Diagnostic Tests

A new prostate test that relies on measuring levels of a blood protein called EPCA-2 accurately found cancer 94% of the time, a significant improvement over the current PSA test, according to a study released Wednesday. Each year, about 1.6 million men undergo biopsies because they test positive on a PSA test -- but only about 230,000 of them actually have cancer.

Even among psychiatric disorders, depression is a difficult disease to diagnose. Its causes remain a mystery, its symptoms can't be defined with precision, and treatments are spotty at best. But that may soon change. Scientists are looking for ways to identify patients with depression as reliably as they diagnose cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. A new study takes a significant, though preliminary, step in that direction by demonstrating that a simple blood test can distinguish between people who are depressed and those who are not. The test examined a panel of 28 biological markers that circulate in the bloodstream and found that 11 of them could predict the presence of depression at accuracy levels that ranged from medium to large.

Whole-body CT scans, long controversial because of doubts about their effectiveness in finding hidden disease, can significantly increase the recipient's risk of developing cancer, according to a study released Monday. The radiation from a single whole-body scan is equal to that from 100 mammograms and is similar to that received by survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan -- about 1 1/2 miles from the explosions -- according to radiation biologist David J.

Water won't wait Re "Messing with Devil's Gate," Editorial, May 6 I lived in La Crescenta during the great flood of 1938. I remember listening to radio reports that Devil's Gate Dam was in imminent danger of collapsing. Fortunately it didn't, and the Arroyo Seco and the communities below were saved from a deluge of mud and water. The fact that the dam's basin has been allowed to fill with sediment over the years is a sign of ignorance and mismanagement. The L.A. County Board of Supervisors should make clearing out the basin a top priority.

Men over the age of 75 should no longer be screened for prostate cancer because the potential harm from the test results -- both physical and psychological -- outweighs any potential benefit from treatment, a federal panel said Monday. Most oncologists already argue against treating most men in that age group for prostate cancer because they are more likely to die from some other cause than from their tumor.

Darren James saw the news flash on his TV screen last week: A porn actress had tested positive for HIV. James, 45, felt a moment of shock, then sadness. "I feel really bad for this girl," he said. "One thing I can say, I just wish her well. It's the worst thing to get that call." It's the call James got in 2004 when the well-liked porn star known for his courteous nature on set found himself at the center of an HIV outbreak in the San Fernando Valley's multibillion-dollar porn industry.

In August, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-sponsored panel of medical experts, issued new recommendations regarding prostate cancer screening: Men ages 75 and over should no longer be screened for prostate cancer with the PSA blood test or digital rectal exam. An unexpected benefit may be an improvement in the doctor-patient relationship. The rectal exam can be one of the odder moments between a patient and his doctor.

A woman who alleged that she was wrongly diagnosed as HIV-positive at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center has reached a settlement with the county, lawyers for both sides said Friday. Plaintiff Lynn Howard claimed the hospital's staff told her she was HIV-positive in October 2002, according to the lawsuit. She was told two years later that she was HIV-negative. But county attorney Richard Reinjohn said hospital personnel never told Howard she was HIV-positive.

During my last doctor's visit I noticed a sign in the exam room urging patients to ask about a new Pap test called PapSure. Curious, I asked my doctor for more information. My doctor said she was unfamiliar with the scientific evidence for the test's benefit, but added that she'd heard that the test -- which costs $75 and is not covered by health insurance -- was effective. The test, she said, has "good results and picks up every little infection."

M. James Barrett and his lean team of scientists and engineers are hot on the trail of overcoming a challenge that has stumped medical-device makers for years: developing a fast, accurate blood-sugar monitor small enough to be implanted in diabetics. Barrett puts the task before him succinctly: "The field is littered with the dead bodies of those who have tried and failed at this."

A new automated test to detect tuberculosis infections and the presence of an antibiotic-resistant TB strain can shave days to weeks off the time it takes to identify new infections, allowing treatment to be started immediately to prevent further spread of the bacterium. The new test, which can be performed by technicians with only limited training, could prove highly valuable not only in the developing world, but also in the inner cities of the developed world where outbreaks of the deadly disease are becoming more common.

Researchers have taken a small but potentially significant step toward early detection of ovarian cancer, a deadly disease often diagnosed too late for effective treatment. Various cancer "biomarkers" show up in blood tests long before symptoms occur but aren't accurately predictive until later, when tumors probably have reached an advanced stage, scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found. The study, published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, was headed by Garnet Anderson and Nicole Urban of the Hutchinson center's Division of Public Health Sciences.

The dollars saved are nearly negligible, but the political costs of scaling back breast cancer screening for tens of thousands of low-income women have turned out to be huge. Twenty-one members of California's congressional delegation -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- have sent a letter rebuking the governor for the move. State lawmakers are warning that people will die. Audits are being demanded. The Assembly Budget Committee chairwoman is even organizing a symbolic bake sale.

One look at Ani's swollen ankles and we knew she was in trouble. For several years, the petite young mother had been coming to UCLA's FMF Clinic with periodic fevers along with excruciating pain in her chest and abdomen. Now -- as a urine dipstick test confirmed -- her disease was also attacking her kidneys. The 4+ reading for urine protein indicated the organs were beginning to malfunction and leak serum proteins. The loss of circulating protein, in turn, explained the buildup of fluid in her extremities.

Women in their 40s should begin getting mammograms whenever they want, members of a U.S. advisory group told a House hearing Wednesday, saying their "poorly worded" recommendations last month had confused people. Physicians with the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force told a House hearing that they had not meant to suggest that screenings were unnecessary for patients in that age group. Instead, the physicians said, they meant that screening is more effective for those 50 to 74. Republicans had trumpeted the initial recommendations, issued Nov. 16, as evidence that the Democratic-sponsored healthcare overhaul would lead to rationing of medical care.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. In 1984, Japan began screening the urine of 6-month-old infants for neuroblastoma, the most common type of solid tumor in young children. The test was simple and could show signs of cancer long before clinical symptoms arose. Hundreds of infants went through the ordeal of diagnosis and treatment, but it didn't reduce the number of tumors, including deadly ones, found later. Almost none of the tumors caught by screening turned out to be dangerous -- and more of the screened children died from complications of surgery and chemotherapy than from the cancer itself.

By the time many women realize they have reached menopause, they have missed the chance to ease symptoms, stave off early bone loss or even become pregnant. Menopause is not formally diagnosed until a woman has completed a full year with no menstrual period. But by that time many have suffered hot flashes, insomnia or other symptoms without understanding their significance.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Tuesday that federal regulators recently approved its diagnostic test for a metabolic disorder in newborns. The test detects the hereditary disorder galactosemia, which, if left untreated, can cause liver and brain damage, the drug company said. Early diagnosis enables the doctor to prescribe a special diet to reduce harmfully high sugar levels in an infant's blood. The federal Food and Drug Administration in November approved the test for marketing.

Only days after a federal panel scaled back on breast cancer screening recommendations for many women, another organization -- the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists -- has done the same for a screening credited with drastically reducing the rates of cervical cancer in the U.S. Women of all ages should undergo Pap smears less frequently than they do now, those new guidelines say. And young women are advised not to bother until...

A government panel's recommendation Monday that women under the age of 50 do not need regular mammograms set off a furious debate about the importance of the routine screening tool, leaving many women confused about how best to protect their health. In issuing its guidelines, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that risk of breast cancer is very low in women age 40 to 50 and that the risk of false positives and complications from biopsies and other invasive procedures is too high for the procedure to be used routinely.