This story allows a single physician to make claims about his method of removing kidney stones. The work is to be published in an upcoming journal article.
It is not at all clear how available this approach to kidney stone treatment is. The story says “After Dr. Portis presents results of his study, he thinks doctors everywhere will want to adopt it. ” But we have no idea how many are using it now, nor is there any independent evidence that anyone else will adopt this approach.
The only mention of cost is this: “Who doesn’t want a far more effective procedure that costs one-third as much?” Cost isn’t specified. Costs of alternatives are not given.
The story lets the physician-researcher say that “his approach has a 95 percent success rate with a single treatment and quicker recovery time. ” But there is no evidence given to substantiate that.
Only a single source is used – the physician who is interviewed. Other kidney stone specialists should have been consulted.
Potential harms are not discussed.
The story felt more like cheerleading than fact-finding.
The only mention of cost is this: “Who doesn’t want a far more effective procedure that costs one-third as much?”
Cost isn’t specified. Costs of alternatives are not given.
The story lets the physician-researcher say that “his approach has a 95 percent success rate with a single treatment and quicker recovery time. ” But there is no evidence given to substantiate that. And there is no comparison with other approaches.
There is no discussion of any potential harm from this approach.
The story references an upcoming journal article. It inaccurately says it is in the journal Urology. It is actually in the Journal of Urology. The story lets the physician-researcher say that “his approach has a 95 percent success rate with a single treatment and quicker recovery time.” But there is no evidence given to substantiate that.
The lead-in says that “Women who’ve had them have told me that childbirth is less painful and yet 1 in 10 of us will suffer the agony of them.” There is no evidence given to support that anecdote, but we’ll give the story the benefit of the doubt and give it a satisfactory score here.
Only a single source is used – the physician who is interviewed. Other kidney stone specialists should have been consulted. The story says “After Dr. Portis presents results of his study, he thinks doctors everywhere will want to adopt it. ” But the story gives no independent evidence that anyone else will adopt this approach.
“Smashing stones with sound waves” is briefly mentioned, but written off. No other conventional treatment strategies are discussed.
It is not at all clear how available this approach to kidney stone treatment is. The story says “After Dr. Portis presents results of his study, he thinks doctors everywhere will want to adopt it. ” But we have no idea how many are using it now, nor is there any independent evidence that anyone else will adopt this approach.
The procedure apparently uses existing technologies, so it is not clear how novel this is. Also, since no independent source is interviewed – no other kidney stone specialist – there is no context given to allow the viewer to judge the novelty of the idea – only what the interviewed physician says.
The story includes some of the same claims that appear in a news release – about a single procedure being effective in 95% of patients, about cost estimated to be just one third of conventional treatment strategies. But there is no hard proof that the story relied solely or largely on a news release.
Systematic, Criteria-Driven
We’ve written about the hype of liquid biopsies for years (see link in comment below). And now this…. https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/12/medicare-shouldnt-cover-liquid-biopsies-early-cancer-detection/
Case counts still matter. “(There) are stories that may not be told adequately if only hospitalizations and deaths are emphasized.” @garyschwitzer interviewed by @dbauder of @AP. https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76
My friend Gary @garyschwitzer wrote to his city council representative in a Minnesota town about a Viva Las Vegas event scheduled for January.
The response he got seems to perfectly capture where we are now.
https://www.healthnewsreview.org/2021/12/2021-ends-with-covid-craziness-in-sports-and-politics/
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