Some 20 million Americans are living with some sort of thyroid disorder, and of that number, 60% are unaware of it. Ilya Likhterov, MD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, explains what you need to know about about thyroid health.
Every day, it seems as if the news is filled with novel treatments for existing health problems. How can you digest and scrutinize all of this information? Mount Sinai Queens has made exciting new developments in interventional radiology. Advances in the field are helping patients avoid surgery and other invasive techniques.
Interventional Radiologists are trained in both radiology and interventional techniques. This unique combination of skills requires an additional six to seven years of training after medical school. The techniques learned in training allow the interventional radiologist to look inside the body and treat medical conditions using the least invasive techniques. For patients, that means less risk, less pain, and a shorter recovery time. With interventional radiology, diagnosis and treatment are accomplished with a micro-incision, one that requires no stitches and can be covered with an adhesive bandage.
In general, IR techniques start with a catheter threaded into the body, typically through a blood vessel in the wrist or groin. The catheter is used to deliver treatment. For example, in treating fibroid tumors of the uterus, small beads are delivered through the catheter to cut off the blood supply to the tumors. Similarly for men with enlarged prostates that cause urinary symptoms, small beads can be delivered to the arteries supplying the prostate, which will shrink the prostate and reduce symptoms.
Most IR patients are sent home the same day and normal activity is resumed within a week or two.
Please remember that this information is not a substitute for direct medical advice.
Vivian L. Bishay, MD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Vascular and Interventional Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a board certified radiologist at Mount Sinai Queens. Her clinical interests include portal venous hypertension, interventional oncology, uterine fibroid embolization, and peripheral vascular disease.
Interventional radiology (IR) is a medical specialty that uses minimally invasive, image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat early stage medical conditions without surgery. The range of conditions that can be treated with IR is constantly growing and includes:
Medication can help young and old manage attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but it works best when people are also developing life skills, according to Jeffrey Newcorn, MD, a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and Director of the Division of ADHD, Learning Disabilities and Related Disorders at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Hank Schmidt, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital
Many historical studies have addressed the question of whether women who use birth control pills, or contraceptive devices such as IUDs that release hormones, face an increased risk of breast cancer. Unfortunately, these studies have failed to reach a consensus.
In fact, doctors and researchers believe many of these studies are limited because they examined older forms of hormonal contraceptives containing different estrogen doses and different progestin medications.
The result: This important question lacks a definitive answer—a critical shortcoming because nearly 10 million American women use oral contraceptives.
A recent analysis from the Danish Sex Hormone Registry Study in The New England Journal of Medicine offers new data in an attempt to answer this question, and many women may want to discuss these findings with their doctor.
The study found a significant increase in risk of breast cancer among women using oral contraceptives. The study included nearly 1.8 million women age 15-49 who were followed, on average, for 10 years. It found 11,517 breast cancers, and a relative risk of 1.2 among users of oral contraceptives—meaning that a woman who uses oral contraceptives was 1.2 times more likely to develop breast cancer compared to women who did not use these contraceptives. Relative risk increased to 1.38 with 10 years of oral contraceptive use.
It is important to put this increased risk into perspective. It translates into 13 additional breast cancers per 100,000 women for the total study group, and two breast cancers per 100,000 women under 35 years of age. Bottom line: This study indicates oral contraceptive use may be a modest risk factor for breast cancer, similar to rates from increased alcohol intake or postmenopausal weight gain.
The study also found that change in breast cancer risk did not seem to be related to the specific type of oral contraceptive used. Women using implanted intrauterine devices (IUDs) releasing progestin also showed similar increased risk. For short-term users, typically those who used these medictions for less than five years, the increased breast cancer risk seemed to rapidly disappear with discontinuation; however, longer-term users, those who used the medications for more than five years, sustained increased risk for at least five years after they stopped using them.
In assessing your own risk, it is also important to remember that hormonal contraceptives have documented benefits, such as a reduction in risk of ovarian cancer and possibly colorectal cancer. Women who are at increased risk of breast cancer from other factors, such as a strong family history of breast cancer, should discuss the risks and benefits of oral contraceptive use with their doctors.
Hank Schmidt, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at The Mount Sinai Hospital and Director of the Cancer Risk Program at the Dubin Breast Center of the Tisch Cancer Institute, is a board certified surgeon specializing in surgical oncology and treating patients with breast cancer.
There are more than 300,000 health-related apps available for your smartphone or table, covering all types of diseases and health and wellness topics. Ashish Atreja, MD, MPH, Chief Innovation Officer, Department of Medicine, and Director of the AppLab.NY at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, can help you pick the best ones.
Zoe Rodriquez, MD, Vice Chair of Operations, Medical Director of Ambulatory Services, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mount Sinai Downtown, explains what causes urinary tract infections and how you can prevent them.