Category: Medicine Hat News

Posted on

Docs for Cancer

I am getting my head shaved, for a good cause!

Debbie Bullman from Hair Palace and Colleen Wilson from the Canadian Cancer Society are going to help me do this on Friday May 30th, 2003 at the Kin Coulee Park. In conjunction with the Relay for Life event. And we may have other doctors join in.

We are calling this Docs for Cancer, similar to Cops for Cancer fundraisers to beat cancer.

Cancer patients undergo many events in their lives � from their first visit to their doctor when they don�t even know if they have cancer to treatment and recovery. Many of these events are physically and emotionally painful.

The standard treatment for cancer consists of surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Not all patients require radiation therapy or chemotherapy. But fair numbers do.

Those who do not respond to the standard treatment are given a choice of other methods of treatment � many of those treatments are experimental and their outcome is unpredictable.

Every treatment has likely complications. One complication which is quite common is hair loss.

So, Cops for Cancer and now Docs for Cancer are events to express empathy for cancer patients.

Over the years, I have looked after many cancer patients. They have been young and they have been old. And they have come from all walks of life. There is hardly a family which has not been affected by cancer.

And I am no exception. In 1996, my sister Gulshan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She died within four months. She had just turned 60. She was beginning to plan her life into retirement and worldly travel with her husband when she was told to make plans for the last journey.

In 1971, she had come to Canada as a refugee from Uganda. She had six children (triplets were one year old). She lived in Quebec for a year or two then moved to Vancouver. After doing few odd jobs, Gulshan and her husband opened a business. They worked very hard to raise six children. Just when they thought that their parental duties where almost done � it was time for Gulshan to say goodbye to her family, her retirement and her worldly travel plans.

That is how cancer is. And that is how life is. Life isn�t getting any better. There is danger everywhere. We do not know what is going to kill us � heart disease, cancer, motor vehicle accident, a bomb at an unlikely place, a sadistic sniper or a kidnapper, a virus (SARS), a mosquito (West Nile), floods, tornado, or blizzard?

But we can look at the positive side of life too. There so many things in life we can be thankful for. Life has to be kept in proper perspective. And we have to take care of the people who have had the misfortune to be worse off than we are.

What events like Relay for Life, Cops for Cancer, and Docs for Cancer do is to make us appreciate what life is all about � celebration, happiness and caring. And there are many unsung heroes who make a significant contribution in society to make others feel better.

So, for me the most embarrassing question is: Is my hair worth anything? Would you like to see your face on my shiny bald head? No, is not the answer because I need your donation for the Cancer Society!

So, phone in your pledges to my office (527-0099) or to Hair Palace (527-4433) or to Cancer Society (528-2125). And be at the Kin Coulee Park to have fun.

Click here to view photos taken at the event.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

Treatment of Warts

Warts are ugly and sometimes painful. They are contagious. Most people who get warts are otherwise healthy. People whose immunity is poor have a tendency to get more warts than others.

Warts are a type of infection caused by viruses in the human papillomavirus (HPV) family. There are at least 60 types of HPV viruses. Everyone is frequently exposed to the virus, but it is not known why certain parts of our body accept certain types of viruses at certain times.

Warts can grow on all parts of our body. They can grow on our skin, on the inside of our mouth, on our genitals and on our rectal area. Some types of HPV tend to cause warts on the skin, while other HPV types tend to cause warts on the genitals and rectal area.

Warts on the hand may be passed to another person when that person touches the warts. It is also possible to get warts from using towels or other objects that were used by a person who has warts.

Warts on the genitals can be passed to another person during sexual intercourse. It is important not to have unprotected sex if you or your partner has warts on the genital area. In women, warts can grow on the cervix (inside the vagina), and a woman may not know she has them. She may pass the infection to her sexual partner without even knowing it.

Often warts disappear on their own, although it may take many months, or even years, for the warts to go away. It is not known why some warts disappear and others don’t.

Generally, warts require treatment. Warts are often bothersome. They can bleed and cause pain when they’re bumped. They can also cause embarrassment, for example if they grow on your face. Treatment may also decrease the chance that the warts will spread to other areas of your body or to other people.

What are plantar warts?

Plantar warts are common warts that have the distinction of growing on the bottom of the foot (“planta” is Latin for sole).

Since they are on the sole of the foot, where pressure is applied, plantar warts grow inward and can be extremely painful. They tend to be flat and hard, usually gray or brown in color, with one or more pinpoints of black in the center.

A plantar wart is not the same thing as a corn or callous, as the wart may not be located over a bony prominence.

A virus causes plantar warts. Thus they are contagious, but require that the virus contact the skin or with clothing that has come into contact with a wart. The plantar wart is usually contracted by walking barefoot where the virus can be found. There is no known way to prevent them.

Children are more susceptible to warts than adults. The virus thrives in warm, moist environments (such as locker rooms).

Plantar warts can disappear spontaneously and recur later. They can be intensely painful when pressure is placed directly on the wart.

Preventative measures that may be taken include changing shoes daily, keeping the feet clean and dry, and avoiding direct contact with warts, even your own.

What is the treatment for warts?

There are more than 100 known treatments of warts, including several folk remedies. (Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn recommended three: dead cats, beans, and spunk-water.) Modern medicine has developed a number of approaches. These include:
-Applying salicylic acid
-Applying liquid nitrogen
-Electrocautery (burning the wart with an electric needle)
-Laser surgery

Local anesthetics may be required. None of these treatments is guaranteed to work in every case. And warts can come back!

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

SARS

What can I write about SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) that has not been reported already in the media?

From my research, I found that SARS has been reported to WHO since 1999 – but it did not make big headlines until earlier this year when several countries were affected.

WHO website says that on February 13th, 1999 an outbreak of an unidentified disease was reported to have occurred in Darwaz, Badakhshan, Afghanistan.

The outbreak began after two young men returned from the village of Waram, both suffering from an acute respiratory infection. Over the next two days, approximately 40 persons living in the same household became ill.

The disease then spread through the whole village, affecting 70-80 per cent of households. The village has a population of 5400. The deaths occurred among both males and females and involved primarily infants and the elderly.

The disease was described to be flu-like and is characterized by abrupt onset of fever, headaches and muscle pain, followed by chest pain and cough. Living and sanitary conditions were crowded, and the water supply was unprotected. Nutrition was of poor quality.

WHO website does not mention any SARS cases in 2000 and 2001. Between April and December of 2002, SARS was reported from Greece, Madagascar, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On February 11th, 2003 WHO announced that it had received reports from the Chinese Ministry of Health of an outbreak of acute respiratory syndrome with 300 cases and 5 deaths in Guangdong Province.

On March 12th, 2003 WHO issued a global alert about cases of atypical pneumonia. The announcement said that since mid-February, WHO had been actively working to confirm reports of outbreaks of a severe form of pneumonia in Viet Nam, Hong Kong, and Guangdong province in China.

On March 15th, 2003 WHO issued emergency travel advisory. It went on to say, “During the past week, WHO has received reports of more than 150 new suspected cases of SARS, an atypical pneumonia for which cause has not yet been determined. Reports to date have been received from Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.”

On March 26th, 2003 WHO stated that 1323 cases of SARS had been reported from 12 countries and that 49 people had died.

As of Tuesday, April 29th, 2003 a cumulative total of 5462 probable cases of SARS with 353 deaths have been reported from 27 countries. Except for China, most countries have been able to control the spread of this deadly disease. By the time you read this column, we hope there will be even better news.

But we should continue to be vigilant. Things to remember about SARS:

1. If you have flu like symptoms, with fever of more than 38 degrees Celsius, then report to your doctor. Currently, there is no laboratory test to confirm the diagnoses.

2. The cause of SARS is not certain, there is a strong indication that it is linked to the coronavirus, with the possibility that other factors also contribute.

3. The primary way that SARS appears to spread is by close person-to-person contact. Most cases of SARS have involved people who cared for or lived with someone with SARS, or had direct contact with infectious material (for example, respiratory secretions) from a person who has SARS.

4. The incubation period for SARS is typically two to seven days; however, isolated reports have suggested an incubation period as long as 10 days. . The first cases of SARS identified in Canada are people who had traveled to Hong Kong. Subsequent cases have been in their close contacts and travelers to Asia.

5. Practicing good personal hygiene is a key to stopping the spread of this disease. Thorough hand-washing with a disinfectant or using hot, soapy water and lathering for at least 20 seconds. This is because disease-causing micro-organisms can frequently be found on the hands.

6. Masks are not recommended for use by the general public. The only exception would be a person having come into close contact with a SARS-affected individual.

7. Where can you find up-to-date information on SARS?
Health Canada Web site: http://www.sars.gc.ca and World Health Organization’s web site for current figures: http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/. Information for the public: 1-800-454-8302.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!

Posted on

Aspirin

Recently, I saw a 36 year old man in my office with bowel problems. His first question was: Doc, should I take an aspirin a day to prevent colon cancer?

First, let us look back in history.

Hippocrates and the Indians of North America have known the pain killing properties of willow bark, which contains salicylates (aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid), for many hundred years.

Besides it being a painkiller, it also reduces inflammation and fever. Commercially, aspirin became available in 1899 as a result of a search by Felix Hoffman at Bayer Industries to help his father who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis.

By the 1960s, aspirin became the most widely used pharmaceutical product in the world. For example, in U. S. alone, the annual production of aspirin is over 15,000 tons (13,600 metric tons).

In 1985, researchers first established that aspirin can prevent heart attacks. If you have chest pain and are suffering a heart attack, then taking an aspirin will reduce your chance of dying from heart attack by 25 per cent. It also reduces the risk of a second heart attack by 50 per cent. For patients who have suffered a stroke, it offers protection from a second one.

So, what about cancer prevention?

For the last 25 years, researchers have been saying that aspirin, ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatory drugs may play a role in preventing cancer. Studies have found that it could reduce the risk of both colorectal cancer and mouth and throat cancers by two-thirds.

In one recent study, women who took a single ibuprofen tablet at least three days a week for 10years or more saw their risk of breast cancer fall by 49 per cent.

Women who regularly took aspirin saw their risk of breast cancer drop by only 28 per cent.

There is also some evidence that ibuprofen may offer more protection from Alzheimer’s disease. Canadian researchers have shown that ibuprofen may reduce the risk of getting Alzheimer’s by up to 30 per cent.

If this is all true then why physicians do not promote the use of aspirin and ibuprofen as a prophylactic for cancer prevention?

The above findings are from retrospective studies – they look back at men or women who were taking these products for other illnesses and see if they suffered from specific cancers compared to those who did not take aspirins or ibuprofens.

There are no prospective randomized double blind trials to prove that aspirin or ibuprofen is what prevents cancer. There may be other variables which may influence the outcome. Prospective randomized double blind trials eliminate those variables.

Many doctors are cautious about the idea of healthy people taking aspirin or ibuprofen in the hope of preventing disease. More studies are needed to confirm that the benefits outweigh the risks. They don’t know what dose is appropriate, or how many years the drugs must be taken before they offer protection.

These drugs are not always harmless. Internal bleeding is a serious risk. The painkillers can also interact dangerously with other drugs.

Recently, the Globe and Mail wrote, “Randall Harris, a respected professor of epidemiology at Ohio State University, didn’t follow the cautious approach when he announced the results of the breast-cancer study. Instead of recommending waiting until more studies are done, he urged women over the age of 40 to talk to their doctors about taking a standard dose of ibuprofen (200 milligrams) or aspirin (325 mg) daily.”

But there are other reports which say that taking ibuprofen may undo the protective effect of aspirin.

Are you confused? So are the doctors! But my answer to the young man is – there are many other ways of preventing cancer (remember ELMOSS?) – rather than looking for a miracle drug.

Start reading the preview of my book A Doctor's Journey for free on Amazon. Available on Kindle for $2.99!