Drugs causing the problems they're supposed to prevent
From the NYTimes: “In the past month, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that in some cases two types of drugs that were supposed to be preventing serious medical problems were, in fact, causing them.One is bisphosphonates, which is widely used to prevent the fractures, especially of the hip and spine, that are common…
Read MoreDrugs causing the problems they’re supposed to prevent
From the NYTimes: “In the past month, the Food and Drug Administration has concluded that in some cases two types of drugs that were supposed to be preventing serious medical problems were, in fact, causing them.One is bisphosphonates, which is widely used to prevent the fractures, especially of the hip and spine, that are common…
Read MoreBenefits of Mammograms after 50 less than previously thought
I will simply link to the local news story that covered the article published in the New England Journal of Medicine concerning the benefits of mammograms in women over the age of 50 years of age. The data on this topic is difficult to wade through, so I’m leaving the article as is. There is…
Read MoreOngoing Controversies in Prostate Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
I covered some of the controversies over prostate cancer screening in previous posts. Prostate cancer is a condition that should get a bit more scrutiny when it comes to the risk/benefit ratio of treatment. This should apply on an individual basis and on a public health basis.These are the links to my previous posts covering…
Read MorePSA test unreliable and "unusable"
In a follow up on a previous post (http://ksparrowmd.blogspot.com/2009/03/prostate-screening-test-psa-may-not.html) there is now another study, this time from the British Medical Journal, showing that PSA testing does not give enough valuable information to be worth doing. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/news/fullstory_89847.html FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) — The inability of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to distinguish between deadly…
Read MorePSA test unreliable and “unusable”
In a follow up on a previous post (http://ksparrowmd.blogspot.com/2009/03/prostate-screening-test-psa-may-not.html) there is now another study, this time from the British Medical Journal, showing that PSA testing does not give enough valuable information to be worth doing. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/print/news/fullstory_89847.html FRIDAY, Sept. 25 (HealthDay News) — The inability of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to distinguish between deadly…
Read MoreAnti depressants and heart defects
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_89795.htmlTHURSDAY, Sept. 24 (HealthDay News) —“Women who take certain antidepressants during the first three months of pregnancy may have a slightly increased risk of giving birth to babies with heart defects. Septal heart defects — malformations in the wall separating the right side of the heart from the left — were more common among women…
Read MoreAnother Popular Back Procedure found to be ineffective
The Mayo clinic has found that using medical cement to fix cracks in the brittle vertebrae of elderly people is no better than placebo. The reason that this article is of interest to me is that it fits in the category of things that make sense from a Western Medicine point of view, and so…
Read MoreBelieving in Treatments That Don’t Work
That is the title of author David H. Newman MD’s piece today in the NYTimes. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/the-ideology-of-health-care/ On a medical acupuncturist’s blog readers might conclude that the title refers to ineffective alternative medical treatments or supplements. But no. Dr. Newman is referring to many of the sacred tenets of medical practice that have been debunked but…
Read MoreBelieving in Treatments That Don't Work
That is the title of author David H. Newman MD’s piece today in the NYTimes. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/the-ideology-of-health-care/ On a medical acupuncturist’s blog readers might conclude that the title refers to ineffective alternative medical treatments or supplements. But no. Dr. Newman is referring to many of the sacred tenets of medical practice that have been debunked but…
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