SCAN SCAM? Medical Center researchers caution that guidelines are needed to establish when and why self-referred full-body CT scanning is appropriate. The scans—which cost consumers about $800 to $1,200 and can deliver as much radiation as 250 chest X rays—could lead to early detection of disease and increase patients’ sense of empowerment. On the other hand, they can lead unnecessarily to medical procedures such as biopsies.
STRIDES IN WOMEN’S HEALTH: Diagnosis of endometriosis—currently done through surgery under general anesthesia—may soon become a lot less invasive. Researchers led by obstetrics and gynecology professor Linda Giudice are testing a microarray that may be able to detect the disease based on a blood test or biopsy of the uterine lining. The testing builds on their earlier microarray work that identified genes likely to contribute to endometriosis.
Breast cancer treatment may also become easier to bear. Medical Center researchers led by Frederick Dirbas, an assistant professor of surgery, are studying a group of women who had lumpectomies to remove early-stage tumors to determine whether one large dose of radiation during surgery is as effective as six weeks of daily radiation. The first five women to receive the single dose have healed normally and experienced no more pain or scarring than those receiving the traditional drawn-out treatment.
TIPS FOR THE SLEEP-DEPRIVED: If you must skimp on shut-eye, go to bed early in the morning, say Medical Center researchers. Study subjects bedding down for four hours beginning at 2:15 a.m. fell asleep faster, slept more efficiently and were more wakeful during the day than those who slept from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
