Factors for Breast Cancer Prognosis and Survival
INTRODUCTION
Interest in factors for breast cancer prognosis and survival has been stimulated by the success of systemic adjuvant therapy for early-stage, cancer of the breast. Patients destined for recurrence can be selected for systemic adjuvant therapy, while patients who will not have a recurrence can be spared the morbidity of a treatment that offers no benefit.
For lawyers these factors may help the lawyer to evaluate whether the delay in diagnosis was material.
2 factors are important doubling time and cancer maturity. Doubling time reflects how fast the tumor grew between the time mammography was erroneously read as benign and the ultimate removal of the tumor. Cancer maturity refers to the tendency of tumors to be less differentiated as they grow bigger. Understanding prognostic factors are thus of prime importance in projecting damages.
The enclosed article is based largely on Tumor-Related Prognostic Factors for Breast Cancer William L. Donegan, MD CA Cancer J Clin 1997;47:28-51 and on Retsky, Swartzendruber, Wardwell, Bame. Computer model challenges breast cancer treatment strategy. Cancer Investigation, 12(6): 559-67, 1994.
Complications Of Laparoscopic Surgery
Introduction
This article is written with an attempt to guide physicians and lawyers through the complications of laparoscopic surgery in the hope that such complications will be avoided in the future. My concern is that the explosive growth in the number of laparoscopic surgery procedures and their diversity coupled with insufficient training by surgeons who now perform this procedure have led to many unnecessary complications.
Bariatric Surgery – A review by Dr. David Anaise, MD
Obesity is a major health problem approaching an epidemic proportions. An NIH consensus conference on the surgical treatment of obesity recommended consideration of surgery in patients with a BMI of greater than 40 kg/m2 without medical complications or a BMI of greater than 35 kg/m2 if a severe comorbidity were present. Nearly all morbidly obese patients with satisfactory postoperative weight loss, experience substantial improvement in the quality of their lives. At present, Roux en Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) may be the only bariatric operation that has produced durable long-term weight loss at an acceptable level of risk. Complications, either peri-operative or delayed occur frequently. Early recognition of these complications and meticulous attention to details are thus of paramount importance in this group of high-risk patients.
Hospital and Academic Appointments
Attending Surgeon General Surgery and Transplantation Washington Hospital Center Washington DC 1992- 1996
Assistant Clinical Professor Department of Surgery George Washington University Washington DC 1992- present
Senior staff surgeon Henry Ford Hospital Detroit MI 1991-1992
Medical director transplantation services Sierra Medical center El Paso Texas 1989-1991
Clinical Associate Professor in Surgery, Attending Surgeon in Transplantation and General Surgery Department of Surgery, SUNY at Stony Brook, , New York 11794 1982-1989
Education and Training
Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel, M.D. 1975
Resident in General Surgery, SUNY at Stony Brook, New York 1976 – 1981
Transplantation Fellowship SUNY at Stony Brook, New York 1981- 1982
American Board of Surgery Certification #037547, December 3, 1982.
American Board of Surgery Recertified October 1998
Licensed in Maryland
University of Arizona College of Law JD May 1999
What is the VA Disability Rating System? by Dr. David Anaise, MD
Disabled VA Benefits
What is the VA disability rating system?
Unlike the SSA, which grants benefits for persons who are unable to work at any job in the national economy, the VA grants benefits for persons whose impairment can potentially decrease their ability to earn a living. The VA disability rating system provides degrees of impairment from 0-100% in increments of 10. The lowest compensable rating is 10% which pays a claimant $115/month (as of December of 2006). A 100% rating provides for monthly benefits of $2,471.
Rating Table for Selected Symptoms – Veterans’ Disability
Veterans’ Disability Ratings Table
Below, I’ve used a ratings table to illustrate how selected neurological and psychological symptoms rate on the veterans disability rating system.
Rating Table for Digestive Issues – Veterans Disability
Below, I’ve used a digestive disability ratings table to illustrate how selected issues and symptoms rate on the veterans disability rating system.
Digestive Disability Rating Table
Rating Table for Heart and Lung Disability Symptoms
Below, I’ve used a heart and lung disability rating table to illustrate how these selected issues and symptoms rate on the veterans disability rating system.
Heart and Lung Disability Rating Table
§ 4.71a Schedule of ratings—musculoskeletal system. -Heart and Lung Disability Continue…
Bone and Joints Disability Rating Table
Below, I’ve used a bone and joints disability rating table to illustrate how these selected issues and symptoms rate on the veterans disability rating system.
Bone and Joints Disability Ratings Table
§ 4.71a Schedule of ratings—musculoskeletal system. Continue…