More on Medicine
By Joyce Croker, Special to the Los Angeles Times
June 26 marked the seventh month since my diagnosis of Stage 3B non-small cell lung cancer. Life expectancy from date of diagnosis, with...
By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times / for the Booster Shots blog
Genomics research, in which researchers scan subjects' DNA in search of the genetic basis of many diseases, has focused too narrowly on...
Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who regularly drink tea or coffee may be less likely to carry the antibiotic-resistant "superbug" MRSA in...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
PET scans to diagnose Alzheimer's disease will be available someday soon, according to accumulating research showing the scans can...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Family history is an incredibly helpful tool for doctors trying to determine a patient's risk of cancer. But one family history intake...
By Olga Khazan, Special to the Los Angeles Times
When most pregnant women go into labor, they pack their bags for the hospital. When Lara Carlos felt the contractions in November 2008,...
By Jessica Pauline Ogilvie, Special to the Los Angeles Times
This November, voters in San Francisco are expected to weigh in on a controversial topic: whether parents should be allowed to circumcise...
By Chris Woolston, Healthkey
Autism is an environmental disorder — at least in some cases. Just as lead paint chips can cause learning disabilities and radon in...
By Marc Siegel
'Necessary Roughness'
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
Andemariam Teklesenbet Beyene left a Stockholm hospital Friday, breathing through a manufactured trachea that was built with his own stem...
By James S. Fell, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Most athletic types would rather spend a month watching "Teletubbies" while reading Snooki's blog than suffer an injury. And when it comes...
By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times
Increased screening during the last decade for colorectal cancer, the nation's second-leading cause of cancer deaths, has put a sharp dent...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times
Some women need mammograms more frequently than others, and guidelines should reflect those individual risk profiles, according to authors...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Chantix, a pill that can assist people who wish to stop smoking, appears to raise the risk of a heart attack or cardiac problem...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Breast density would be included in a mammography report under a bill proposed in the California...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Mammograms should be recommended to women based on several individual risk factors, such as age, family history and breast density,...
When should a woman be screened for cervical cancer? Here are guidelines from the American Cancer Society.
By Jill U. Adams, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Most women are familiar with the Pap smear — a test that detects precancerous changes in the cells of the cervix. They're less...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Radiation after a mastectomy for advanced breast cancer is part of the standard treatment guidelines. But more than a decade after the...
By Michelle Andrews, Kaiser Health News
Television crime shows have helped popularize autopsies, but in reality these postmortem exams are becoming rarer every year. Today,...
By Amber Dance, Special to the Los Angeles Times
A biological Jell-O with a structure as precise as a microchip's could someday be the surgeon's patch to seal large, deep wounds and help...
By Shara Yurkiewicz, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Ms. R., a retired nurse, lives with her husband in Dorchester.
By Tammy Worth, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Patricia McGinnis has six brothers and sisters who help her take care of their 89-year-old mother. Though their mother is alert and able...
By Chris Woolston, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Baby wrangling is a tough job in the best of circumstances. Add colic to the mix and … well, that borders on the cruel and unusual.
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Weight-loss surgery has been reserved for people who are morbidly obese, with a body mass index of 40 or greater. However, both gastric...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Weight-loss surgery is safe and effective for most people, but complications do occur. Researchers reported Wednesday that they had...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Fewer pregnant women and their partners are attending prenatal education classes these days and appear to be quietly following whatever...
By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times / For the Booster Shots blog
Child care may be a good choice to minimize the effects of a mother's depression on her young children, a new study shows.
By Jill U. Adams, Special to the Los Angeles Times
An 18-year study from the National Cancer Institute has found that widespread screening for ovarian cancer doesn't save lives but does set...
By Elena Conis, Special to the Los Angeles Times
Legend has it that King Tut was fond of pomegranates, and so were the ancient Persians. They surely enjoyed the fruit in its natural form &#...