Categories
Cancer Medicine

The unsinkable rubber duck of a myth that bras cause breast cancer

Besides being a researcher and prolific blogger, I still maintain a practice in breast cancer surgery. It’s one of the more satisfying specialties in oncology because, in the vast majority of cases I treat, I can actually remove the cancer and “cure” the patient. (I use the quotes because we generally don’t like to use […]

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Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine Quackery

A Scottish doctor endorses Robert O. Young’s “pH Miracle Living”

I didn’t think I’d be revisiting this topic so quickly. However, given that I’m at TAM and I don’t have a lot of time to do one of my usual 2,000 word epics for a change, I thought that this story, which popped up the other day while I was traveling was at least worth […]

Categories
Medicine

Uncertainty versus certainty in the mammography wars

As I write this, I am winging my way home from the 2014 meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR, Twitter hashtag #AACR14) in San Diego. (OK, I’m revising this to fit the format and, of course, the Insolence of this particular blog. Shockingly, I didn’t have as much time to blog in […]

Categories
Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

The Canadian Breast Screening Study attacked: Why do doctors have such a hard time with the concept of overdiagnosis?

The last couple of weeks, I’ve made allusions to the “Bat Signal” (or, as I called it, the “Cancer Signal,” although that’s a horrible name and I need to think of a better one). Basically, when Bat Cancer Signal goes up (hey, I like that one better, but do bats get cancer?), it means that […]

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Cancer Medicine Popular culture

Fear mongering over cell phones and cancer by Dr. Oz

These days, Dr. Oz seems to stand for everything I oppose in medicine: Fear mongering, quackery, making claims that he can’t back up with science, and, of course, filthy lucre. On second thought, I’m not against filthy lucre per se. In fact, I wouldn’t mind having some of it myself. However, I also want to […]