Good job explaining that breast self examination is a personal decision, and depending on how someone feels about the increased risk of biopsy can determine whether she wants to do it or not. ... read more
Good job - with the only exception being a significant one - no discussion of the possible limitations of interpreting study results presented in a phone call – not in a peer reviewed publication.
One of the best stories written yet about the complicated topic of the place for the HPV vaccine in health care. Thank goodness there still is room in daily papers for a 4,100-word piece like this.... read more
This story could have touted a novel and untested cosmetic procedure, but instead the reporting is appropriately cautious and balanced. Excellent job listing the potential harms. ... read more
A clever headline announcing surprising results of a study involving a simple household item might immediately raise concerns of sensationalism. But this story was responsible and informative. ... read more
The story did a good job communicating that medical therapy may not be a simple thing to accomplish and likely would involve many interactions between patient and clinician in order to get it right.... read more
This is solid reporting on the new prostate cancer screening recommendation of the US Preventive Services Task Force – giving statistics and various experts’ perspectives to help readers.... read more
This article summarizes a recent research study comparing the long-term effects of three popular diets. It was accurate, balanced, reliable, and well written.... read more
A prostate cancer study that could change how doctors treat some patients found that widely used hormone-blocking drugs did not improve survival chances for older men whose disease hadn't spread.... read more
When Richard Bauer tried an experimental drug regimen, his body reacted in a manner that surprised everyone: The debilitating symptoms of MS almost disappeared.... read more
Spurred by claims that vaccinations can be linked to autism, increasing numbers of parents are raising questions about whether vaccines, far from panaceas, are actually harmful to children. ... read more
This exercise in focused awareness and mental catch-and-release of emotions has become perhaps the most popular new psychotherapy technique of the past decade. ... read more
Giving critically ill kidney patients dialysis more than the standard three times a week does not improve their survival, a study has found. ... read more
The first time John L. Johnson’s artificial hip squeaked, he was bending down to pick up a pine cone in his yard in Thomasville, Ga. Mr. Johnson looked up, expecting to find an animal nearby. ... read more
Would you take a pill that would make you lose 10 pounds, but would do nothing for your heart health and might make you anxious or depressed?... read more
Medical-device makers, venture capitalists and surgeons are racing to turn a once-controversial weight-loss procedure into the next big thing in elective surgery.
For the first time, independent analyses performed at the request of USA TODAY suggest the meteoric rise of angioplasty during the past three decades has ended.... read more
Dr. John Kelsoe, a prominent psychiatric geneticist at the University of California, San Diego, began selling bipolar genetic tests over the Internet last month for $399.
Makers of the supplement ArginMax say its key ingredient, the amino acid L-arginine, can enhance sexual arousal. Some experts aren’t buying the concept.
The portrayal of antidepressant drugs in medical journals significantly overstates their effectiveness, according to a study led by Oregon researchers. ... read more
A combination of common and minor variations in five regions of DNA can help predict a man’s risk of getting prostate cancer, researchers reported Wednesday.... read more
Researchers in San Francisco say they have found a way to predict which patients with precancerous breast tumors are destined to develop cancer.... read more
Parents might consider giving their coughing child honey instead of medicine, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.... read more
All manner of supplements and homeopathic treatments that claim to be able to stop a cold dead in its tracks are available. Among the most popular: lozenges, nasal sprays and nasal gels containing the essential element zinc.... read more
A type of “super X-ray” showed promise in its first big test as a potentially cheaper, faster and painless way to find out whether certain people with signs of heart disease actually have it and need treatment. ... read more
A potent new blood thinner trumped Plavix in a major test of the drugs' power to prevent deadly blood clots in patients whose clogged arteries must be cleared using angioplasty.... read more
For more than a decade, scientists have searched for a drug that could be given in the hours immediately after a stroke to protect and preserve neurons in blood-starved areas of the brain.... read more
A very early test of an experimental drug seemed to slow the spread of advanced deadly skin cancer in a small study, the drug's U.S. developer reported in preliminary findings Wednesday. ... read more
The Chinese practice of acupuncture is more effective at alleviating chronic lower-back pain than physical therapy, pain medications, and other treatments typically used in the United States, German researchers reported yesterday. ... read more
In a clinical trial of about 200 patients, an experimental drug from Eli Lilly reduced schizophrenia symptoms without the serious side effects of current treatments, according to a paper published Sunday in the journal Nature.... read more
Doctors who have turned surgery into a popular treatment for obesity are setting their sights on a burgeoning new market: diabetes patients.... read more
Infants born to women taking commonly prescribed antidepressants during the first trimester of their pregnancies have an increased risk of serious birth defects, though the danger remains tiny, according to two studies published today.... read more
Doctors are investigating a possible link between heavy multivitamin use and the most serious types of prostate cancer, according to an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. ... read more
Expensive computer systems that help radiologists read mammograms actually reduce the accuracy of the breast cancer screenings, according to a new study. ... read more
An increasingly popular computer-aided way to read mammograms is less accurate than human analysis alone, leading more women to go through repeat tests and unnecessary biopsies, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.... read more
Antidepressants frequently prescribed to help treat bipolar depression do little to help patients recover, according to a new study that adds fuel to a long-running debate over how to best treat an affliction that affects an estimated eight million Americans.... read more
Women who are at high risk for breast cancer should be screened with MRI in addition to mammograms, according to new guidelines from the American Cancer Society.... read more
More than half a million people a year with chest pain are getting an unnecessary or premature procedure to unclog their arteries because drugs are just as effective.... read more
Offering a glint of hope for treating a notorious killer, researchers found that a common chemotherapy drug can help pancreatic cancer patients who have undergone surgery stave off a return of the disease longer.... read more
Older people who take heartburn drugs for long periods have a significantly increased risk of hip fractures, possibly because the drugs block calcium absorption. ... read more
Millions of chest pain and heart attack sufferers thought they were getting a phenomenal medical advance when tiny coils that ooze medicine were placed in their arteries to keep them from squeezing shut again. ... read more
A sustained dose of RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, prevented breast cancer tumors from growing in mice with a genetic mutation that made them highly susceptible to the disease.... read more
Two big government-funded studies on back surgery for painful herniated disks show no clear-cut reason to choose an operation over other treatment.... read more
Opening a blocked artery with balloons and stents can be lifesaving in the early hours after a heart attack, but often does no good if the heart attack occurred three or more days before. ... read more
New research has overturned one of the most fundamental beliefs among doctors treating heart attacks: that opening a blocked artery is always a good idea, even days or weeks later.... read more
Millions of miserable, sneezing, itching, nose-blowing hay fever sufferers could find a strand of hope in a DNA-based vaccine developed by Johns Hopkins scientists, who say it appears to squelch the body's allergic response to ragweed pollen.... read more
Accutane, the powerful acne drug already known to cause birth defects, seems to raise the risk for potential heart and liver problems more than doctors had expected, according to a new study.... read more
A new study of acupuncture by Mayo Clinic researchers has found that sham treatments were no better than real acupuncture in relieving the daily drenching sweats that some women find disabling during menopause.... read more
Although the pharmaceutical industry is pursuing new drug treatments for irritable bowel syndrome, these potentially more effective medications are years away. Now researchers say the best hope may be the most basic of treatments: lifestyle changes.... read more
Today, national guidelines call for chemotherapy for almost all women who are diagnosed with breast cancer. In the new approach, chemotherapy would be mostly for women whose breast cancer is not fueled by estrogen.... read more
ACOG states that the potential for negative consequences, such as painful sex and anal muscle dysfunction, has been underestimated and that there isn't enough good data to back up some of the episiotomy presumed benefits.
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It's not clear that women concerned strictly about breast cancer will line up for Raloxifene. A close look suggests that raloxifene's advantages may not be as great as the government announcement implied. ... read more
For women who want a drug to ease menopausal hot flashes but do not want to take hormones, certain antidepressants and other medicines may help, researchers are reporting. ... read more
Patients and doctors must decide whether to leave recalled heart defibrillator in the body or replace it. A new Canadian study provides the first estimate of the risk of major complications from replacement surgery. ... read more
The need for a less invasive alternative is great and growing. Already, about 50,000 people in the U.S. have open-heart surgery every year to replace the aortic valve. ... read more
The nation's first vaccine against bird flu is only modestly effective, producing apparent protection in slightly over half the people who receive two mega-dose shots, initial testing shows.... read more
Since its FDA approval eight months ago, more than 550 Americans have undergone surgery to have a vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) implanted in their chests to activate parts of their brains. ... read more
Contrary to a widely promoted theory, B vitamins do not cut the risk for heart attacks or strokes, according to two large new studies. The findings ... are the latest in a series of recent studies that have found vitamins and other dietary supplements fail to have the health benefits they are touted for.
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Some people taking the blood thinner Plavix on top of aspirin to try to prevent heart attacks, as many doctors recommend, now have good reason to stop. The drug combination not only didn't help most people in a newly released study, but it unexpectedly almost doubled the risk of death, heart attack or stroke for those with no clogged arteries but with worrisome conditions like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
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Giving heart attack patients a drug that causes bone marrow stem cells to rush into the bloodstream does not help their hearts recover, a new study shows. The German study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, is part of an explosion in research into the use of stem cells - particularly non-controversial adult stem cells - for cardiac repair.... read more
"Administering a short course of the drug Herceptin prior to chemotherapy improves survival among certain women with early-stage breast cancer, a new study suggests.
Still, experts say it's unclear how long the drug should be used to get the optimum benefit. Usually it's administered for a longer period after chemotherapy.
""What's intriguing is that their rates of breast cancer survival were similar to a study that gave Herceptin for a year,"" said James A. Stewart, an oncologist and professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin's Comprehensive Cancer Center in Madison who was not involved in this study.
""It's a teaser,"" he said. ""It really makes you wonder how long you need to treat with Herceptin. Do you need a year, two years or less? We really don't know.""
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When researchers set out to test whether two nutritional supplements helped relieve arthritis pain, many were hopeful that a clear-cut answer would emerge about the popular yet unproven alternative treatment. Previous smaller studies suggested the supplements - glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate - were effective at treating aching joints. But many of the studies were flawed or paid for by the supplement makers.The latest study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, found the supplements overall did little to ease osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis. But patients who had more severe knee throbbing seemed to show some improvement.
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More than five years have passed since advertisements for full-body scans first appeared on billboards and in newspapers and since Oprah Winfrey shared her encouraging scan results with millions of television viewers nationwide.
Although some doctors still advertise them - "FREE Brain Scan with the purchase of a Full Body Scan - $200 value!" shouted a recent newspaper ad - many who jumped onto the scanning bandwagon have hopped off.
Backed by several professional medical societies opposed to the screenings, some early advocates now say the scans rarely uncover serious problems and often lead to unnecessary and costly follow-up tests and biopsies.
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A government committee of health experts yesterday opened the door to selling Orlistat, a prescription weight-loss drug in a reduced dosage directly to consumers. While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still must approve the switch, the agency often follows the advice of its experts. If it does, Orlistat (xenical) -- currently sold only by prescription -- could be available over-the-counter (OTC) later this year. But it ' s important to know that the weight loss that ' s typical for users of the drug -- 5 to 10 percent of total weight -- will be less than many dieters expect. And many consumers may be put off by the drug ' s significant gastrointestinal side effects, including flatulence, diarrhea and anal leakage. Nor is Orlistat a quick fix for unwanted pounds. ... read more
