Fifth disease isn’t serious, but it has symptoms that can appear similar to those of more serious illnesses.
Symptoms to Look for: Read more…
Unfortunately, when a new procedure such as IDET comes out, many people jump on the bandwagon. In turn, I suspect that this procedure is being done too often and many times for the wrong reasons. The strict indications for who should have the procedure include a person who has failed an aggressive rehabilitation program and who has low back pain without significant extension of pain into the legs. Read more…
Q.I recently saw on TV a new technique for reducing and or eliminating low back pain. It involved inserting wires into a bulging disc and heating the wires under local anesthesia. This firmed the disc and reduced its size. Can you tell me anything more about this procedure? Who is performing it? Is it experimental? Read more…
Popeye loved it. While spinach might not make you stronger, studies show it may help prevent cancer.
The secret may be in the chlorophyll — the stuff that makes spinach green. Doctors say chlorophyll seems to bind to dangerous foods and keep us from absorbing them. Read more…
At the time of the second biopsy, 50% of patients had normal GPT, 41% had negative HCV RNA, and 36% had normal GPT and negative HCV RNA. Each of these changes was associated with a statistically significant improvement in Knodell index score compared with continued abnormal GPT or positive HCV RNA. Read more…
Several studies reaffirmed the benefits of longer-term IFN therapy on sustained response rates and liver histology.
Bellobuono and colleagues (Milan, Italy) compared six and twelve months of IFN alfa-2b therapy in men with an unknown serum HCV RNA after one month of treatment. One hundred thirty patients with biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis C without cirrhosis received IFN alfa-2b 5-8 MU TIW (genotype 1 a or 1b) or 3-5 MU TIW (genotype 2a or 3a) for 1 month. Read more…
Greg Spitz, M.D., a general and vascular surgeon in Aurora, Ill., has developed one of the newest ideas in varicose vein removal.
The TriVex system, approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1999, requires just three to four 3-millimeter incisions along the affected vein. The doctor threads a instrument under the vein that illuminates it and injects it with fluid and a mild anesthetic. Read more…