Mount Auburn Healthcare Connection

“It is best to schedule an appointment with your physician to be sure,” says Roderick Crocker, Jr., MD, FACS, Chief of Urology with Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. “Blood in the urine can indicate a number of concerns – even if you only see it once.”

“The risks during a colonoscopy are few and rare,” says Kinnari Kher, M.D., Gastroenterologist at Mount Auburn Hospital. “Typically, the only side effects of a colonoscopy are cramping and air in the bowel. If there is a perforation, there will be pain, and patients are never discharged if they are feeling pain.”

“A family history of certain types of cancer can increase your risk for cancer,” says Prudence Lam, M.D., Oncologist at Mount Auburn Hospital. “Genetic testing can determine if you have a gene mutation that puts you at greater risk. The results will help you and your doctor establish appropriate screening and prevention methods. It can also indicate if your children or siblings are at risk. If you don’t get genetic testing and have a family history, it’s important to talk with your doctor about beginning screenings at an earlier age.”

“Not all breast cancer is the same. Age and tumor size are no longer the only measures we use to treat cancer. Rather, treatment plans are based on how the cancer behaves in each person’s body as well as how each woman metabolizes drugs,” says Lisa Weissmann, M.D., Medical Oncologist at Mount Auburn Hospital. “We not only need to determine the kind of breast cancer a woman has, we also need to determine how she will tolerate the medicine to obtain the maximum benefit. That’s why every patient needs personalized treatment plans.”

“The more we understand from research, the more we realize that there is no “normal PSA level,” says George Reservitz, M.D., F.A.C.S., Medical Director for the Barron Center for Men’s Health at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. “It is important to establish a PSA baseline and then watch the PSA for any trends. If the PSA level raises about a half a percentage point within a year, it’s important to watch the patient and their PSA levels more closely.”

“Thyroid cancer does carry the risk of damage to nerves that are connected to your vocal cords, causing vocal paralysis, hoarseness or difficulty breathing,” says Raffaella Colzani, M.D., Endocrinologist at Mount Auburn Hospital. “But at Mount Auburn Hospital, we have a unique thyroidectomy surgical technique that reduces the risk of damage to the vocal cords, whenever possible.”