Delay in diagnosis of lung cancer is a common basis for medical malpractice claims in the State of Ohio. Results of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) published recently in the journal Cancer show that screening of smokers for lung cancer saves lives. In fact, screening of all eligible heavy smokers has the potential to prevent about 12,000 deaths each year [...]
For treatment of stroke, "time is brain." This means the sooner that treatment can restore blood flow to the brain, the more likely the patient will have a good outcome. I have previously written about one such treatment: clot busting medications. Clot busters, such as tPA, must be given within 4.5 hours of the onset [...]
A delay in diagnosis of cancer can spell disaster for young women with breast cancer. Physicians often miss a breast cancer diagnosis in young women because of a simple bias that the disease usually affects only older women. This is just not true. It is well-known that breast cancer can afflict younger women (usually defined as women [...]
When the diagnosis of stroke is unnecessarily delayed, the patient's treatment options become critically limited. Thromboembolic strokes, i.e., those caused by blood clots (thrombus) that travel (embolize) through blood vessels to cut off blood flow to the brain, can be treated by clot busting medications (thrombolytics such as tPA), but only if treatment is commenced within a certain [...]
New guidelines published by the American Heart Association (AHA) urge administration of clot busting medications, called tissue plasminogen activator (or, TPA), within 60 minutes of arrival at a hospital. TPA dissolves clots. It can be given intravenously or applied directly to the clot through a catheter in a procedure performed by an interventional radiologist. TPA can only be [...]
Misdiagnosis of pulmonary embolism (PE) is a common basis for medical negligence actions. The problem arises because PE can masquerade as other medical conditions such as heart attack or sepsis. It is erroneous to make assumptions about common symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pain without doing a proper and thorough workup. Oftentimes, this [...]
Stroke can occur in patients experiencing atrial fibrillation (A Fib). Due to the irregular beating of the heart caused by A Fib, blood clots can build up in the heart. These clots are at risk of being ejected from the heart and traveling to the brain where they cause stroke. Strokes can have devastating consequences for its [...]
Heart attacks remain one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. Much attention has been given to prevention of heart attacks through diet, exercise and smoking cessation. Despite these efforts, heart attacks still happen in abundance. More attention is needed on what to do when a heart attack happens. The key to surviving heart [...]
Over 12,000 new cases of cervical cancer occur in the U.S. each year. About 4,000 women die annually from the disease. In an effort to improve timely diagnosis of the disease, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) published updated guidelines on cervical cancer screening. These guidelines parallel recommendations by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and the American [...]
Pulmonary embolism is a leading cause of death and hospitalization in the U.S. There are a number of risk factors for the condition, which occurs when blood clots in the legs (called deep vein thrombosis or DVTs) break free, travel to the lungs and interfere with breathing. If the clot burden is significant enough, patients can [...]