Patients at these centers are not free from hospital-based infections or immune from getting the wrong drugs or becoming victims of other medical errors. No matter how skilled or deep their expertise, even “best hospitals” don’t do everything right. But when the stakes are high, calling for unusual capabilities, they are hospitals that can save lives that might otherwise be lost or preserve quality of life that might otherwise be sacrificed. That is why U.S. News has published the Best Hospitals rankings for 21 years: to help guide patients who need high-stakes care because of the complexity or difficulty of their condition or procedure. For 2010-11 we analyzed 4,852 hospitals, virtually every one in the United States, in 16 specialties from cancer and heart disease to respiratory disorders and urology. Only 152 centers appear in even one of the 16 specialty rankings. Fourteen ultra-elite Honor Roll hospitals had very high scores in six or more specialties……

In 12 of the 16 specialties, the quality of hospital care can determine life or death. Therefore the largest part of each hospital’s score in those 12 specialties came from death rates and other hard data on patient safety, volume, and various care-related factors such as nursing and patient services. The rest of the score was derived from a reputational survey of specialists. The 50 highest scorers were ranked. Scores and complete data for another 1,740 unranked hospitals are also available. In the four other specialties—ophthalmology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, and rheumatology—hospitals were ranked on reputation alone. The number of deaths in these specialties is so low that mortality data and certain other categories of data are not relevant factors.

A detailed description of the analysis in the 12 specialties is available. In brief, death rate, care-related factors, and patient safety added up to slightly more than two-thirds of each hospital’s score. The reputation portion of the score used responses from nearly 10,000 physicians, who were surveyed in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and asked to name five hospitals they consider among the best in their specialty for difficult cases, ignoring cost or location.

The Honor Roll requirements were so stiff that 99.7 percent of all centers in the nation were excluded. A hospital had to be ranked in at least six specialties, but ranking alone was insufficient for inclusion. It also had to have an extremely high score (in statisticians’ terms, at least 3 standard deviations above the mean). That earned 1 point per specialty. Reaching the top of the Honor Roll called for even higher scores (4 or more standard deviations above the mean), earning 2 points, in far more specialties. The highest-ranked hospitals on the Honor Roll, which is ordered by points, had high scores in 15 of the 16 specialty rankings. Johns Hopkins stands at No. 1—as it has for the last 20 years.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) applauds both Senator Gloria Romero for authoring SB 624 and the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources for passing this legislation to remove serpentine, the host rock of asbestos, as California’s official state rock, supporting the eradication of asbestos to promote public health.

“ADAO dedicates our efforts on this campaign to Army Archerd, prolific Daily Variety journalist who died from mesothelioma in September 2009”

“California has the highest rate of mesothelioma deaths in the nation,” said Senator Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles). “This bill is about raising awareness to protect the health of our citizens. Serpentine contains asbestos, a known carcinogen. Toxic materials have no place serving as emblems for the State.”…..

Asbestos causes cancers and respiratory diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer that claim 10,000 people every year in the United States and nearly 100,000 people worldwide. In 1965, serpentine was designated as the state rock of California in order to promote the then-lucrative asbestos mining industry. A practically indestructible lethal fiber, asbestos has been used for decades in numerous industries throughout California including building construction and naval shipyards, as well as in common household products ranging from crayons to blow dryers. Though asbestos is banned in 52 countries, it is not banned in the United States.

“ADAO dedicates our efforts on this campaign to Army Archerd, prolific Daily Variety journalist who died from mesothelioma in September 2009,” said Linda Reinstein, CEO and Co-Founder of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. “A longtime fixture on the red carpet, Army’s death is unfortunately not unique and the death toll will continue until the United States Congress passes legislation banning asbestos. More than 7,000 Californians have died from asbestos-related diseases.”

On behalf of asbestos victims and their families, the John McNamara Foundation, and The Pacific Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, ADAO applauds our political leaders as this legislation moves forward to repeal serpentine as the state rock.

About Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization

Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. ADAO is the largest independent organization dedicated to preventing asbestos-related diseases through education and legislation. ADAO’s mission includes supporting global advocacy and advancing asbestos awareness, prevention, early detection, treatment, and resources for asbestos-related disease. For more information visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

When choosing a clinic at which to recognise scrutiny management for mesothelioma, there are numerous factors that patients would be wise to discuss. One of the difficulties visaged by mesothelioma patients is that although the disease can ofttimes aver decades to manifest, by the dimension it does appear up and has been positively identified, it is generally at an sophisticated stage. Consequently it is beta that patients feel physicians and hospitals that possess get in treating this virulent mould of individual; this is definitely a instant in which it is a keen serious to superior a handling tract run by fond group who will withdraw the instance to vindicate the communication alternatives and with whom you and your house are rich. Many parts of the region do not someone special clinics for relatively extraordinary disorders much as pericardial mesothelioma; if you springy in much an country you may impoverishment to temporarily relocate so as to obtain the write of medical communication you requisite…….

The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Comprehensive Cancer Center is one of 39 Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the U.S. so designated by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Treatments are available for all types of cancer; there is a special section devoted to mesothelioma.

The UAB Cancer Center received its first grant in 1972. Over the next three years, the center received $4.3 million; it was converted to a Cancer Center Core Support Grant in February of 1975. These grants enabled the center to dedicate 24,000 square feet of space to genetics, virology, immunology, and NMR research. Over the next ten years, another 72,000 square feet was turned over to Special Cancer Research, biohazardous research, the School of Medicine’s McCallum Basic Health Sciences Building, and laboratory research space .

Today, the University of Alabama Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center receives $100 million in federal and private funds. The Center employs over 300 lab researchers as well as “physician-scientists” who work in both patient care and laboratory settings.

The Center has been recognized as a national leader in cancer research and treatment. They have received a number of highly competitive “Specialized Program of Research Excellence” grants in addition to thousands of annual from those interested in contributing to cancer research and treatment.

Contact Information

1824 6th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294
(205) 934-4011 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (205) 934-4011      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Sources

University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Mesothelioma Treatment Section
http://www.ccc.uab.edu/

177 cancer survivors lead the way during the “Survivor Celebration Lap” at the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Clark on Friday, June 11, 2010. Two-thousand participants including 113 teams raised over $204,000 in donations in the fight against cancer. One-Hundred participants enrolled at the event for “CPS-3”, a nationwide Cancer Prevention Study which will help researchers find new ways to prevent cancer.

via:AMC

The diagnosis was a lethal form of brain cancer.

Dr. Peter Dickinson is a vet at the world-famous UC Davis veterinary school.

“For most of these aggressive tumors,” Dickenson explained, “the results are very similar to humans in that most of these tumors reoccur and the animals don’t live very long.”

But today, all three are seizure-free, and thriving.

Cheech’s brain tumor has practically disappeared. His guardian Amanda Landess is amazed.

“He’s absolutely himself again, it’s pretty amazing. It’s a miracle,” Landess said.

All the dogs’ tumors have shrunk or stopped growing. Lupin’s owner Audrey West is just as amazed, saying she has her dog back.

“She started wagging her tail again. She has not wagged her tail for a long time,” West said.

So what happened? Cheech, Devin and Lupin all underwent a daring, experimental therapy. In a remarkable collaboration, it was developed at a lab at UCSF and administered at UC Davis Veterinary Hospital.

“This is cutting edge technology for treating brain tumors which is obviously very exciting for us”, said Dickinson.

Dickinson said treatments for brain cancer are desperately needed. The disease is notoriously hard to treat in dogs as well as in humans. There’s a barrier called the blood brain barrier which stops drugs from getting across.

To reach the tumor, you need very high doses of toxic cancer drugs. Dr. Krystof Bankiewicz of UCSF said those high doses come at a cost.

“Keep in mind that a lot of those drugs are toxic. We want them to be toxic in the tumor. We don’t want them to be toxic in other regions of the brain,” Bankiewicz said…..

Bankiewicz came up with a solution. He figured out a way to get the drug to where it needed to go: right into the tumor in the brain.

Dickinson showed CBS 5 HealthWatch as he gave Devin his second treatment. With the French bulldog under anesthesia, Dickinsin exposes a tiny round device already implanted on top of the dog’s head.

The device, shaped like a cylinder, is actually a port full of tiny holes. Through those holes, thin hollow glass needles or catheters are gently threaded into the brain, into the tumor. Then, a powerful experimental drug is forced thru the catheters to hit the cancer.

The drug called CPT 11 is souped up to stay in the brain for five weeks, not the typical 24 hours.

“It’s a lot less toxic and it stays in the brain a lot longer than it normally would,” said the vet.

With Devin now slipped into an MRI, researchers watch in real time as the cancer drug seen here in white is injected into the tumor. That way the vets can make sure the drug does not go to places where they don’t want it to go and they can also judge whether the treatment is effective.

For these three dogs, the therapy has been so effective that it will soon be used on an experimental basis on humans suffering from the same deadly tumors.

“We’ve very much hope based on FDA input we’ll be able to start the not this year, but next year,” said Bankiewicz.

via:cbs5.com

After controlling for age, gender, race and underlying kidney disease, hepatitis C infected patients had nearly double the risk of developing kidney cancer.

“These results add to growing literature that shows that the hepatitis C virus causes disease that extends beyond the liver, and in fact most of our HCV-infected kidney cancer patients had only minimal liver damage,” says Stuart C. Gordon, M.D., director of Hepatology at Henry Ford Hospital and lead author of the study.

The study was published in this month’s Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Gordon explains that the results suggest a more careful surveillance of newly diagnosed kidney cancer patients for the presence of hepatitis C infection, one of the few cancers with a rising global incidence. He adds that it is premature to recommend more comprehensive screening of HCV-positive patients.

“However, a heightened awareness of an increased kidney cancer risk should dictate more careful follow-up of incidental renal defects when detected on imaging procedures in patients with chronic hepatitis C,” says Dr. Gordon.

The researchers also found that the average age of HCV-positive patients with kidney cancer was significantly younger than those HCV-negative patients with kidney cancer, a cancer that generally affects older individuals.

Dr. Gordon explains that hepatitis C is curable in more than 50 percent of cases and that newer and better treatment regimens are being developed. Henry Ford Hospital is participating in a number of these trials.

via:sciencedaily.com

The American Cancer Society is the nationwide community-based, voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and service. ….

Together, with our volunteers, we are working to create a world with more birthdays and less cancer. We help people stay well, get well, find cures, and fight back