Andrew M. Seaman Medical journalist at @Reuters_Health | Lover of policy | @ColumbiaJourn Grad | Native Pennsylvanian | Tweets not endorsements | Opinions my own | Continue reading →

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon May 21, 2012 4:37pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New recommendations from chest and cancer doctors call for lung cancer screening in older adults with a long history of smoking a pack a day or more -- but also highlight the possible harms of screening, including a high risk of false positive tests. The guidelines are based on a review of past studies which compared long-term health in smokers who underwent low-dose CT screening for lung cancer and those who got another cancer test or "usual care" instead.Most of the evidence in favor of screening comes from a single large study known as the National Lung Screening Trial. That study found a 20-percent lower risk of lung ... Continue reading →

By Kerry Grens NEW YORK | Mon May 21, 2012 3:47pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Among hospital intensive care units (ICUs) with a daytime physician specially trained in critical care, adding a specialist to cover the night shift does not improve patients' survival, according to a new study. Among hospitals with ICUs that don't have a dedicated critical care physician during the day, however, the presence of such a doctor at night was tied to a smaller likelihood that patients would die.The results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, counter an argument from some in the medical community that ICUs need round-the-clock intensivists -- doctors who specialize in critical care."Our knee jerk reaction is to try to put intensivists in every ... Continue reading →

By David Beasley ATLANTA | Mon May 21, 2012 10:48pm IST ATLANTA (Reuters) - A Georgia graduate student fighting a rare flesh-eating bacterial infection she contracted after being injured in a zip-line accident nearly three weeks ago is breathing on her own without the help of a ventilator, her father said. The struggle to save 24-year-old Aimee Copeland from necrotizing fasciitis - a bacterial infection that can destroy muscles, skin and tissue - has been chronicled by her father, Andy Copeland, in a blog on the university's website."She has been off of the ventilator for over 10 hours," Andy Copeland wrote late on Sunday. "In other words, she is breathing completely on her own! How cool is that?"Copeland, a student at West Georgia University, slashed ... Continue reading →

By Genevra Pittman NEW YORK | Mon May 21, 2012 11:09am EDT NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Screening for colon cancer using a flexible tube -- which is less invasive and more convenient than colonoscopy -- may also help prevent new cases and deaths from the disease, a new study suggests. In a large trial of more than 150,000 older U.S. adults, those who were randomly assigned to get screened using so-called flexible sigmoidoscopy on two different occasions were 21 percent less likely to get colon cancer than those not offered the screening.They were also 26 percent less likely to die of cancer, probably because screening picked up pre-cancerous lesions and early-stage cancers before they could cause serious harm, researchers reported Monday in the New ... Continue reading →

Our call-out on Facebook for people to share their experiences of the health care system yielded close to 1,000 responses. From Oregon to Florida, respondents told wrenching tales of bankruptcies, medical errors, and treatment delayed or foregone because of cost. Summary On Morning EditionPlaylist Continue reading →

Compiled by the non-profit, non-partisan Health Care Cost Institute, the database will allow researchers to slice and dice more than 3 billion medical claims for more than 33 million individuals in search of answers.The previously confidential information, scrubbed of identifying details, is being provided by three of the nation’s largest insurance companies: Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealthcare--whose combined customers account for about 20 percent of Americans under age 65 who are insured through an employer.Until now, researchers have had to extrapolate from far smaller surveys of employers, or rely on government claims statistics from Medicare, which are almost exclusively limited to Americans over age 65.On Monday, the institute offered a first look at its findings, in a report that largely confirmed previously identified trends, but added ... Continue reading →