Men who underwent annual prostate cancer screening with prostate-specific antigen testing and digital rectal examination had a 12 percent higher incidence of prostate cancer than men in the control group but the same rate of death from the disease.
The influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force finds that routine PSA testing does men more harm than good.
Are older patients being over tested? There is little evidence the elderly benefit from colon, breast and prostate cancer screening — and considerable risk.
Robotic prostatectomy proliferated quickly, but what it means for patients and the health care system, is still a matter of study and debate.
Sometimes, delaying treatment while regularly monitoring the progress of a disease — a strategy called “watchful waiting” — may be better than starting treatment right away.
For men with prostate cancer that grows slowly, the treatments may cause more harm than good.
The treatment is an novel immune therapy in which a patient’s immune cells are stimulated to attack prostate cancer cells more aggressively.
FDA weighs Seattle company’s cancer vaccine. Officials investigate reports of H1N1 vaccine side effects. Con artists take advantage of confusion over health reform.
People don’t always want to do what the data say to do.
Dr. Carolyn Clancy Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, writes a regular advice column for consumers to help them navigate the health-care system. In this column, Dr Clancy talks about efforts to create guides to help patients decide which treatments are best for them.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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