Latest KFF Health News Stories
When You Need A Breast Screening, Should You Get A 3-D Mammogram?
The newer images are more expensive, but it’s not yet clear if they are more effective in catching cancers that will kill.
Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
Patients are often aggressively screened for cancer, even if they won’t live long enough to benefit.
Study Gives Mixed Reviews On Laws To Equalize Cancer Patients’ Out-Of-Pocket Costs
Most states have laws that require that cancer patients who get their treatment orally rather than by infusion in a doctor’s office not pay more out-of-pocket. A new study finds that the impact of those laws is mixed.
California Cracks Down On Weed Killer As Lawsuits Abound
California has listed the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup as a cancer-causing agent and will require warning labels on it starting next year. The company says that the listing is unjustified and that science is on its side.
El doloroso costado positivo del marketing médico
Una paciente con cáncer de seno terminal asegura que los comerciales solo promueven curas milagrosas y pacientes felices. La realidad es distinta, asegura.
The Painful Side Of Positive Health Care Marketing
Advertising for hospitals, unlike pharmaceutical companies, doesn’t have to be backed up by data or facts. Cheerful messages of hope can feel like a slap in the face to a dying patient.
Tanta atención que duele: terapias y cirugías innecesarias agregan dolor y enfermedad
Las pruebas excesivas de cáncer de tiroides, próstata, seno y piel lleva a muchas personas mayores a someterse a tratamientos que no prolongarán sus vidas, pero que pueden causar dolor y sufrimiento innecesarios.
So Much Care It Hurts: Unneeded Scans, Therapy, Surgery Only Add To Patients’ Ills
Overtreatment of breast cancer and other diseases is pervasive, burdening patients and the health care system with enormous costs and needless suffering.
Cascade of Costs Could Push New Gene Therapy Above $1 Million Per Patient
The costs of using a new class of cancer treatments include far more than the drug’s sticker price.
As Care Shifts From Hospital To Home, Guarding Against Infection Falls To Families
Despite a lack of medical training, relatives increasingly are assigned complex, risky medical tasks at home, such as maintaining catheters. If done incorrectly, blood clots, infections, even death can result.
Expertos elaboran nuevas recomendaciones para la detección del cáncer cervical
Un panel de expertos en prevención dice que las mujeres deberían alternar las pruebas de Papanicolau y VPH, en vez de hacerse las dos a la vez.
Prevention Experts Propose Easing Advice On Number Of Cervical Cancer Screenings
A draft recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force says women between ages 30 and 65 should get a Pap test every three years or an HPV screening every five years, but they don’t need to do both.
Algunos pacientes con cáncer de tiroides pueden retrasar la cirugía
Alrededor de un tercio de los pacientes con un tumor de tiroides de crecimiento lento, llamado cáncer de tiroides papilar, son elegibles para retrasar el tratamiento, según un nuevo estudio.
Some Thyroid Cancer Patients Can Safely Delay Surgery
Study suggests that many small tumors are sleepy, not deadly.
Pioneering Cancer Gene Therapy Gets Green Light — And $475,000 Price Tag
The USA’s first approved gene therapy — to be used to fight leukemia that resists standard therapies — will cost $475,000 for a one-time treatment.
Cáncer: cuando escribir ayuda a sanar
A través de la escritura expresiva, pacientes con cáncer logran canalizar sus miedos y ansiedades, y contar sus historias, en un inédito proceso creativo.
Writing Your Way Through Cancer
A breast cancer survivor and author has helped numerous patients explore the feelings awakened by their disease — and feel better.
Nueva droga contra la leucemia ofrece esperanza, pero a un costo millonario
El tratamiento con una nueva droga del laboratorio Novartis para casos en los que ha fracasado la quimioterapia o el trasplante de médula costaría $649,000.
‘Breakthrough’ Leukemia Drug Also Portends ‘Quantum Leap’ In Cost
A genetically altered cancer drug, based on CAR T-cell therapies, could be a big success with leukemia patients but at a staggering cost.
Colon Cancer Rates Rising Among Younger White Adults — And Falling Among Blacks
Although deaths from colorectal cancer are declining, researchers find rates of the disease among white men and women younger than 55 have spiked since the mid-1990s.