We’ve been following claims for Cyberknife “knife-less surgery” for a long time. See search results from our blog. We’ve seen billboards promoting it in the metropolitan health care market we live in. And big East Coast medical centers promoting it at subway stops. But only recently did we start noticing many TV commercials promoting the technology, which was described recently in this way: Rohit Inamdar, a seni…
We need more stories that raise questions about new technologies. Cardiac electrophysiologist Wes Fisher tweeted this week about a Chicago Sun Times story that he said was a promo piece for ablation for atrial fibrillation but failed to discuss the risks of the procedure. We’ve blogged twice this week about more questions about the explosion in the use of robotic prostatectomy and another journalist pointed out fawning coverage of the te…
We salute the Philadelphia Inquirer and reporter Stacey Burling for a terrific piece, “Debate surrounds new prostate cancer treatment.” It got a rare five-star (top score) rating on HealthNewsReview.org. Excerpts of the review: This was an excellent, provocative exploration of some of the critical issues involving the tension between treatment options, payment responsibility, patient choice, and evidence on risks and benefits. T…
Fox News uses Dr. David Samadi, a New York urologist and “Chief of Robotics” at his NY hospital, as a “medical contributor.” We’ve seen and heard him promote his pet approaches in the past. He did it again this past Sunday, touting his own favorite approach over another approach known as the Cyberknife, along with sidekick physician medical news contributor Dr. Marc Siegel. I asked one of our medical editors, Dr…
Believe me, I empathize with a local TV news reporter who is a general assignment reporter asked to cover crime today, courts tomorrow, then an announcement by a local medical center on the next day. Here’s what happens as a result. A Chattanooga medical center invites media in to hear about its $7 million robotic Cyberknife, and local TV dutifully showed up for the media high-tech lovefest. Excerpts from the story (video below): • R…
Regardless the shape and impact of health care reform legislation, how new health care technologies are communicated to the American public is a major issue. And today a reader sent me a new example of how journalism must improve. The Asbury Park (NJ) Press reports on a local medical center trumpeting its use of two technologies to treat lung cancer – Cyberknife and Super D. The story reads like a hospital news release, using phrases suc…
…ad of robotic prostatectomy are unclear, given the lack of randomized trials and few comparative studies, given that it’s more expensive and appears to have a long learning curve to achieve optimal outcomes. It also discusses Cyberknife, but doesn’t mention perspectives like those in a recent Radiology Today story, wherein a scientist said the clinical evidence on the use of the CyberKnife for prostate cancer is “a little early … and a litt…
…l, for example, untold stories of overdiagnosis and overtreatment be told in this health care provider-sponsored column? While the health care provider boasts on its website, “We were the first in the state to bring you CyberKnife and the first in the Lowcountry to offer the da Vinci robot,” will the column explore some of the growing questions about some of the non-evidence-based proliferation of such technologies? (An example of Cyb…
…gy is laudable. Ironically, I’m not aware of any similarly stringent review being conducted—or expected–when urologists began performing robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy or radiation oncologists began offering CyberKnife and proton-beam radiotherapy—expensive technologies which offered uncertain additional benefits and harms compared to standard treatments. Meanwhile, a conservative strategy designed to minimize the harms of unne…
Jeremy Olson in today’s St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on concerns about the “medical arms race” — “relentless drive to buy the newest technology to stay competitive and offer the industry standard in care.” But, as he reports, that comes with high costs and questions about benefit. You’ve seen the marketing for CT scans, da Vinci robotic surgery systems and the Cyberknife. Read his story. There shoul…
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