Month: August 2010
How to make a difference – Responsible vaccine advocacy
I lost a patient this season, an infant, to pertussis. After falling ill he lived for nearly a month in the intensive care unit on a ventilator, three weeks of which was spent on a heart/lung bypass machine (ECMO) due to the extent of the damage to his lungs, but all our efforts were in vain. The most aggressive and advanced care...
Medical Science and Public Opinion: The Avandia Story
The week of 12-16 July saw an FDA Advisory Panel meet to decide the fate of an important drug. Along the way, the FDA charted new territory in using drug comparisons to judge safety, amidst external allegations of corporate malfeasance and patient harm. Avandia, or rosiglitazone, is one of a new class of anti-diabetes drugs approved for marketing by the FDA in...
Pertussis Epidemic 2010
Bordetella pertussis is the bacterium that causes whooping cough – the main clinical feature of which is a severe lingering cough that can last for weeks or even months. Right now we are in the midst of an epidemic of pertussis cropping up in pockets throughout the US, most notable California. According to the CDC: During January 1– June 30, 2010, a...
Testosterone: Not an Anti-Aging Panacea
On the car radio, I have several times happened upon “infomercial” programs touting the benefits of testosterone replacement therapy for men, broadcast by doctors who specialize in prescribing the drugs. They have lots of wonderful stories about men who feel younger, happier, and more vigorous because of their macho remedies. It’s a tribute to the power of the placebo. I have been...
Dr. Gorski to be speaking at the Chicago Skeptics on Saturday
The week is finally here! Believe it or not, I’m heading back to my old stomping grounds in the 1990s to appear as a guest of the Chicago Skeptics. This Saturday, August 21, I’ll be giving a talk co-sponsored by Chicago Skeptics, Women Thinking Free Foundation, and the Center For Inquiry-Chicago at the Black Rock Pub & Kitchen. My talk will be...
“Integrative” oncology: Trojan horse, quackademic medicine, or both?
One of the main topics that we’ve covered here on this blog over the last couple of years is the relatively rapid, seemingly relentless infiltration of pseudoscience into what should be bastions of science-based medicine (SBM), namely medical schools and academic medical centers promoted by academics who should, but apparently don’t, know better. From the very beginning, we’ve written numerous posts about...
NEJM and Acupuncture: Even the best can publish nonsense.
I realize that the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) review of acupuncture has already been covered by Drs. Gorski and Novella. But my ego knows no bounds; so I thought I would add my two cents, especially since this review, more than any paper I have read, generates a deep sense on betrayal. There was a time when I believed my...
Homeoprophylaxis: An idea whose time has come—and gone
One of the strengths of modern medical education is its emphasis on basic science. Conversely, the basic weakness of so-called alternative medicine is its profound ignorance of science and its reliance on magical thinking. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the attempts of altmed cults to conduct and publish research. From “quantum water memory” to “almost as good as placebo”, the...
Venous Insufficiency in Multiple Sclerosis
There is an interesting controversy raging in the multiple sclerosis (MS) world that reflects many of the issues we discuss at science-based medicine. Dr. Paolo Zamboni, and Italian vascular surgeon, has now published a series of studies claiming that patients with clinically defined MS have various patterns of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI). Further Dr. Zamboni believes CCSVI is a major cause...
Alchemy Is Back
Alchemy is alive and well! Yes, that medieval precursor of chemistry, that chimerical search for the philosopher’s stone and the transmutation of lead to gold. Modern alchemists have found the philosopher’s stone and are selling it and teaching people how to make it themselves out of dew and Celtic sea salt. The philosopher’s stone apparently is an elixir of life that you...