http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barton_a_kamen_md_phd Members of TheVisualMD.com expert panel are leaders in their field. They are sharing their thoughts about health and medicine, provide an opportunity to the public to respond to their posts and answer questions our users may ask. en-EN http://backend.userland.com/rss http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barton_a_kamen_md_phd/reflections_on_patient_care_when_cure_is_not_possible http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barton_a_kamen_md_phd/reflections_on_patient_care_when_cure_is_not_possible Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0500 It is both embarrassing and frustrating for me as a physician to see the recent flurry of reports in the lay press about end of life care for patients with cancer.  This is likely the result of the American Society of Clinical Oncology providing material to help oncologists talk with patients about terminal disease.

]]> It is both embarrassing and frustrating for me as a physician to see the recent flurry of reports in the lay press about end of life care for patients with cancer.  This is likely the result of the American Society of Clinical Oncology providing material to help oncologists talk with patients about terminal disease.

]]> http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barton_a_kamen_md_phd/why_is_it_so_hard_to_cure_patients_of_cancer http://thevisualmd.com/expert_panel/barton_a_kamen_md_phd/why_is_it_so_hard_to_cure_patients_of_cancer Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0500 I get this question all the time and for decades taught second year medical students in the pharmacology course about chemotherapeutic drugs.  I would remind them that killing a cancer cell growing in a bottle was easy and that there was no such thing as drug resistance.  However as physicians we do not kill cancer cells growing in a bottle, but we do treat patients with cancer, and that is much harder to do because then terms like drug resistance and chemotherapy toxicity are very important.

]]> I get this question all the time and for decades taught second year medical students in the pharmacology course about chemotherapeutic drugs.  I would remind them that killing a cancer cell growing in a bottle was easy and that there was no such thing as drug resistance.  However as physicians we do not kill cancer cells growing in a bottle, but we do treat patients with cancer, and that is much harder to do because then terms like drug resistance and chemotherapy toxicity are very important.

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