Category: Cancer

When it comes to colon cancer there are particular risk factors which ought to lead a doctor to test the patient for the existence of the cancer. The primary procedure used by physicians to check for colon cancer when a patient has a family history or reports a symptom, like blood in the stool, is the colonoscopy. With this method doctors can visualize the interior of the colon and look for abnormal (and possibly cancerous) growths. Aside from testing individuals who are at a higher risk level, doctors also ordinarily suggest that asymptomatic men and women who are 50 or older undergo routine screening in order to locate any cancer that may be growing in the colon before it reaches an advanced stage.

If the physician performing the colonoscopy is unable to look at the full span of the colon it is feasible that there might be cancer present in the sections that were not examined. Among the reasons that a physician might not complete the colonoscopy is inadequate prior preparation resulting in inadequate visualization or the existence of an obstruction which makes it impossible to pass the scope beyond the region of the obstruction. If situations like these happen the doctor ought to inform the patient and recommend that the individual either undergo an alternative procedure or a repeat colonoscopy. Not doing so could lead to a missed cancer which might grow and progress to an advanced stage prior to being found.

This is what occurred in a published case involving a 54 year old woman who passed away from metastatic colon cancer. The first risk factor her physicians knew about was a family history of cancer of the colon. Throughout the length of six years, physicians performed three colonospies on this patient. In that time the woman informed the doctor that she experienced rectal bleeding and abdominal pain frequently. Besides these 2 symptoms, her physicians, on at least one occasion, additionally noted that she had a third symptom of colon cancer – she had anemia.

The paperwork from 2 of the colonoscopies highlighted that there was incomplete visualization of the ascending colon and cecum as it was not possible to take the scope beyond the transverse colon. However, the doctor who carried out the three colonoscopies and followed her throughout this period continued stating to the woman that her symptoms were because of hemorrhoids.

The Patient was finally diagnosed with colon cancer when her tumor was detected while she was undergoing exploratory surgery to establish the cause of her symptoms. The cancer had grown and spread so far that she needed to have a considerable percentage of her intestines removed and then also needed to endure treatment with chemotherapy. Regrettably, despite treatment she died from the cancer. Her family went forward with a wrongful death lawsuit against the physician for the failure to diagnose her cancer and to notify her that the results of the colonoscopies were not definitive. The law firm handled the matter was able to document that they were able to get a recovery for the family in the sum of $875,000

Physicians employ diagnostic tests as a way to detect or rule out certain diseases. For instance, the colonoscopy is a procedure used to search for or exclude colon cancer. But the result of the test is only as good as the exactness with which the test was carried out. For the procedure a doctor inserts a scope to visualize the inside of the colon in order to find out whether there are polyps or tumors in the colon

When the full colon is not visualized, as in the lawsuit previously mentioned, a physician cannot depend on it to exclude cancer. If the patient does have cancer this could result in a delay in diagnosis that allows the cancer time to grow and progress to an incurable stage. Under such circumstances the physician who counted on such a partial procedure might be liable under a medical malpractice or even wrongful death claim.

The mammogram is a primary tool available to doctors to diagnose a female patient’s breast cancer when it is still in the early stages, thus saving the lives of these women. However physicians at times misread memmograms. This can happen by them either missing an abnormality that is present or interpreting it as benign. In the event that the physician misreads the mammogram the cancer can be undetected until a later mammogram or until a lump is found by a breast examination. This delay might be sufficient for the cancer to spread, lowering the chances that she will be able to keep the breast or survive the cancer.

As an example, look at the documented claim of a woman who had a routine mammogram and was informed that there was no indication of cancer. About 2 years later, she had another mammogram. This time the mammogram was read as displaying no change to the dilated duct from the earlier mammogram. However, the earlier mammogram was free of a dilated duct and hence the physicians did nothing to look into the suspicious change from the earlier, clear, mammogram. Her mammogram was misinterpreted and her cancer was not detected.

When the woman had a subsequent mammogram performed at a different hospital the next year, the doctor who read the mammogram documented a number of small nodular densities. The physician observed that these remained unchanged from the prior mammograms. But, the two past mammograms contained no evidence of nodular densities. Once again, her mammogram was misinterpreted and again her cancer was not found.

When the woman was finally diagnosed at a later date, she had stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized. The main tumor was in the same location where the prior mammogram had been read as showing a dilated duct. The patient pursued a lawsuit against both physicians and hospitals.

The doctor and hospital that read the third mammogram as revealing small nodular densities reached a settlement for an unpublished sum in an amount less that the $2.0 million available in insurance coverage. The physician and hospital that incorrectly interpreted the previous mammogram would not settle for the full amount of the policy. They were willing to pay only a mere $125,000. The case went to trial where evidence was presented that had the mammogram not been incorrectly interpreted the cancer might have been found while only a Stage 1 cancer, which normally has a 5 year survival rate higher than ninety percent. The law firm that handled the claim reported that the jury gave the woman $12.0 million.

This lawsuit demonstrates various important points. To begin, two separate mammograms were misread by two different doctors at two different hospitals. Plus the two physicians attributed results to earlier mammograms which were not present in those earlier mammograms. It is tough to explain how this might have occurred unless the doctors both looked at a different patient’s mammogram as the comparison. But the chances of this happening twice at two different hospitals is extremely unlikely. However the degree of negligence that would be required otherwise is genuinely unexcusable. The jury seems to have agreed.

A person newly diagnosed with cancer needs help as they will be in shock and will blindly follow the authority without stopping and applying any common sense. A person newly diagnosed does indeed need all the help they can get so lets look at what you can do to help overcome the problem of cancer.

Here in this article you will find genuine help with facts and information on cancer, so you can learn a little about the disease and can then select your best treatment options.

When one is first diagnoses with cancer one is completely bewildered as why they got it. Its because we dont have cancer prevention today except being told not to smoke and dont get sunburnt, where as cancer has many causes and its help with this information you need. That unwanted growth grew for a reason and it grew because we are not told all the factors that cause it.

Cancer is related to the way we live, especially with the consumption of the many foods we eat on a daily bases that are not suitable for the human body. Proof of that is cancer is not evenly distributed around the world and is only a major problem in developed countries where as it is rare in undeveloped counties where people eat a more natural diet. Treatments today are solely focused on removing the cancer growths but give scant regard to the all important reason why it first grew. That is why it often returns. They havent addressed the underlying cause of the problem.

Cancer does not have a single cause but has dozens of causes and one needs to look at all of these.

Step 1; Change the food you eat as what we eat everyday is the foundation of our health. We humans are designed to eat freshly grown fruit and vegetables, some whole grains and nuts. Of course our diets today have strayed far from those foods and most of the food we now consume contain fat, salt or refined sugar, which are all known contributors to cancer. A strict natural diet is of paramount importance.

Step 2; Exercise is very important to a person that has been diagnosed with cancer as we are designed to be active. Exercise boosts the immune system, our built in repair system which keeps us healthy and cancer is simply a disease of a weak immune system that has been weakened by the way we live. A strong immune system not only keeps us healthy but will attack and remove cancer cells.

Step 3; Remove all chemicals that we surround ourselves with now days. Many of these chemicals affect us and none have been tested for long term effects like cancer. Personal care products are probably the worst as we apply them directly to our skin and the chemicals are then absorbed into our body through our pores. There are many others including fly sprays which we all believe to harmless but are all contributing to weakening our immune system.

Step 4; Many people newly diagnosed with cancer have had a major disruption in their life like a personal tragedy or a financial crisis and its this emotional stress that can have a devastating affect on the immune system. My suggestion here is to seek the help of a professional councillor and help work through the problem.

Step 5; More important than eating the correct food is to remove the unsuitable food that we consume every day. Processed food is nutritionally dead food as many of them contain refined sugar. Refined sugar is cancer cells natural source of energy and that fact was proven way back in 1931.

Our orthodox treatments today reflect the way we live, meaning, we just want to rid the body of these unwanted growths as quickly as possible and radiation and chemotherapy are good at that, to some degree.

A natural approach to cancer can be quite demanding as it requires big lifestyle changes, especially with the food we eat. But millions of people worldwide have successfully cured themselves by making these changes and have become cancer free. Curing cancer is easier if youre mentally prepared and fully educated on the subject.

There are several types of treatment that is often recommended for prostate cancer and there are pros and cons to each one. Hormone treatments do work relatively well for many men. In fact, hormone treatment for prostate cancer is one way that some doctors choose to treat prostate cancer. In men, testosterone is the main hormone found in the testes. Sometimes there is an overproduction of these cells. When this happens, cancer can occur. For this reason, some treatments include hormone treatment for prostate cancer. Some men may need a different form of treatment, especially if the cancer is in the late stages. However, this may be the right treatment for many. Here is a little about how this type of treatment works and the advantages and disadvantages.

How Hormone Treatment for Prostate Cancer Works:

The main goal of hormone therapy to treat prostate cancer is to block the testosterone and decrease the chances of prostate cancer cells from forming or growing. Doctors want to stop or slow down the growth of these cells. Hormones are almost always recommended for young men and those are relatively healthy. Medications are used for hormone treatments. Most doctors will prescribe these medications to take three times a day. In addition, injections are also given once every three months. Here are some advantages of hormone treatment for prostate cancer.
This type of treatment is usually a good option for men that have caught the cancer in its early stages. It is gentler on the body than other types of prostate cancer treatment.
It usually works well. Men who get this form of treatment find that it does work relatively well. Some people prefer waiting it out, however, hormone treatment can help in that situation.

Here are the disadvantages of hormone treatment for prostate cancer:
If it begins to fail to work, then it will not begin to work again. This means that another form of treatment will have to be pursued. One other option is to have the testes removed to take away the possibility of the cancer cells spreading to other parts of the body. This is often the best form of treatment for late stage prostate cancer.
It has side effects. Side effects of hormone treatment for prostate cancer include decreased sex drive, nausea, breast enlargement, liver damage, fatigue, weight gain, hot flashes and reduced muscle and bone mass.
Typical hormone treatments will not kill the cancer cells. Instead, it will reduce the size and amount of the cells. This type of treatment is not effective or recommended for late stages of prostate cancer.

Only you and your doctor can decide what type of hormone treatment for prostate cancer is right for you. When you find out you have prostate cancer, the best thing you can do is to do your research and work with your doctor to find the best treatment.