Individuals who are of average height appear to receive more protection from air bags than those who are especially short or tall. In a study of over 52,000 drivers and 14,000 drivers involved in crashes from 1995-2000, most weren’t seriously injured when air bags were involved. However, about 2.5% of drivers and 2.6% of passengers [...]
Continue Reading Add comment May 16th, 2007
A new test for prostate cancer, believed to be much more accurate than the PSA test, is expected to be approved soon. The test, currently undergoing large-scale clinical trials, measures the blood protein EPCA-2. Not only can it detect prostate cancer more effectively than measurement of prostate specific antigens (PSA), it also can determine the [...]
Continue Reading Add comment May 10th, 2007
While some women embrace the concept of eliminating their periods entirely, others are reluctant to take the new pill Lybrel that would in essence eliminate monthly menstrual bleeding entirely. Newer birth control pills already on the market (such as Seasonale) can enable women to have periods just once every three or every four months. Lybrel [...]
Continue Reading Add comment May 4th, 2007
The artificial hip is indeed a medical miracle, but the joint replacement surgery usually lasts only 20 years or so. Each year about 300,000 Americans undergo hip joint replacement surgery. As younger patients avail themselves of this type of hip surgery, the problem of “outliving†the joint replacement must be faced. Middle-aged or younger people [...]
Continue Reading Add comment April 16th, 2007
This spring, new information came out about breast cancer screening, much of it perplexing to women. Past guidelines for annual mammograms included women in their 40s. Now, a major medical group disputes the need to screen women between the ages of 40 and 49. The American College of Physicians has issued new and controversial guidelines. [...]
Continue Reading Add comment April 7th, 2007
For women with very dense breasts or a strong family history of breast or ovarian cancer, MRI can yield much greater detail than mammography. MRI is so sensitive that it can reveal many types of suspicious growths in the breast. For this reason, there may be more false-positive findings leading to some unnecessary biopsies and [...]
Continue Reading Add comment March 31st, 2007
Since the last estimate five years ago from the Alzheimer’s Association, another 10% increase in the disease has occurred in this country. More than 5 million Americans are now living with Alzheimer’s. By the year 2030, some 7.7 million may be affected. This alarming trend is expected to accelerate, as baby boomers begin turning 65 [...]
Continue Reading 1 comment March 22nd, 2007
The FDA warned in mid-March that all prescription sleeping pills have the potential to cause bizarre behaviors, such as “sleep-driving.†In extremely rare instances, patients have been known to get up in the night and drive, with no later memory of the event. About one out of 1,000 persons on these medications has experienced unusual [...]
Continue Reading Add comment March 17th, 2007
If you’ve ever experienced chronic pain (lasting more than six months), you were probably depressed. Pain and depression can form a vicious cycle, with one fueling the other. When your quality of life takes a big nosedive, you generally get depressed. If a significant disability is also involved, your chances of depression are even greater. [...]
Continue Reading Add comment March 11th, 2007
Epidural steroid injections to treat chronic back pain and sciatica do little to give lasting relief, according to medical researchers in the field of neurology. Back pain is often accompanied with leg pain along the path of the sciatic nerve. Depending on which vertebral disks are involved, sciatica runs down the back or the side [...]
Continue Reading Add comment March 8th, 2007
