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Vital Signs
Media Mentions: DMS and DHMC in the News
Among the people and programs coming in for
prominent media coverage in recent months
was a DMS epidemiologist who wrote an editorial
to accompany a large Harvard-led study showing
that women who regularly take aspirin reduce
their risk of dying from any cause. "The dissenting
editorial, by John Baron of Dartmouth Medical
School," noted the Atlanta-Journal
Constitution, "was based in
large part on results . . . from the
Women's Health Study, which
followed almost 40,000 women
for 11 years and found" no such
benefit. The Baltimore Sun, the
Orlando Sentinel, U.S. News &
World Report, Reuters, and BBC News also made
mention of Baron's editorial. "Which of these
mega-studies is right?" Reuters quoted Baron as
asking. "Both somehow? Neither?"
An editorial drew another faculty member into
the press, too. In an article about lung cancer
screening, the New York Times consulted "Dr.
William Black, a radiologist at Dartmouth, who wrote
an editorial accompanying" a recent Cornell study
showing that screening with CT scans for lung
cancer improves survival rates. "The flaw" in that
study, Black pointed out, was the "assumption that
every untreated lung cancer was
ultimately fatal." But, he explained
on National Public Radio's
Morning Edition, "we do
know from autopsy studies that
we can find a lot of small cancers
. . . [that] do not appear to
have been related to the patient's
death. . . . If you were to find such a small
cancer with CT screening and treat it, you might
falsely assume that you've prevented a death."
DMS's James Sargent told the Voice of America that although "research findings are strong and consistent, many people are skeptical when they hear that movies might contribute to adolescent smoking." And the Philadelphia Inquirer said: "Research from James Sargent, who has been studying this subject for years, seems to indicate that the more children are exposed to movie smokers, the higher the likelihood they'll start smoking as teens."
In a piece about the trend among some parents to
forgo vaccinating their children, a Chicago Sun-Times writer talked with "Dr. Henry Bernstein of the
Children's Hospital at Dartmouth." Bernstein, "a
member of the American Academy
of Pediatrics' Committee
on Infectious Diseases, . . . believes
that vaccines were 'the
No. 1 public health breakthrough
of the last century.'" Of
a now-discredited study linking
autism to a mercury-based preservative
in some vaccines, he said, "It's pretty discouraging
when something like that can lead so
many people not to vaccinate their children."
"For those wondering what the future holds" regarding
health-care transparency, "it's worth visiting
the website of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical
Center in Lebanon, N.H., part of
the system that includes Dartmouth
Medical School." That's
according to USA Today, which
highlighted the Quality Reports
and payment estimator features
of the DHMC
website and quoted "Melanie Mastanduno, the hospital's director of quality measurement," as saying, "Fundamentally, we believe we're in a partnership with patients . . . Only if they have information can they make good decisions about their health care."
The Wall Street Journal reported on three screening
tests for strokes, aneurysms, and other arterial
problems that got "a big endorsement" from the
Society for Vascular Surgery. The tests range from
free to more than $1,000, the
Journal noted, "so how can people
be sure they are getting accurate
tests at a fair price? . . .
Dartmouth Medical School
vascular surgeon Robert Zwolak, a
leader in the effort to get these
screening tests widely embraced,
. . . suggests that patients start by looking into
screening programs made available free by vascular
medical groups and listed at www.vascularweb.org."
The Arizona Republic also quoted Zwolak, "who is
chairman of the National Aneurysm Alliance,
the group whose efforts led to federal
legislation directing Medicare to offer" abdominal
aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening;
he told that paper that "one of the most frustrating
situations" he faces is trying to save
a patient with a ruptured AAA.
The Fresno Bee reported on a patient who
may have been mistakenly declared brain
dead—"a step that cleared the way for the
patient's organs to be recovered." For comment
on the situation, the Bee turned to "Dr.
James Bernat, a professor of neurology at Dartmouth
Medical School and former chair of
the American Academy of
Neurology ethics committee,
[who] said that the incident
raised questions of
whether proper procedures
were being followed."
Bernat was also a resource
for a chart in People magazine
that defined the terms coma, vegetative
state, and minimally conscious state.
"New data on the controversial HPV vaccine
designed to prevent cervical cancer
have raised serious questions about its efficacy,"
began a recent article in the Los Angeles
Times. "Dr. Diane Harper
of Dartmouth Medical
School, who helped design
a related Merck-funded
HPV study" told the
Times that the HPV vaccine
is safe and "'protects
against the main HPV bad
actors,' but . . . neither doctors nor women
should be lulled into a false sense of security."
And in the Wall Street Journal, Harper
was quoted as saying that "as many as 10%
of 11- and 12-year-old girls" would not benefit
from the vaccine because they "may already
have HPV, either from sexual activity,
sexual abuse, or transmission through
nonsexual skin-to-skin contact." (For more
about Harper and the vaccine for HPV, see our Fall 2006
.
To explore why seemingly rational people do irrational things, the Seattle Times consulted "Peter Olsson, assistant professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth. . . . 'It is very common after a person gets wide publicity in the wake of an unusual or violent act that friends, neighbors, colleagues, and relatives say things that would make it sound like the action was out of character,' Olsson said. 'For various reasons, these people might be
overprotective, or not be aware of the complex inner conflicts, struggles, or impulses that were going on. [They] only observed the external social behaviors of the person.'"
A nationwide study comparing two different
surgeries for women with bladder-control
problems attracted widespread media attention.
The research wasn't conducted at
Dartmouth, but its importance was "underscored
by an accompanying journal editorial
from Dr. Kris Strohbehn of Dartmouth Medical
School," as the San
Diego Union-Tribune put it.
"Up to half of women suffer
from some form of incontinence
in their lifetime,
most often after
menopause. About 11%
undergo surgery for it,"
Strohbehn told USA Today. "Others try behavioral
therapy or exercises to strengthen
the pelvic floor, he says."
According to the Boston Globe, when "a renowned Harvard economist unveiled a plan . . . to revamp the U.S. health-care system," he held up as a model "Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center, . . . [which] has recently revamped its system of care. . . . Gwendolyn Natola, the center's project manager, said cancer specialists meet patients and consult on treatment strategies in a large open space called the 'bullpen.' 'The patient does not have to go on different visits, or to different buildings at different times,' Natola said." The article also said that "Dr. Burton Eisenberg, a surgeon and the center's deputy director, said doctors who had worked independently on some cases now work collaboratively on behalf of patients."
A Dartmouth physician-researcher showed
up in three different stories on three different
subjects. In a Chicago Tribune piece
about using MRIs to find breast cancer, "Dr.
Steven Woloshin of Dartmouth
[said], 'The key is whether
these "missed cancers" are
ones that were destined to
cause problems, and
whether earlier detection
and treatment has a net
benefit.'" National Public
Radio's Morning Edition also sought out
"Woloshin, a professor at Dartmouth," for a
segment about restless leg syndrome—which Woloshin "calls. . . the 'poster child
for disease mongering.' " In addition, Woloshin
got coverage in the Washington Post
for a study showing that doctors are often
"the sole decision-maker about which hospital"
a patient has surgery at.
The confined space of an MRI machine can
make some patients so anxious that "they
sometimes try to crawl out of the machine or
require anti-anxiety drugs," the Orlando Sentinel
recently noted. But "one MRI expert,
Dr. Justin Pearlman from Dartmouth, is aware of
the underlying reasons for MRI claustrophobia
and suggests ways
to overcome it. 'The patients
notice a change in
environment and loss of
sense of liberty that disturbs
them,' " he told the
Sentinel. "'It is very similar
to the feelings some people
notice when they look over an edge from
a high place. If the feeling is intense, some
people can choose either to accept the feelings
knowing there is no harm, or they can
distance themselves by closing their eyes
and thinking of lying on a beach.'"
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