The da Vinci Surgical system

The da Vinci Surgical system provides surgeons with an alternative to both traditional open surgery and conventional laparoscopy, putting a surgeon's hands at the controls of a state-of-the-art robotic platform. The da Vinci System enables surgeons to perform even the most complex and delicate procedures through very small incisions with unmatched precision.

For the patient, benefits may include:
1. Significantly less pain
2. Less blood loss
3. Less scarring
4. Shorter recovery time
5. A faster return to normal daily activities
6. And in many cases, better clinical outcomes

Breast Cancer "Dipstick Test" Being Developed at Harvard

Imagine simple test that, with a few drops of urine, could detect breast cancer. Could it be possible? Yes, at Harvard, it is being developed. Researchers and scientists from Harvard’s Children's Hospital in Boston are working to develop a simple breast cancer "dipstick test" to detect breast cancer at very early stages. Marsha Moses, director of the Vascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital, has been working on the exciting research area of bio-markers that use biological compounds that could signal or warn patients about the potential risk of developing cancer breast cancer.

The MMP-9 and ADAM-12 biomarkers data has been licensed to a biotech company that will work on a simple breast cancer dipstick in which a few drops could be rapidly used to asses the risk of a woman to develop breast cancer. In this way certain drugs, that inhibits angiogenesis, could be administered without even knowing where the tumor is. The breast cancer dipstick test is not available commercially yet but we will probably see it soon in the market.

Chemoprevention: Drug Therapy to Prevent Cancer

Chemoprevention is a new buzz word in cancer prevention. It involves the use of drugs such as tamoxifen and raloxifene to lower the risk of cancer. Learn about the basics of chemoprevention and how it works.

Drugs to Prevent Cancer
Cancer is taking over heart diseases as the number one killer in developed countries. Cancer deaths account for 25% of all deaths in the United States. In the fight against cancer, chemoprevention has emerged as a new and exciting weapon. By definition, chemoprevention is the use of drug to prevent a disease from occuring. Ideally, use of chemopreventive agents will help the body to recognized mutated cells and remove them from the system before they grow and divide uncontrollably.

One of the most celebrated chemopreventive agent is tamoxifen. Clinical trials show that tamoxifen reduces the risk of developing breast cancer in women at high risk for breast cancer by 50%. Tamoxifen, however, has a small probabiliy of serious side-effects. It may cause uterine cancer and blood clots.
Despite the evidence that it reduces the risk of developing breast cancer in high-risk women, tamoxifen has not been widely accepted for chemoprevention largely because of the lack of evidence that survival is improved in women who receive tamoxifen as a chemopreventive agent, and a small risk of serious adverse events, including uterine cancer and blood clots in the legs or lungs.
Raloxifene is another drug that has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of breast cancer. It is often used in the context of treating osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. Raloxifene's side effects are not as seious as tamoxifen.
Aspirin is another poster child for chemoprevention. Clinical trials show that use of low-dose aspirin can reduce the risk of colorectal cancer by 30-60%. It is suggested that aspirin affects colorectal cancer through the COX pathway.Aspirin in combination with statin not only reduces risk of cancer but also reduces risk of heart diseases.
Erlotinib has been shown to prevent oral cancer in people at high risk for the disease. Erlotinib is believed to inhibit tumor growth by targeting the EPGR (epidermal growth factor receptor).

Pill Identifier Use for Non-Medical Professionals

If you've ever been unable to identify a pill, a pill identifier is a useful tool for your home health arsenal. Find out what they are and who can benefit from their use.

Have you ever picked up a prescription at the pharmacy, only to get home and find that the pills in the bottle aren't the same as the ones you usually take? Have you ever found an unidentified pill on the bottom of your purse? If either of these situations have happened to you, then you've had a good reason to use a pill identifier.

A pill identifier can be an online tool or a book that is used to help identify pills that are prescription or and over the counter types. Online versions of the pill identifier usually allow you to search by shape, color, size, or imprint of a pill. Books may classify pills by color, size, and shape as well. The pill identifier can assist you identifying pills before you take them so that you don't take the wrong medication and suffer harmful effects.

There are several popular pill identifiers available online and in print. Physician's Desk Reference, a well-known drug reference handbook, contains a section that shows pictures of pills in different dosages. Online versions are more plentiful, with popular versions found at WebMD, Drugs.com, and RxList.com. These Web sites make it easy for users to enter information and view results based on their input.

SBRT 'Highly Effective' in Early Lung Cancer

A high-tech type of radiation treatment called stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has been demonstrated to be a "highly effective" treatment in early-stage lung cancer for patients who are not eligible for surgery, according to a study co-authored by a University of Kentucky physician.

The treatment uses very large doses of high-energy radiation (x-rays) aimed directly at tumors with great precision and accuracy, thus sparing the surrounding, healthy tissue from damage. The process has been compared to "painting" with radiation.

Dr. Ronald McGarry, clinical associate professor and vice chairman of radiation medicine at the UK College of Medicine, says SBRT is becoming the new standard of treatment for early-stage lung cancers that cannot be treated surgically.

To know more about this treatment, Wait till next week, KentuckyDoc is coming soon...

Human Papilloma Virus Infection and PreventionIn the Adolescent population

With the recent availability of a quadrivalent vaccine against Human papillomavirus (HPV), there has been a surge of published information about this infection in both the scientific and lay press. Medical-care providers desire more detailed information about HPV in order to answer the frequently-asked questions posed by their patients and their patient’s parents/guardians. It’s important to have a thorough and accurate understanding of the incidence/prevalence; risk factors for infection; pathophysiology; disease consequences of infection; updated screening guidelines for disease detection; and the latest information about HPV immunization including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices guidelines, efficacy in both viral-naïve and non-naïve populations, persistence of cross-neutralizing antibody levels, delayed anamnestic response to viral challenge and potential adverse events from vaccine.

This article covers information that will enable you to diagnose, manage and prevent HPV infection in your patient population. Dr. W. David Hager, M.D., Women’s Care Center have discussed this in detail in our KentuckyDoc magazine.

Got EMR?

What is going on with your EMR implementation? If you’re a physician or a physician practice manager, this topic has certainly come up in the past year. Although the question has come up, you may have very well not done anything yet. With the promise of Federal Government incentives, payer penalties and the horror stories of deinstallation from some of your colleagues, you may likely be frozen in place, too confused or too scared to take the plunge. How can you overcome this inertia? After all, you’re in the business of practicing medicine not Information Technology!


The good news is there are more resources than ever before to help with a structured software selection process. Also, there are IT companies that offer healthcare consulting and that have staff with clinical experience and healthcare software experience that can prove invaluable as you move forward with an EMR selection and implementation. There is a vast array of EMR vendors; sometimes the most difficult step is narrowing the field.

If you would like more information about this article, read our KentuckyDoc magazine, coming out next week.