A weekly podcast on the latest medical, science and telehealth news.
Tag Archives: Medicine
Prevention: The Benefits Of Well-Woman Exams
For women and people assigned female at birth (AFAB), taking care of your health requires more than an annual physical. You should also visit a women’s health specialist — like an Ob/Gyn, midwife or nurse practitioner — each year to keep healthy. More than just a checkup for your breasts/chest and reproductive organs; well-woman exams can also help you develop rapport with a women’s health specialist.
“Well-women exams are important for a number of reasons. No. 1 is that they help you to establish care with a specialist so that if there is a problem down the road, you have a provider that you know and feel comfortable talking to,” says Ob/Gyn Amanda Elbin, MD.
That comfort level is important, too, especially because many of us may not feel comfortable talking with just anyone about issues “down there.”
MEDICINE: WHY LONG COVID IS STILL NOT UNDERSTOOD
Even mild COVID-19 is at least correlated with a startlingly wide spectrum of seemingly every illness. We need a much better taxonomy to address people’s suffering.
From The Atlantic, October 5, 2022:
The cases of long covid that turn up in news reports, the medical literature, and in the offices of doctors like me fall into a few rough (and sometimes overlapping) categories. The first seems most readily explainable: the combination of organ damage, often profound physical debilitation, and poor mental health inflicted by severe pneumonia and resultant critical illness.
This serious long-term COVID-19 complication gets relatively little media attention despite its severity. The coronavirus can cause acute respiratory distress syndrome, the gravest form of pneumonia, which can in turn provoke a spiral of inflammation and injury that can end up taking down virtually every organ. I have seen many such complications in the ICU: failing hearts, collapsed lungs, failed kidneys, brain hemorrhages, limbs cut off from blood flow, and more. More than 7 million COVID-19 hospitalizations occurred in the United States before the Omicron wave, suggesting that millions could be left with damaged lungs or complications of critical illness. Whether these patients’ needs for care and rehabilitation are being adequately (and equitably) met is unclear: Ensuring that they are is an urgent priority.
Diagnosis: Gastro – Oesophageal Reflux
Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common disorder in adults and children. The global prevalence of GERD is high and increasing. Non-erosive reflux disease is the most common phenotype of GERD. Heartburn and regurgitation are considered classic symptoms but GERD may present with various atypical and extra-oesophageal manifestations. The pathophysiology of GERD is multifactorial and different mechanisms may result in GERD symptoms, including gastric composition and motility, anti-reflux barrier, refluxate characteristics, clearance mechanisms, mucosal integrity and symptom perception.
In clinical practice, the diagnosis of GERD is commonly established on the basis of response to anti-reflux treatment; however, a more accurate diagnosis requires testing that includes upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy and reflux monitoring. New techniques and new reflux testing parameters help to better phenotype the condition. In children, the diagnosis of GERD is primarily based on history and physical examination and treatment vary with age.
Treatment in adults includes a combination of lifestyle modifications with pharmacological, endoscopic or surgical intervention. In refractory GERD, optimization of proton-pump inhibitor treatment should be attempted before a series of diagnostic tests to assess the patient’s phenotype.
DOCTORS PODCAST: MEDICAL & TELEHEALTH NEWS (OCT 2)
A weekly podcast on the latest medical, science and telehealth news.
Breast Cancer: Benefits Of An Early Mammogram
A women’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is one in eight. Research has shown that the earlier you detect breast cancer the more options there are for treatment and a better chance for a cure.
What is a mammogram?
A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray of breast tissue. Healthcare providers use mammograms, or mammography, to look for early signs of breast cancer before symptoms develop. This is called a screening mammogram. Providers also use mammography to look for any abnormalities if you develop a new symptom, such as a lump, pain, nipple discharge or breast skin changes. This is called a diagnostic mammogram.
Aside from skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer that affects people assigned female at birth and represents 14% of all new cancer diagnoses in the United States. While breast cancer treatment therapies continue to improve and have contributed to a reduction in cancer-related deaths, early diagnosis through screening mammograms has a greater overall impact on survival rates.
Cervical Cancer: Its Risks, Symptoms & Treatment
Learning about cervical cancer can be intimidating. Kristina Butler, M.D., a gynecologic oncologist at Mayo Clinic, walks you through the facts, the questions, and the answers to help you better understand this condition.
Video timeline: 0:00 Introduction 0:38 What is cervical cancer? 1:16 Who gets cervical cancer? / Risk factors 2:23 Symptoms of cervical cancer 3:03 How is cervical cancer diagnosed? 4:26 Treatment options 5:20 Coping methods/ What now? 6:10 Ending
Glaucoma: The Risks Of Ocular Hypertension
Often described as the silent thief of sight, glaucoma is the most common cause of irreversible blindness in the world. High pressure in the eye damages the optic nerve, first stealing peripheral vision (what you see at the corners of your eyes) and later harming central vision (what you see when looking straight ahead). Usually, people notice no symptoms until vision loss occurs.
Lowering high eye pressure is the only known treatment to prevent or interrupt glaucoma. But does everyone with higher-than-normal eye pressure need to be treated? A major long-term study provides some clues, though not yet a complete answer.
Does everyone with high eye pressure develop glaucoma?
In the US, glaucoma affects an estimated three million people, half of whom do not know that they have it. An ophthalmologist can perform a comprehensive eye exam to determine if someone has glaucoma, or is at risk for developing it in the future due to high eye pressure (ocular hypertension). Research from the long-running Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) shows that some people with high eye pressure may never develop glaucoma, while others will.
DOCTORS PODCAST: MEDICAL & TELEHEALTH NEWS (SEP 25)
A weekly podcast on the latest medical, science and telehealth news.
Medicine: Adult-Onset Autoimmune Diabetes
- Adult-onset autoimmune diabetes encompasses a wide spectrum of heterogeneous genotypes and phenotypes, ranging from classic adult-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus to latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA)
- The heterogeneity of LADA arises from its definition as being present in any adult with diabetes who does not require insulin and who is positive for any islet autoantibody, regardless of titre, number or epitope specificity
- The heterogeneity of LADA manifests in different clinical phenotypes, ranging from prevalent insulin resistance to prevalent insulin deficiency, each of which might be associated with different autoimmune and metabolic markers
- Although patients with LADA are leaner and have healthier lipid and blood pressure profiles, evidence shows that there is no difference in cardiovascular outcomes between these patients and those with type 2 diabetes mellitus
Doctors Without Waiting Rooms 