OCR Text |
Show irT y (r'i"i"i,i',f y 1 -, A-16 The Parfr Record Saturday, January 12, 2002 CXX33 Friday Jan 11 - Comedy - Ken Davis and Chonda Pierce "A Wimpy Prophet" & "Girl's Night Out" Saturday Jan 12 - Biography - Dietrich Bonhoeffer "Hanged on a Crooked Cross" Sunday Jan 13 - History - Corrie ten Boom "The Hiding Place" Monday Jan 14 - Drama - Burt Reynolds, April Grace "Waterproof" Tues Jan 15 - Adventure - Nick Mancuso, Corbin Bernsen "Judgement" Thursday, Jan17 Live Concert "Satellite Soul" This exciting, folk-soul group delivers thought-provoking lyrics, passionately sung to the accompaniment of dulcimer, mandolin, piano,harmonica, and acoustic and electric guitar, bass and drums. - Free admission nightly -Offering will be taken for the Concert only. 649-2260 Tit, A ) ft? yr t : iiiii I ill i- r fi .n i mi Gold-medal Service. What You d Irtpect from a Park City MortgageCcr Interest rates are important, and for almost ten years Intermountain Mortgage has continuously delivered the most competitive. But we pride ourselves on going the extra mile-the after-hours delivery to your door, the calls keeping you updated, the olympian effort at closing that comes from years of experience. Gold-medal Senice.Whatyou expect What we deliver. Names you can trust: Rob Karz (10 years), Joe Thomas (10 years), Rich Miller (10 years), Ray Klein (10 years), Jeff Reade(l years), Dana Ballard (10 years), Stacy Popp (5 years), Andrea Heil (6 years), Ellen Lamb (4 years), Laurie Barger (6 years), and Melissa Sweat (3 months). Intermountain Mortgage 2029 Sidewinder Drive, Park City 649-6660 649-6689 Fax vvvvw.greatlender.com email: robgreatlender.com ill V vti(" iWiitjc V It Ktiifii mi; . . . Wo. 9 II ' s4 t Here's to Your Health by Joan Jacobson Confusion over routine cancer screening Many physicians say that although they are interested in the giant leaps biomedical bio-medical research is making, they will continue contin-ue to follow guidelines until the research is conclusive." . . . Joan Jacobson Most of us have been bombarded lately, in the press, with sensational stories about the questions medical researchers have regarding routine cancer screening tests in healthy people, such as PAP smears, mammography, PSA tests for prostate cancer and others. oth-ers. This is all very confusing to the layman as we read and listen to the debate in the medical community. commu-nity. Others of us, like the "worried well," are demanding PET scans and the new spiral CT scan of the lungs. Sometimes these scans reveal benign tumors and at worst show growing tumors that may never manifest any symptoms in an individual. These tests often lead to unnecessary surgeries, or at least, dangerously debilitating effects as a result of over-zealous over-zealous use of invasive procedures. Many physicians say the latest studies are making them rethink how they are prescribing cancer-fighting drugs and screening tests. Many say that although they are interested in the giant leaps biomedical research is making, they will continue r f to follow guidelines until the research is conclusive. They plan to offer the options, both the benefit and the downside, to assist patients in making choices. ' The New York mmmmm Times quoted Dr. Clifton Meador, director of the Meharry-Vanderbuilt Alliance, a program between the two medical schools in Nashville. He has likened the new developments to "The Emperor's New Clothes" of American medicine. medi-cine. He wonders if medicine is prescribing screening tests without significant cause because of established protocols. It should be noted that he has been a critic of screening tests. He is involved in the continuing discussion of the necessity of screening to the extent it is now performed. The recent issue of the effectiveness of routine mammography was raised mainly because of the results of several new studies in Scandinavia and Canada. These studies revealed that women who had routine mammography did not have lower overall death rates from breast cancer. As a rule, the women who had mammography were subject to surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy. Those who were not screened with mammography died at the same rate as those who received the complete and routine treatments treat-ments for breast cancer. These revelations have led to heated debate in the medical community and the lay population. American women who have been told that early detection with mammography would reduce cancer deaths by 30 percent are wondering what to do. Many reason that no matter what, early detection will prolong life. On the other hand, researchers are concluding that the aggressiveness of the tumor is the key. The dilemma is to identify the type of tumor and then find the right combination of treatment options. Several other screening procedures are also being questioned. For example, the PSA, the test for protein pro-tein specific antigen, is also under coming under scrutiny. The test can detect the smallest of tumors in the prostate gland. The problem is in determining the course of treatment. Most prostate tumors grow slowly; slow-ly; men tend to die with them, not because of them, according to The New York Times. Upon autopsy of men in their 80s, it is estimated that 7Q percent of older men have early undetected prostate cancers. Sadly, it is difficult to determine whether the tumor is aggressive or slow-growing. Approximately 31,500 will men die with prostate cancer every year. Another screening test that has been questioned lately is the PAP test for cervical cancer. Many in the medical community feel that the test is overused. Most women are admonished to have a yearly test when one every three years would, or might, be sufficient. suf-ficient. Dr. Steven !" Swenson of the Mayo Clinic studied stud-ied a group of 1,300 smokers, testing them with the new spiral CT lung scan. He found 37 malignant malig-nant tumors but, more interesting,.; he found 2,800' suspicious lung' nodules ranging in size from a grain of rice to a pea,; which led to further testing including chest surgery. It! should be noted that the surgery itself carries a four-.' percent risk of death during the procedure. Other nodules were found in the kidneys and adrenal -glands. Finally, Swenson found aneurysms on blood . vessels and other problems in more than 90 percent of the group. 1 The doctor said it is not clear that this extensive " testing actually saved any lives. Many people think ' they have little to lose with testing. However, individ-! uals must be aware that testing may cause more prob- lems than it detects and it may bring unnecessary i risks. On the other hand, when the type of cancer is 1 aggressive, early detection may save lives. How do we know? It's best for patients to take the time to understand, ' with the help of their physicians, the risks and benefits I of each procedure. Only then can educated decisions be made on how to proceed. Furthermore, we must also question whether the financial and legal risks for doctors and medical centers are the overriding reasons ' for screening procedures. Certainly, rigorous biostatis-tics biostatis-tics and repetitive studies are called for. In the meantime, mean-time, we the public must be patient and not jump on the bandwagon without rigorous analysis of the results . of credible studies in our own population Park City resident Joan Jacobson, PhD, RN, is an adjunct professor for the University of ' UtahCollege of Nursing. She is the author oMidlife Women Free prescription drugs are available Is your medication too expensive for your budget? If so, information in a new booklet might help. The Cost Containment Research Institute in Washington, D.C., has just published a 32-page booklet, "Free and Low-cost Prescription Drugs." The revised fourth edition booklet gives information on how and where to get free and low-cost prescription drugs. "Many major drug companies provide free or low-cost low-cost medication, but rarely, if ever, publicize the programs," pro-grams," says Gary Nave, director of the institute. "We've published an A-to-Z listing of all the drugs that are available through patient assistance programs, pro-grams, for free or at very low cost, directly from the manufacturer." Consumers can receive a copy by sending $5 to cover the cost of printing, postage and handling to Institute Fulfillment Center, Booklet No. PD-70, P.O. Box 210, Dallas, Pa. 18612-0210. Consumers can also get more information from the institute's Web site, www.institutedc.org. $82 Off MSRP! V-8, Sunroof, Leather, More 8066 Hani Top, Air Conditioning 219010 . re.? i.ni.wiuMnim'i vii TI-i.'i.'JB,-lnM JH:'i.l Only MSRP: $18,995 3 Starting At MSRP of $25,655 Hurry, only 5 left! From Salt Lake: 326-31 40 fW Sir Deeds & IOHN JMECHAM All pf ices and payments are plus lax, dealer retains all rebates and incentives including dis- count packages, commercial, military and college grod rebates. All offers are OAC -3 u ( k L k u u u fa fa fa fa fa fa |