Cell Type Sensitivity to Radiation Damage
Radiation therapy is commonly given to oncology patients as an adjunct to surgery and chemotherapy. While the aim of all radiation oncologists is to reduce damage to non-cancerous cells, radiation damage to tissues surround the tumor is unavoidable.
Depending on cell type, each cell has a different sensitivity. In descending order of radiation sensitivity these cells are:
tumor cells
endothelium
fibroblasts
muscle
nerve cells
The post Cell Type Sensitivity to Radiation Damage appeared first on InsideSurgery Medical Information Blog. (Source: Inside Surgery)
Source: Inside Surgery - December 8, 2014 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: Oncology damage endothelium fibroblasts muscle nerve cells radiation Source Type: blogs
CMS Holds Off on Radiation Reimbursement Cuts in New Proposed Fee Schedule
On July 3, 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed rates for the 2015 physician fee schedule that would have cut radiation oncology payments by 4 percent and community-based radiation therapy centers by 6 to 8 percent. The proposal most significantly impacting radiation oncology would have removed the radiation treatment vault as a direct practice expense input from radiation treatment procedure codes. On October 31, CMS announced that they would not be implementing these cuts.
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) strongly fought against these changes as detrimental for patient ac...
Source: Policy and Medicine - November 4, 2014 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, September 29, 2014
From MedPage Today:
Plans Wrestling With Narrow Networks, Accurate Doc Lists. Narrow provider lists are only one of several network adequacy issues that insurers and regulators are grappling with.
Ebola: ‘Magic Bullets’ or Current Tools? European health authorities want to compile an overview of all the available data on experimental medications for Ebola. The World Health Organization is planning to issue guidance on the potential therapeutic use of serum from Ebola survivors.
Data Confirm Anti-ALK Activity in Rare NSCLC. Objective responses occurred in 72% of patients with mutation-specific non-small cell l...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 29, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Cancer Infectious disease Source Type: blogs
Top stories in health and medicine, September 23, 2014
From MedPage Today:
One Insurer Holds Obamacare Fate in Two States. Here’s a health law pop quiz: Which two states have the least successful Obamacare health insurance exchanges?
RT Regimens Preserve QOL in Prostate Ca. Almost 90% of men with localized prostate cancer remained sexually active 5 years after treatment with blood flow-preserving radiation therapy.
How Much Does That X-Ray Cost? You Can Find Out in N.H. When Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield became embroiled in a contract dispute with Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire in 2010, its negotiators came to the table armed with a new weapon: public data showing th...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 23, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: MedPage Today Tags: News Cancer Source Type: blogs
MKSAP: 69-year-old woman with a lump under her arm
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians.
A 69-year-old woman is evaluated for a lump under her arm found on self-examination. She is otherwise healthy and has no other symptoms. Medical and family histories are unremarkable, and she takes no medications.
On physical examination, temperature is 37.4 °C (99.3 °F), blood pressure is 110/70 mm Hg, pulse rate is 72/min, and respiration rate is 14/min. The patient has a hard, fixed, 2-cm mass palpable in the right axilla. The remainder of the examination, including breast examination, is normal.
Complete b...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 21, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: mksap Tags: Conditions Cancer Source Type: blogs
Fueled by patient demand? No way.
I frankly expected better from HealthLeaders Media, which usually has well researched and thoughtful stories. This one, though, reads like a press release from the investment bankers and law firms that make a bundle from proton beam projects.Here's the most troubling statement:As more American patients have become aware of the less invasive technology, they are emerging as a key driver of proton beam center growth in the United States, Caron says.Who's Mr. Caron? A partner at Chicago-based law firm McDermott, Will and Emery, who has worked on proton beam therapy center projects for more than eight years.Aided...
Source: Running a hospital - August 26, 2014 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
Why we don’t usually give emergent radiation therapy
The first lecture in a radiation oncology residency program is “Radiation Oncology Emergencies,” to educate the new residents how to manage inpatient consultations and emergencies. While preparing my lecture this year, it occurred to me how useful this basic information would be to the physicians calling for the consultation. Sharing our thought process in triaging patient explains why we don’t rush to utilize radiation, even in cases of a cord compression:
Continue reading ...
Your patients are rating you online: How to respond. Manage your online reputation: A social media guide. Find out how. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 29, 2014 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Miriam A. Knoll, MD Tags: Conditions Cancer Source Type: blogs
Getting Spiced
Synthetic cannabis is stronger than it used to be.First published 10/07/2013 I wish I could stop writing blog posts about Spice, as the family of synthetic cannabinoids has become known. I wish young people would stop taking these drugs, and stick to genuine marijuana, which is far safer. I wish that politicians and proponents of the Drug War would lean in a bit and help, by knocking off the testing for marijuana in most circumstances, so the difficulty of detecting Spice products isn’t a significant factor in their favor. I wish synthetic cannabinoids weren’t research chemicals, untested for safety in humans, so that ...
Source: Addiction Inbox - July 26, 2014 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
Stem Cell Guided Gene Therapy of Cancer
This open access review outlines an interesting basis for the development of targeted cancer treatments in which stem cells are used as the vector to deliver modified genes. This is apparently well underway, progressing at least as well as other targeted cell killing approaches to treating cancer that are currently in laboratory studies and clinical trials. The breadth of different technology platforms forming the next generation of cancer treatments is one of the reasons why I am optimistic about progress towards robust, highly effective therapies for near all forms of cancer.
For practicing clinicians, who treat patient...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 12, 2014 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Understanding Women’s Choice for Mastectomy
Mastectomy – From Wikipedia
It’s a bit of a conundrum – Despite advances in breast cancer treatment, and ongoing proof that survival is just as good after breast conserving surgery as it is with mastectomy, more and more women are opting for mastectomy for earlier and earlier stage cancers, especially DCIS.
In a well written, insightful post, Dr Deanna Attai, president-elect of the American Society of Breast Surgeons, outlines both the arguments against mastectomy and why women might make a reasonable choice to have a mastectomy anyway.
What we see in our offices is a rational fear: Many women underst...
Source: The Blog That Ate Manhattan - June 4, 2014 Category: Primary Care Authors: Margaret Polaneczky, MD Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Radiation Therapy
Yesterday I had my 15th radiation treatment. I am halfway through, definitely the easier half. I confess I am writing this under duress. I have just spent the last hour typing out a clear, seamless narrative of my recent experience … Continue reading → (Source: Being Cancer Network)
Source: Being Cancer Network - May 14, 2014 Category: Cancer Authors: Dennis Pyritz Tags: Journal * Living with Cancer Newly diagnosed CT scan Head and neck cancer Radiation Side effects Source Type: blogs
The Narrow Gate
The patient first felt winded one night after doing the dishes. She was breathing so hard by morning that she was barely able to get out of bed. And a cough had started. “The flu” went through her mind. She stayed home from work to rest, but all day she just couldn’t catch her breath. The cough got worse and was making her chest hurt, and she felt her heart racing. She was exhausted by evening, but knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. The temperature was below 0°F outside, but she bundled up and drove herself the three miles to the emergency department. Barely able to speak by the time she stepped up to the ...
Source: Spontaneous Circulation - April 7, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
The Narrow Gate
The patient first felt winded one night after doing the dishes. She was breathing so hard by morning that she was barely able to get out of bed. And a cough had started. “The flu” went through her mind. She stayed home from work to rest, but all day she just couldn’t catch her breath. The cough got worse and was making her chest hurt, and she felt her heart racing. She was exhausted by evening, but knew she wasn’t going to be able to sleep. The temperature was below 0°F outside, but she bundled up and drove herself the three miles to the emergency department. Barely able to speak by the time she stepped up to the ...
Source: Spontaneous Circulation - April 7, 2014 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
