Diagnosis and Treatment

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, 2010 Update

Overview

Non-Invasive Cancer Test May Help Identify Breast Tumors

Technique Combines Ultrasound and Computer Imaging; Doctors Warn it Does Not Replace Biopsies

After getting numbed up, Sherry Gavanditti had to watch while doctors removed a corkscrew-sized piece of tissue from her left breast.

She saw the rotating circular knife pierce her flesh, and then heard what she said sounded like a staple gun.

Cost-Conscious Cancer Survivors Skip Care

Research suggests millions are going without needed medical services

Millions of Americans with a history of cancer, particularly people under age 65, are delaying or skimping on medical care because of worries about the cost of treatment, a new study suggests.

The finding raises troubling questions about the long-term survival and quality of life of the 12 million adults in the United States whose lives have been forever changed by a diagnosis of cancer.

Mouth Cancer Prognosis Improves When Cervical Cancer Virus Involved

Finding HPV in tumor meant lower death rates in those with cancer at back of the mouth, study finds

For patients battling a type of cancer that affects the back of the mouth, the chances of survival increase if the tumor contains the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, new research shows.

Scientists Cite Advances on Two Kinds of Cancer

Scientists Cite Advances on Two Kinds of Cancer

CHICAGO — Using two opposite strategies, one focused and one broad, scientists say they have made progress in taming two of the most intractable types of cancer.

Breast Cancer Study Offers New Hope

Giving certain breast cancer patients estrogen-lowering drugs before surgery enhances their chances of being able to choose a breast-conserving lumpectomy instead of a full mastectomy, new research suggests.

The observation was based on a national study launched at 118 hospitals across the United States. It focused on postmenopausal women who had been diagnosed with estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer that was either at stage II or stage III -- that is, tumors that were around an inch or greater in size and might have spread to the lymph nodes under the arm.

Cancer Survivor, Debra's Blog

Cancer by nature is a pretty private, individual disease. I think I heard somewhere that over 35 different diseases that affect the breast in the same way are all put under the same label of breast cancer. Course of treatment varies widely, and each woman's response to treatment varies just as widely. The after effects and aftermath are intensely personal and at times highly embarrassing to deal with.

So why am I choosing to post my private battle online? I had to think long and hard about that but I realized the benefits far outweighed the potential drawbacks for me:

What is a Transvaginal Ultrasound?

A transvaginal ultrasound is a sonogram performed through the vagina that allows for close-up views of the pelvic organs. The bladder, the reproductive organs, including the cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries plus portions of the colon can be visualized and evaluated using sound wave imaging. There is no radiation exposure from a transvaginal ultrasound.

Transvaginal ultrasound may help:

Cancer Costs Double in Less Than 20 Years

Over a period of nearly two decades, the medical costs of cancer care almost doubled in constant dollars, but remained proportional to other medical costs, researchers said.

Over the same time -- from 1987 to 2005 -- cancer costs shifted away from inpatient care, according to Florence Tangka of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues.

Meanwhile, the share of cancer costs picked up by private insurers and Medicaid increased while private, out-of-pocket expenditures declined slightly, they reported online in the journal Cancer.

17 Years Later, Stage 4 Survivor Is Savoring a Life Well Lived

Each year on a day in January — the 15th, to be precise — I go to a Web site and post a message to hundreds of women I’ve never met, saying, essentially, “I’m still here.”

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