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Cancer Humor Medicine Surgery

Praise the colorectal surgeon!

Thanks to the ASCO meeting and meeting up with some relatives here in Chicago, I didn’t quite finish what I was going to post this morning. There have been at least a couple of abstracts presented that I wouldn’t mind blogging about; I just haven’t gotten to them yet. I also haven’t forgotten about Jenny […]

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Blog housekeeping Cancer Medicine

On the Road Again: The Skeptics’ Circle, a possible meetup, and Other Administrativia

In a couple of hours, I’ll be en route to my favorite city in the world, a place where, although I lived there for but a brief three years, I felt completely at home. Chicago, baby! Yes, I’m on the way to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago. While there, I’ll […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Friday Woo Medicine Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Your Friday Dose of Woo: A “GEMM” of a bit of woo

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years of doing this little feature, it’s that there are a couple of kinds of woo. Actually, there are certainly more than a couple, but pretty much all woo can be divided into a couple of types. The first time is where the woo […]

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery Skepticism/critical thinking

Accusations against skeptical physicians: 1. “You have no compassion”

Sometimes I wonder if subjecting myself to all this woo is going to my head. Why do I worry that this might be the case? Recently, I made the mistake of getting involved in an e-mail exchange with a prominent antivaccinationist. Perhaps it was my eternal optimism that led me to do this, my inability […]

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Cancer Medicine Surgery

More is not always better: MRI and the increasing mastectomy rate

“Early detection of cancer saves lives.” How many times have you heard this statement or something resembling it? It’s a common assumption (indeed, a seemingly common sense assumption) that detecting cancer early is always a Very Good Thing. Why wouldn’t it be, after all? For many cancers, such as breast cancer and colon cancer, there’s […]