineered Vocal Cord Tissue
Here is news of a technology demonstration in which yet another part of the body has some of its component parts constructed in the laboratory and successfully tested for functionality:
Tissue engineers have for the first time made structures that not only resemble real vocal cords but also function like them. Impaired vocal cords make it hard or impossible for people to speak. There is currently no way to fix severe damage, which can result from surgery, traumatic injury, or diseases like cancer. The researchers implanted the engineered tissue into a larynx that had been taken from a dog and had one of its vocal cords re...
Source: Fight Aging! - November 20, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Reflecting on the physician’s social contract
“55-year-old man with history of laryngeal carcinoma, status-post radiation therapy, laryngectomy, bilateral neck dissection, with metastases to the lung, status post thoracotomy, currently undergoing chemotherapy who is being admitted for a for first-time seizure. Patient is a transfer from Riker’s Island.”
Prisoners are a common occurrence in Bellevue Hospital. This, however, was my first prisoner-patient. The hyphenation both as I write this now and as it formed as a concept in my mindset off a series of internal dialogues and periods of self-reflection regarding the rights of patients, physicians, and if these ri...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - April 17, 2015 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Hadi J. Minhas Tags: Physician Primary care Source Type: blogs
If It’s Not Your Heart or Your Age, It Could Be Your Thyroid
If your heart starts pounding and skipping beats what is your first thought? For Mary M., 49, it was, “Oh No! Is this a heart attack? Is it heart arrhythmia? I know my mother has an irregular heartbeat and my grandmother died from a stroke. Is it my turn?” So, off she went to the doctor. Her pounding heart had been waking her up at night and she was ready for the diagnosis and sat pretty calmly through the EKG test. Her mother took heart medication, exercised and watched her diet so she knew how to handle it. When the doctor returned to the room and told her “Your heart looks fine and your heart rate is...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - January 15, 2015 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Women's Health Source Type: blogs
Did President Obama receive high value care for his sore throat?
Two days ago we all noticed that President Obama had direct laryngoscopy and then a CT scan for a persistent sore throat. As a physician who has studied acute pharyngitis for 35 years, I had to carefully think about his complaint and the decisions that his physicians made.
First, his “sore throat” was not acute pharyngitis. Guidelines and expert recommendations on acute pharyngitis diagnosis and management only apply to patients who have a brief (5 day or less) acute illness characterized primarily by a sore throat. Thus, we should not expect that the standard approach to pharyngitis would apply.
Second, we ...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - December 9, 2014 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Surgeon General's Report Implicates Filtered Cigarettes in Increasing Cancer Risk
According to an article at Law360.com, the recently-released Surgeon General's report's conclusion that cigarette filters may actually increase the risk of lung cancer could lead to a new wave of class-action lawsuits against cigarette companies.According to the article: "The U.S. surgeon general's landmark finding last week that filtered cigarettes may actually increase the risk of lung cancer could lead to a flurry of new lawsuits against tobacco companies and even expand cigarette litigation outside of Florida, where it has flourished for nearly a decade."The Surgeon General's report concludes that: "The introductio...
Source: The Rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary - January 27, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs
Medical Mispronunciations and Misspelled Words: The Definitive List.
Hearing medical mispronunciations and seeing misspelled words are an under appreciated joy of working in healthcare. Physicians often forget just how alien the language of medicine is to people who don't live it everyday. The best part about being a physician is not helping people recover from critical illness. The best part is not about listening and understanding with compassion and empathy. Nope, the best part about being a physician is hearing patients and other healthcare providers butcher the language of medicine and experiencing great entertainment in the process. Doctors c...
Source: The Happy Hospitalist - October 2, 2013 Category: Internists and Doctors of Medicine Authors: Tamer Mahrous Source Type: blogs
What RA does
As I approach my one year anniversary of being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia (because I didn't have enough ailments prior to then), I can reflect back. Although my mother has had RA for more than 20 years and I thought I was fairly educated on the subject, its different when you are the one living with the disease. To be fair, I will say I had long since moved out of my parent's house when my mother was diagnosed so I was exposed to less of the day to day issues. For many of those years, I was busy with a career which involved lots of travel and pressures. But now that it is affecting me, I find I ha...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - September 3, 2013 Category: Cancer Tags: fibromyalgia side effects medical treatment rheumatoid arthritis Source Type: blogs
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Well, sadly the readership of this humble blog has a precipitous tumble taken. Circulation is down 50% and it's not clear that a recovery is manageable without drastic measures. What's this, I hear you say? Has there been a tsunami? A zombie apocalypse? Surely only a cataclysm of Old Testament proportions could be responsible for such a sudden dive in the ratings of a renown scientific diary as this? No, Dear Reader, 'tis not so. As shocking as this news might be to you, Reader, the truth is that I have only ever had two regular visitors: your good self and Mum (and she never actually read it according to her, she ju...
Source: Across the Bilayer - August 17, 2013 Category: Medical Scientists Source Type: blogs
OralCDx Places Oral Cancer on Short List of Preventable Diseases
Oral Cancer Awareness Week: A Disease That is Rapidly Growing Among Women, Young People and Non-Smokers 4 billion mathematical operations per second used to analyze each of the 100,000 cells painlessly obtained from the mouth of one patient. Over 500,000 patients already tested by primary care physicians, ENTs and dentists. 50,000 precancerous abnormalities found. 2,000 lives saved. Oral cancer has met its match. Oral Cancer Awareness Week was created by people who saw the anguish that oral cancer can cause and refused to give up. This week is in memory of all those who have suffered and died from...
Source: Dental Technology Blog - April 16, 2013 Category: Dentists Source Type: blogs
Celiac is not a disease
. Lest you think I’ve gone off my rocker, let me explain.
Say that, of 100 people you know who smoke, only 1 gets lung cancer. Do we declare that the only person who has problems with cigarettes is the poor unfortunate guy or girl with the one lung cancer? Shall we ignore the 60 cases of chronic bronchitis and emphysema, the 10 abdominal aortic aneurysms, the 5 thoracic aortic and iliofemoral aneurysms, the oral, tongue, and laryngeal cancers, and the several dozen other conditions that typically develop in smokers–but not as imminently fatal as lung cancer?
In other words, do we dismiss all these conditions ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - February 5, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Celiac disease Source Type: blogs
Minimal Reporting Guidelines for the Treatment of Cancer Patients
Minimal Reporting Guidelines for the Treatment of Cancer Patients As laboratory physicians, our contribution to patient care is knowledge: this is the starting point from which all informed therapeutic intervention proceeds. How that knowledge is obtained and communicated is the art and science of our profession. These minimal diagnostic guidelines are designed to be used as an aid, not a constraint, in that process. The guidelines are presented in a specific format out of necessity, but any format that effectively communicates the necessary information in a given patho...
Source: Oncopathology - September 5, 2011 Category: Cancer & Oncology Source Type: blogs
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch Has Cancer
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, who also goes by the name “MCA,” has announced that he’s about to undergo treatment for a cancerous tumor in his left parotid gland, which has caused the Beastie Boys to cancel their upcoming concert tour and postpone their new album release. The news has left many people with questions about this type of cancer, its actual location, and, of course, its prognosis. The good news is that it seems the cancer was caught early and should respond well to treatment with a favorable outcome and little or no impact on Yauch’s ability to sing.
First, the parotid gland is the largest of the salivary gl...
Source: Dr. Z's Medical Report - July 22, 2009 Category: Physicians With Health Advice Authors: Ed Zimney, MD Tags: Healthy Living Adam Yauch Beastie Boys Benign blog cancer Career community Dr Z Dr. Z's medical report Ed Zimney Everyday Health Lifestyle Malignant MCA medblog Music Online Support Parotid Gland Prognosis Salivary Source Type: blogs
