MedBr First to Know 5/23/2016

The Joy of YES!

     I love Boggy Creek for many reasons and their latest slogan, The Joy of Yes, is just one of them. The camp, built on 200 acres donated by Florida Hospital, is part of a network of camps started by Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camp for children with serious illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, hemophilia, arthritis, sickle cell disease, spina bifida, epilepsy and other conditions. These kids have not heard yes a lot in their lives and it is a joy to see them experience it. It was 20 years ago that I helped get it started and it still gives me a surge of pride that we have it in Central Florida and it is totally free!

     Watch our Medical Headline Videos:

•      Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (TOS) is condition that goes misdiagnosed in many patients. Dr Karl Illig, MD, Director of Vascular Surgery and Professor of Surgery at University of South Florida’s Morsani College of Medicine, explains that it can be cured for good if proper treatment is given right away.
•      Diagnosing suspected cancer cells without a biopsy is groundbreaking work being done by Jim Olson, MD, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and Jon Liu, project engineer at the University of Washington.
•      Dr Stephen Scranton, MD, FACP, an internist at the Brain Fitness Centers of Florida in Clearwater, is using a virtual reality test that can measure brain function in minutes with 90 percent accuracy. The technology was developed by Penn State researchers.

     Our first special report this week is from Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach where Dr Joseph Lamelas, MD, Chief of Cardiac Surgery, is using a camera and making a small cut between the ribs instead of cracking them. The second report is about testing a baby’s DNA and even testing parents’ DNA before conception.

     In case you missed them, you may want to check our past reports, Premium Content in Archives Zika Virus WarningsMetastatic Breast Cancer Discovery: Medicine’s Next Big Thing?. Premium Content in the Archives may be purchased for as little as $9 for 24-hour, unlimited access. If you would like to access Premium Content for the first time click here.

     Finally, we interviewed Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, MPH, Associate Professor and Director of Geriatrics at the Oregon Health and Science University, about the shortage of geriatricians. In less than 15 years there will be more than 31 million Americans over 75 and right now there are only 7400 board certified geriatricians in the entire US.

And there's more where that came from...

Marjorie Bekaert Thomas

President, Ivanhoe Broadcast News

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