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Latest blog posts from Doctor David's Blog

Thank Goodness for Ethics Committees
(Blogger’s Note: Due to the sensitive nature of this case, even more details than usual have been changed.)The patient was coming to me to sign consent to donate bone marrow. Just one problem. She’s pregnant.Does that matter?What if I told you that the bone marrow donor is 23 years old and is...
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Published 3 days ago

Another Trip, Another Conference
I recently had the pleasure of attending the 14th annual meeting of the Connective Tissue Oncology Society in London. This was the kind of medical conference I like the most. It was small, with ample opportunity to meet colleagues from around the world. More importantly, the presentations were...
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Published 7 days ago

The Orwellian Language of Pediatric Oncology
George Orwell is most famous for his novel, 1984, which described a future world run by Big Brother, who controls all aspects of society. One of Big Brother’s methods of control is the manipulation of language, referred to by Orwell as Newspeak �" the use of words to mean essentially their...
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Published 3 weeks ago

It’s Good to be Wrong
Sometimes my job is tough, especially when I have to give someone bad news. In September, I described telling a child and his family about a new nodule on his CT scan. Ordinarily, such a nodule means metastatic disease. Metastatic disease is an ominous sign.In that post, I talked about how to...
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Published 4 weeks ago

Back to the Future: Another Meeting in Denver
Last week I attended the annual meeting of the Children’s Oncology Group. Like last year, the meeting was held in Denver, Colorado. The Children’s Oncology Group is the organization that coordinates the majority of clinical research into childhood cancer in North America. We conduct clinical...
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Published 4 weeks ago

Bravo New Jersey!
Photo CreditIt’s that time of year again. The days are getting shorter, Halloween decorations are appearing, and that can only mean one thing. It’s time to get your flu shot.Every year, the flu shot changes, because every year the strain of influenza virus that circulates changes. Last...
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Published 2 months ago

Cough Medicine for Kids: Update 2008
Photo CreditA year ago, I wrote about an effort by the Baltimore Commissioner of Health, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, to convince the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban the use of over the counter (OTC) cough medicines for young children. Last October, an FDA advisory panel voted 13 to 9 to...
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Published 2 months ago

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
Photo CreditYou would think that we wouldn’t need a month to make people aware of childhood cancer, but we do.Most people don’t know a child who has cancer. I meet people all the time who don’t even realize children can get cancer.Some facts about childhood cancer worth knowing: Cancer is...
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Published 3 months ago

Another Milestone
Our society puts a great deal of weight on anniversaries and especially on multiples of 10, and so it is in that spirit that I note that this is the 100th entry in my blog. Moments like this are supposed to prompt us to reflect on where we’ve been and where we are going to.Where have I been?...
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Published 3 months ago

Could Your Heart Medicine Cause Cancer?
There was a series of interesting articles in the last issue of the New England Journal of Medicine concerning a heart medicine called Vytorin. Perhaps you’ve seen the ads on TV. You know the ones… they show high cholesterol foods and a silly looking person dressed to look like the food to...
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Published 3 months ago

A Concerning CT
“So you’re perfect?”“Yep.”“Unfortunately, you’re CT isn’t perfect.”Today in clinic, I had to tell a family that there is a new nodule in their child’s lung.After the family left, the fellow who follows this patient with me asked, “How do you decide how to break news like...
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Published 3 months ago

Standing Up to Cancer
On September 25, an unprecedented fundraising campaign will be launched. Stand Up to Cancer is a charitable group organized by Entertainment Industry Foundation. Uniting dozens of organizations, large and small, and anchored by a TV special that will air simultaneously on ABC, NBC, and CBS,...
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Published 3 months ago