To report the long-term (11-year) outcomes (stability and complications) of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) next term in patients with high myopia. The study took place at university refractive surgery center and it involved Seven patients (4 with bilateral treatment and 3 with unilateral treatment) who had myopic previous LASIK and (more…)
Archive for March, 2007
Eleven-year follow-up of LASIK patients
Saturday, March 24th, 2007New study looks at Infectious and noninfectious Keratitis after LASIK
Saturday, March 24th, 2007A new study was performed at John A. Moran Eye Center (Salt Lake City, Utah) and this study looked at occurence, treatment, and visual outcomes associated with various etiologies of keratitis (inflammation of cornea) as a postoperative complication of laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK). The charts of 5618 post-LASIK patients (10 477 eyes) were reviewed for the development of keratitis. Occurrence rates, management regimens, and final best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) were reported for (more…)
Breast cancer: have we lost our way?
Friday, March 16th, 2007Breast cancer — more than 1,000,000 new cases and 370,000 deaths yearly worldwide
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today (after lung cancer) and is the most common cancer among women, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers. According to the World Health Organization, more than 1.2 million people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year worldwide. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2004, approximately 215,990 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (Stages I-IV). Another 59,390 women will be diagnosed with in situ breast cancer, a very early form of the disease.
Are cancer statistics telling us the full story?
Friday, March 16th, 2007How cancer statistics for conventional treatments are made to look more favorable
There are some common practices used to make medical statistics appear more favorable. For instance, patients who die during prolonged treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy are not included in the statistics, because they do not complete the full treatment. In the control group, everyone who dies is counted. Furthermore, success is judged by the percentage of temporary tumor shrinking, regardless of survival rates. If survival is measured, it is only in terms of dying from the treated disease. How many patients die due to the treatment itself is not normally included.
Prostate cancer and survival
Friday, March 16th, 2007Efficacy of the PSA test
Approximately one man in six will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime, and over 200,000 men in the US are diagnosed with prostate cancer annually. Since the widespread adoption of PSA testing, about 60-70% of men at risk in the US have had a blood test for prostate cancer. As a result, prostate cancer death rates have decreased, yet only slightly. Thirty thousand men still die each year from this disease. PSA testing fails to identify a small but significant proportion of aggressive cancers, and only about 30% of men with a “positive” PSA have a positive biopsy. Additionally, of men who were treated for prostate cancer, about 25% require additional treatment, presumably due to disease recurrence. Also of concern is the growing evidence that treatments may not be necessary. Very long-term studies from the
US and Europe, following men with prostate cancer, have found that some tumors do not progress over time. In these individuals, prostate cancer treatment is unnecessary, if not harmful. As these men do not benefit from treatment, they are actually at risk of treatment-related side effects and complications