When I was a resident (over ten years ago!) we were taught that there was no evidence that breast self-examination saved lives.  A new review puts another nail in the coffin of breast self-examination.  This week the Cochrane Review published a re-analysis of a review of the scientific studies on breast examination.  The conclusion: women who perform breast self-examination undergo more breast biopsies but die of breast cancer at the same rate as women who do not examine themselves.  The same ap...

I've written before about the controversies in screening for and treating prostate cancer. Prostate cancer presents a unique challenge because it is extremely common, affects men who on average are older than patients with other cancers, and usually takes many years between diagnosis and disability or death.  In 2007, approximately 1 in 6 men in the United States were diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 1 ...

With the long days of summer upon us, many of us are hitting the beaches and getting suntans.  Southern California is obsessed with both beauty and health, and tanning sits at the intersection of the two.  Suntans have become symbols of status, health and beauty. But why?  There are certainly no health benefits to tanning, and many health risks.  Dermatologists have been warning us for over a generation that sun exposure increases our risk of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.  I...