MEDICAL

Medical Research Web Page

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Teaching hospitals facing crisis

BOSTON (AP) - Some of the nation's finest teaching hospitals say they are on financial life-support and the rest could soon face threats to their survival, too. "It is very accurate to call it an absolute crisis," said Neil Rudenstine, president of Harvard University. Low HMO reimbursements and government budget cuts have led to thousands of layoffs, operating losses and projected deficits, and could lead the hospitals to abandon their teaching and research missions, the institutions say. Harvard's five major teaching hospitals have deficits totaling $150 million this year. Detroit's ailing hospitals have eliminated 4,500 jobs since January. The University of Texas medical branch at Galveston projects a $110 million deficit next year.

FDA makes new mammogram provisions

WASHINGTON (AP) - Starting Wednesday, mammography clinics will have to notify women in writing about the results of the breast cancer test. The new regulation by the Food and Drug Administration is in response to reports that some women may not have learned soon enough that they had suspicious mammograms. Mammogram clinics will continue to report results of the X-ray tests to a woman's doctor, who is responsible for ordering additional tests or treatments. Many clinics already voluntarily sent a copy to women. But the new regulation requires clinics to mail women a separate, easy-to-understand report of their test results within 30 days - sooner if the breast X-ray suggests cancer is present. That way the woman knows the results even if her doctor has not yet called.

Obesity risks decline with age

CHICAGO (AP) - Obesity is not as dangerous for elderly people as it is for the middle-aged or young adults, according to a new study. The findings are similar to those of a study reported last year that indicated being overweight shortens life expectancy up to age 75, but does not make much of a difference afterwards unless people are extremely obese. "The absolute risk of dying gets higher and higher as you get older until you die, but the importance of obesity as a risk factor decreases," said Ralf Bender, an obesity researcher at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and principal author of the study published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Killer virus surfaces in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - An outbreak of viral encephalitis that has killed more than 100 people in parts of Malaysia has spread to yet another area of the country. The Nipah virus, named after the first village it struck near the capital, Kuala Lumpur, has infected pigs in the Gopeng and Bidor areas of the northern state of Perak, the government news agency Bernama said Wednesday. The government has ordered the slaughter of nearly 10,000 pigs in those areas, Chief Minister Ramli Ngah Talib was quoted as saying. Health officials first identified the disease as Japanese encephalitis. But the CDC then detected the Nipah virus, a strain similar to the very rare Hendra virus, first discovered in Australia in 1994.

19 cancer patients misdiagnosed

BOSTON (AP) - After reviewing the results of prostate biopsies performed in the mid-1990s, a suburban hospital found that 19 men were misdiagnosed and suffered from cancer they were told they did not have. The flawed prostate biopsy exams were performed by two pathologists who haven't been on the staff since 1997, Linda Shyavitz, president and CEO of Sturdy Memorial Hospital, said Thursday. The hospital, which admitted the mistakes last week, said it reviewed 279 tests and discovered that 20 biopsies on 19 patients had been misread. The tests were taken between 1995 and 1997.

Docs in cancer case give up licenses

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) - Two pathologists accused of mistakenly diagnosing 19 men as free of prostate cancer when they actually had the disease have volunteered to give up their medical licenses temporarily. The state Board of Registration in Medicine said Wednesday the two doctors, John C. DuVally and F. John J. Krolikowski, signed agreements not to practice medicine for 60 days, pending a medical board investigation. The agreements do not preclude the medical board from taking disciplinary action. Between January 1995 and December 1997, the two pathologists allegedly misread 20 biopsies on 19 patients, incorrectly telling the men they were free of cancer.

Safety of anthrax vaccine debated

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional investigators questioned the long-term safety of an anthrax vaccine administered to America's armed forces despite government assurances Thursday that U.S. troops are being protected, not harmed by the shots. Skeptical lawmakers suggested the Defense Department shouldn't continue mandating anthrax vaccinations until further studies ensure there won't be health problems later. The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found no data on long-term effects of the vaccine. Kwai Chan, a GAO official, said federal health and drug safety officials have only looked at whether the vaccine appears to protect people from anthrax and whether there were any immediate adverse reactions to inoculation.

Drinking helps cut bladder cancer

(AP) - Drink more water - or coffee, milk, soda, fruit juice and beer - and you can lower your risk of bladder cancer, a study found. American men who drank at least 11 8-ounce glasses a day of all liquids cut their risk of two common types of bladder cancer in half, compared with men who drank five glasses or less, the study found. Water had an independent protective effect. Men who drank at least six glasses of water a day cut their risk of bladder cancer in half compared with men who had less than one glass, regardless of how much they drank in total liquids. Bladder cancer strikes an estimated 310,000 people worldwide each year and is the fourth most common cancer among American men.

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