Cervical and Ovarian Cancer

New Breast Cancer Drug Approval!

Sources: US Food & Drug Safety Administration; MedScape Pertuzumab ( Perjeta, Genentech/Roche), has been approved in the United States. Perjeta targets HER2-positive breast cancer.  About 1/4 of all cases of breast cancer are HER2-positive.  It is indicated for use in patients with metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer who have not received previous treatment with either chemotherapy or [...]

Tort Reform -The Big Lie

Source: Public Citizen Report -Congress Watch Division (Public Citizen is a national non-profit consumer organization with more than 300,000 members and supporters). Medical malpractice payments were at their lowest level on record in 2011 In contrast to the hundreds of thousands of annual avoidable adverse events (and tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths) that [...]

Future Gene Therapy for Prostate Cancer?

Source:  ScienceDaily; R. L. Vinall, J. Q. Chen, N. E. Hubbard, S. S. Sulaimon, M. M. Shen, R. W. DeVere White, A. D. Borowsky. Initiation of prostate cancer in mice by Tp53R270H, 2012 Researchers from University of California Davis, have found that a genetic mutation may play an important role in the development of prostate cancer.   [...]

How Healthy is your County in New Jersey?

Sources:  The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. Census Bureau The 2012 County Health Rankings report, the third annual, is out today and measures each of the 3,005 counties in the U.S.  The report, which draws on data from the CDC, the Dartmouth Health Atlas, the U.S. [...]

HPV Test is Better than Pap Test for Cervical Cancer?

Sources: The Lancet; US Preventivie Serivices Task Force; WebMD It appears that way.  It is largely accepted that 90% of all cervical cancers are caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV).  Accordingly, a team of Dutch researchers set out to determine whether detecting the cause of the majority of cervical cancers could out-predict the traditional test.  45,000 [...]

Re-thinking Chemotherapy.

Source:  Medical News Today; Science journal Chemotherapy used to be a very blunt instrument.  The chemicals used in chemotherapy were originally developed for destruction of human life of the battlefields of World Wars (ie. Mustard gas).  This is once of the reasons why chemotherapy causes injuries to other organs, damaging symptoms such as hair loss, [...]

$775,000 Settlement for Delayed Diagnosis of Advanced Cancer

Injury:  Death of Patient from Stage IV abdominal cancer Age of Patient at Injury:  55 years old Result:  $775,000 Settlement after Arbitration Court:  Philadelphia, PA Comment:  Our client was a 55 year old woman diagnosed with advanced (stage IV) abdominal cancer.  It was known at the time of her fibroid surgery that she had an [...]

$850,000 Settlement with U.S. Govt. for Dealyed Diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer

Injury:  Death from delay in diagnosis of ovarian cancer Age of Patient at Injury:  52 years old Result:  $850,000 Settlement Court:  U.S. District Court, Philadelphia, PA Comment:  Our client's children brought suit for the death of their Mother from the delayed diagnosis of ovarian cancer.  Ovarian cancer is a very treatable form of cancer when [...]

The Pill lowers the Risk of Ovarian Cancer

Source: BBC Health News; National Cancer Institute, US National Institutes of Health A study published in the British Journal of Cancer suggest that women who take the Pill (contraception) for 10 years have 1/2 the risk of ovarian cancer.  Ovarian Cancer forms in tissues of the ovary.  1 in 72 women will be diagnosed with [...]

US Preventive Services Task Force Releases Draft Recommendations for Cervical Cancer Screening

Source: USPSTF Website The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is an organization which makes recommendations about preventive care services or screeing for patients who do not yet have symptoms of diseases.  The USPSTF has now released the following Draft Recommendations for Cervical Cancer Screening in women. Women between from 21 to 65 who have had vaginal intercourse [...]