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Breast Cancer | Epidemiology | Medical News | Oncology (cancer)

Breast Cancer Rate in the U.S. is No Longer Declining

A wor­risome report on breast cancer trends in the U.S. appeared on-​​​​line today, ahead of print in an AACR journal, Cancer Epi­demi­ology, Bio­markers & Prevention.

The analysis, based on the NCI’s SEER data from 2000 — 2007, shows that the inci­dence of breast cancer in the U.S. is no longer declining. (A drop after 2002 in BC inci­dence is gen­erally attributed to an abrupt reduction in HRT around that time.)

Since 2003 the overall BC rate has been steady overall, with a few exceptions:

The inci­dence of BC in non-​​​​Hispanic white women ages 60–69 rose by 4.8% in this period. “It remains to be seen if this trend will con­tinue,” according to the study authors.

Among white women ages 40–49 rates of estrogen receptor (ER) pos­itive (ER+) breast cancer sig­nif­i­cantly increased by an average of 2.7% per year during this period. In con­trast, the rate of ER– breast tumors decreased, overall, although

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Communication | Future of Medicine | Health IT | Patient-Doctor Relationship | Social Media | Video

A Video About a Robot and a Patient

from the Examining Room of Dr. Charles

Since Watson won on Jeopardy, there’s been lots of talk of robots assuming doctors’ roles. Ten years into our future, machines with pro­grammed empathy and nuanced diag­nostic skills will solve diag­nostic dilemmas, deduce optimal treatment and make us well.

Yes­terday I found a new Xtra­normal video, this one crafted by Dr. Charles of his excellent Exam­ining Room blog, on Dr. Watson and the 7 Qual­ities of an Ideal Physician.

from the Exam­ining Room of Dr. Charles

Dr. Charles cites a 2006 Mayo Clinic Pro­ceedings review on what patients say are essential char­ac­ter­istics of a good physician: The ideal doctor is con­fident, empa­thetic, humane, per­sonal, forth­right, respectful, and thorough. In this clever, short movie crafted by Dr. Charles, the robot-​​​​doctor tries to demon­strate his capa­bility in each of these dimen­sions in his inter­action with a cartoon patient.

I hope the folks over at IBM, who are col­lab­o­rating with real medical centers now about designing arti­ficial doctors’

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