Annually, over 250,000 women in the world receive a diagnosis of ovarian cancer, and 140,000 deaths result from the disease. Women in New York should take care to avoid mistaking the early indications of ovarian cancer for less serious medical issues. Doing so can lower the chances that treatment will be successful.It is very important that women do not ignore the symptoms of ovarian cancer. If they are experiencing stomach pains, weight gain, shortness of breath, an increase in indigestion, urination, or nausea, bloating and back pain that last for over a week, it is important that they speak with their physician and have their ovaries examined. Women should also be aware that Pap smears are not helpful when it comes to ovarian cancer. While the test can be used [...]

Medical errors are thought to be the third-leading cause of death in the United States. However, advances in medical technology may help patients in New York and elsewhere receive care without inadvertently being put in harm's way. Technologies being studied today have shown the ability to diagnose heart attacks, lung cancer and skin cancer using artificial intelligence. Of course, it is also possible that a machine will make an error when diagnosing a patient.In such a scenario, it might be difficult to determine whether a person or a program is liable for the error. The reason why parties are held liable for their actions is to discourage them from making mistakes. Machines are considered to be diagnostic tools that assist a human in making a decision as opposed to working [...]

New York patients could miss important treatment opportunities when doctors fail to make accurate diagnoses. A medical crisis often starts with a visit to an emergency room, and a study has explored the class of medical mistakes known as cognitive errors. These involve the faulty processing of information by doctors when making diagnostic decisions. The study looked at repeat emergency room visits during an eight-month period at a public teaching hospital.Of the 52 confirmed cases of errors that caused patients to return to the emergency room within 72 hours of their first visits, 45 percent arose from faulty information processing. Another 31 percent of mistakes happened because doctors did not verify diagnoses correctly. Errors when gathering patient information accounted for 18 percent of cognitive errors, and poor medical knowledge caused [...]

A startup called SafeStart Medical wants to use cloud technology to make sure that New York patients aren't victims of surgical mistakes. The startup's app, which is compliant with HIPPA laws, involves the patient throughout the treatment process. Both patients and physicians review photos, consent forms and other relevant information prior to a surgical procedure taking place. SafeStart Medical's founder says that about 8,000 to 10,000 patients a year are impacted by what are referred to as never events.""These events include the wrong body part being operated on or receiving the wrong organ. However, with this new tool, the goal is to completely eradicate such events from happening. It is thought that about half of these errors are the result of poor communication. Although the service is not yet available [...]

While most doctors in New York try to be as thorough as possible in their diagnoses, some patients have to deal with medical mistakes. In particular, women often have difficulty getting proper diagnoses. This is particularly true when it comes to reproductive problems like pain and heavy menstrual cycles.For example, one woman said that she had suffered from abnormal pain and heavy menstruation since she was a teenager. Over a 20-year period, she saw numerous doctors in different specialties in her quest to get a diagnosis. A GI doctor gave her a misdiagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome while gynecologists told her that her menstruation cycle was normal. She eventually learned that she had endometriosis at the age of 34 when she had trouble getting pregnant. This condition causes the endometrium, [...]

There's no denying the fact that many people in New York benefit from surgery when it contributes to improvements with mobility, pain management and overall quality of life. However, there are times when certain issues or signs of a problem are overlooked. An article in the journal Arthroplasty Today discusses a few situations involving patients who had a total knee arthroplasty, or TKA, a procedure involving the removal of damaged bone and cartilage and the insertion of an artificial knee joint.The surgical errors pertaining to the TKA patients involved the popliteal artery in the knee and back of the leg. With both cases, a special type of ultrasound detected overlooked damage in the popliteal area. In one instance, the patient reported pain shortly after surgery, and the problem was detected [...]

According to a study conducted by university researchers, 25 percent of age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, cases are misdiagnosed by eye care professionals. AMD is the primary cause of irreversible vision loss for people in America who are at least 50 years old. This finding indicates that there could be significant issues older adults in New York will have to face.The researchers reevaluated 644 patients, whose average age was 69 years and on whom an optometrist or ophthalmologist had performed a dilated eye exam. The results show that 25 percent of those patients whose eyes had been considered normal showed indications of AMD.According to the lead author of the study, it is imperative that patients receive a proper diagnosis as the baby boomer population reaches the age range in which [...]

New York residents may have read media stories about surgical sponges being left inside patients who underwent surgery, but they may not know how serious the long-term consequences of this kind of medical mistake can be. A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine told the story of a 42-year-old Japanese woman who suffered abdominal bloating and discomfort for years that was eventually found to have been caused by two surgical sponges that had been left inside her during childbirth.A medical records check revealed that the woman had undergone Caesarean sections six and nine years ago. Her doctors believed that both of the sponges were left in her abdomen during one of these procedures. The sponges were removed during emergency surgery that was performed after a CT scan [...]

Immunotherapy is a treatment New York residents may choose to pursue over chemotherapy if they are suffering from mesothelioma, a form of cancer. The side effects of immunotherapy are typically mild. However, when they are severe, they can be very unpredictable.Even though the science for immunotherapy has been in practice since the 1890s, medical professionals have not been able to determine how individual patients may respond to the treatment. A significant number of patients gain very little from immunotherapy treatment, while a few will experience potentially fatal side effects. The medical community has not had much practice detecting and addressing the side effects of the treatment. In order to avoid having their side effects misdiagnosed, patients who opt to undergo immunotherapy for their mesothelioma have to have a preemptive approach.Chemotherapy [...]

Gynecological cancers can be a major health concern for women in New York and across the country. These types of cancers are somewhat rare, but they can be particularly frightening because of their impact on the female reproductive system. In addition, these types of cancers often require specialized treatment from an oncologist rather than a general obstetrician/gynecologist.Endometrial cancer, which affects the lining of the uterus, is one of the most common gynecological cancers. It also has an excellent rate of successful treatment, with 80 to 90 percent of women becoming cancer-free. This strong rate of survival and remission is connected to its frequent early detection. Because endometrial cancer causes abnormal and unwanted bleeding, usually after menopause, the signs of this cancer often send women to the doctor. There are also [...]