L awrence J ournal -W orld
| 5C
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Guidelines for early disease detection By Michelle Tevis Twitter: @WellCommons
Some cancers can be found early, before they have had a chance to grow and spread. By the time symptoms appear, cancer may have begun to spread and is harder to treat. There are screening tests that can be used to look for cancer. The American Cancer Society has some guidelines for early detection screening for breast, colon, lung and prostate cancer, among others. In all cases, anyone with concerns should talk to his or her doctor before deciding on screening.
MORE INFO Visit cancer.org, or call 1-800-227-2345 to get more details on American Cancer Society cancer screening guidelines or to learn more about how to reduce the risk of getting cancer. l Clinical breast exam
about every three years for women in their 20s and 30s and every year for women 40 and over. l Women should know how their breasts normally look and feel and report any changes to a health care provider right away. Breast self-exam is an option for women Breast Cancer starting in their 20s. l Yearly mammograms Some women — bestarting at age 40 and cause of their family hiscontinuing for as long as a tory, a genetic tendency, woman is in good health. or certain other factors —
should be screened with MRIs along with mammograms. (The number of women who fall into this category is small: less than 2 percent of all women in the United States.) Talk with a doctor about your history and whether you should have other tests or start testing at an earlier age.
Tests that primarily find cancer: l Yearly guaiac-based fecal occult blood test, or l Yearly fecal immunochemical test, or l Stool DNA test every three years Results from these tests will determine the next steps for those being screened.
Colon and Rectal Cancer and Polyps Beginning at age 50, both men and women should follow one of these testing schedules: Tests that find polyps and cancer: l Flexible sigmoidoscopy every five years, or l Colonoscopy every 10 years, or l Double-contrast barium enema every five years, or l CT colonography (virtual colonoscopy) every five years
Lung Cancer The American Cancer Society does not recommend tests to check for lung cancer in people who are at average risk. But screening guidelines exist for those who are at high risk of lung cancer because of cigarette smoking. Screening might be ap-
propriate for people with all of the following criteria: l 55 to 74 years of age l In fairly good health l Have at least a 30 pack-year smoking history AND are either still smoking or have quit smoking within the last 15 years (A pack-year is the number of cigarette packs smoked each day multiplied by the number of years a person has smoked. Someone who smoked a pack of cigarettes per day for 30 years has a 30 pack-year smoking history, as does someone who smoked two packs a day for 15 years.) Screening is done with a low-dose CT scan of the chest.
Prostate Cancer The American Cancer Society recommends that men make an informed decision with a doctor about whether to be tested for prostate cancer. Research has not yet proven that the potential benefits of testing outweigh the harms of testing and treatment. Starting at age 50, men should talk to a doctor about the pros and cons of testing so they can decide if testing is the right choice for them. Patients who are African-American or have a father or brother who had prostate cancer before age 65 should have this talk with a doctor starting at age 45.
Multiple factors cause high prescription drug prices in U.S. By Linda Johnson Associated Press
Trenton, N.J. — Sticker-shocked patients increasingly wonder why prices for prescription drugs continue to rise in the United States. The issue heated up recently on news that Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of Daraprim, the only approved treatment for a rare, life-threatening parasitic infection, by more than 5,000 percent to $750 a pill. Medical groups blasted the increase, and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton called it “price gouging.” Turing’s CEO, former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, later said he’d make “a serious price adjustment.” But the issue goes beyond a single company or drug. From 2008 through 2014, average prices for the most widely used brand-name drugs jumped 128 percent, according to prescription benefit manager Express Scripts Holding Co. In 2014, it estimated that total U.S. prescription drug spending increased 13 percent. Reasons include increasing research costs, insufficient competition and drug shortages. Pharmaceutical and biotech industry groups say prescription medicines save money by preventing costly complications and hospitalizations and have
long accounted for just 10 percent of annual U.S. health care spending. That could change, because many new drugs for cancer, hepatitis C and rare disorders carry list prices of $100,000 or more for a year or course of treatment. For patients with insurance requiring them to pay a significant percentage of medication costs, the priciest drugs can be unaffordable. Higher prices can trickle down even to those who now have flat copayments, such as $30 per prescription, because as insurance plans incur higher costs, they usually increase the share beneficiaries pay in subsequent years. While it’s clear drug prices are rising, many patients don’t understand why. Here are four of the top reasons:
Price controls The U.S. government doesn’t regulate prices, unlike many countries where government agencies negotiate prices for every drug. In the U.S., drugmakers set wholesale prices based mostly on what competing brand-name drugs cost and whether their new drug is better, said Les Funtleyder, health care portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management.
ally giving a drug’s maker exclusivity that prevents competition for 20 years from when the patent is issued. Because patents are filed while drugs are still in testing, that clock starts ticking long before the drug goes on sale. Typically, new drugs end up with a monopoly for roughly a dozen years. Their makers generally increase their prices every year, by about 5 percent or more. Those increases add up, and become bigger as the expiration of the patent approaches.
Limited competition For many drugs, there isn’t enough competition to hold down prices. Many older generic drugs were priced too low to be very profitable, so some drugmakers stopped making them. Once only one or two companies make a drug, the price usually shoots up. For older, brand-name drugs that treat conditions too rare to attract multiple manufacturers, the sole maker has a de facto monopoly.
Small markets Many new drugs are for rare conditions or cancer subtypes involving a particular genetic mutation, so they might help just thousands or hundreds of patients. To recoup research and development costs, drugmakers set Lengthy patents very high prices, though Patents last longer than they offer many patients in other countries, usu- financial assistance.
2 r e ctob tween
o , s be r y o a o d frid 10 p.m. outgs Auto
JA
ig to r B 6 d n m a o fr Honda
ena l l E K C
wEST along errace t 29th
at K r e d Thun
H* sic S U R D N e A L * s e i ot l
u live m
l
e B r e e B
ked m e ave kic r h e o v h i M w al or SF k, and om 105.9 KtIhSose battling n i r d nd ing fr
food a
r
* awing
T dr BASKE
or
hon mony
e ar cer ock st
0 THE COMMUNIT 1 R O F LE FOR 650 TAB DETECTION
r
cance
Y
$4
son*P$PORT CANCIEARL HOSPITAL r e p r 5 pe EEDS SU MEMOR
O PETS 785-505-3318 N • R I A AWNCHowment.org L A G • BRIN s: lmhend + 1 2 S T Radiologic ADUL s and table Professional Services t e k c i t PROC LAWRENCE AT
, p.a.
THIS NEW EVENT REPLACES THE ANNUAL STEPPING OUT AGAINST BREAST CANCER FUNDRAISER (BECAUSE ALL CANCERS NEED to be KICKEd AND ALL SURVIVORS ROCK)
Your Hometown Team At Lawrence Otolaryngology, we’ve been a part of the Lawrence community for 31 years. We are proud to be your hometown option for audiology services, including diagnostic testings, hearing screenings and one of the largest selection of hearing aids and accessories in our area. We serve our patients every day, with the time and attention it takes to truly be a partner in their hearing journey. And, our patients say it best...
Audiologists Meryl R. Lockling, AuD and Misti M. Ranck MS CCC-A
“Our daughter recommended we come to Lawrence Otolaryngology for our hearing aids and we’re sure glad she did! Everyone we’ve worked with, from the doctors to the audiologist, have been kind and paid attention to all our needs. We would definitely recommend them to our friends... And we have, often!” —Archie and Sally, LOA patients Questions about your hearing? We look forward to the opportunity to answer your questions and treat you like we’ve been treating your neighbors for more than 30 years.
Call 785.841.1107 or visit us online at www.lawoto.com