Diagnostic Tests

The VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System began offering 20-minute HIV tests at its downtown ambulatory care center Tuesday -- part of a campaign to encourage more veterans to get tested and treated for the virus. "HIV testing is the gateway to life-saving therapy," said Dr. Earl Tso, a primary care physician who is leading the downtown center's outreach effort. In the past, veterans wanting to be tested for HIV had to have blood drawn and sent to a laboratory for analysis.

Coronary artery calcium scanning -- a method that takes images of the coronaries and uses them to predict heart attack risk -- has soared in popularity over the last decade. But controversy has dogged the test for two reasons: a lack of scientific evidence that it can predict risk in people of all ethnicities and doubts about its cost-effectiveness. One of those issues appears to be resolved.

Medical experts recommended Wednesday that a less-invasive procedure known as a virtual colonoscopy and a stool DNA test join the arsenal of screenings for colon cancer in the hopes that more people would get checked out. The recommendations bring to six the number of screening tests suggested for spotting signs of colon cancer, said Dr. Otis Brawley, national chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, one of the groups that made the recommendations.

When it comes to medical care, my husband and I generally call the shots in our family. Most people would agree that this is an appropriate role for us to play, but certain medical decisions aren't normally the purview of parents. Nor should they be. Foremost among them is the decision to screen children for some genetic diseases. During the last 25 years, the number of genetic tests has increased rapidly.

Any good physical examination is highly individual, whether it's with the family doctor who's known you since childhood or with a team at a hospital-based executive physical program. Patients going for an executive physical can expect a packet of information to precede their visit. They'll fill out head-to-toe medical information and answer questions about lifestyle and family medical history so that a team of physicians can design a physical for their unique needs.

For busy people, time is money. And when you've got more money than time, the cost of an executive physical examination is kind of like the price of a yacht. If you have to ask, you can't afford it. Tom Gilmore arrived at L.A.'s Good Samaritan Hospital on a bright Friday morning, sporting a dark blue Nike warmup suit the hospital had sent.

Annual screening with a technique called transvaginal ultrasound, coupled with a blood test for CA125, a protein that can be elevated in the setting of ovarian cancer, does not reliably detect ovarian cancer early, at a more curable stage, a new study finds. "We and other groups confirm that the current method of ovarian screening, which is a combination of ultrasound scans and [blood] markers, is ineffective," said Dr. Emma R. Woodward of Birmingham Women's Hospital in Britain.

HIV testing will soon become part of routine prenatal care and be required for some newborns under a new law that supporters say is putting the state in the forefront of the national fight against HIV transmission to babies. Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed the measure into law at University Hospital in Newark. The law will take effect in six months. "We can significantly reduce the number of infections to newborns and help break down the stigma associated with the disease," Codey said.

NEW YORK -- With human growth hormone emerging as the drug of choice for baseball players, Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) said Friday he would consider federal funding to support the search for an effective HGH test. That prospect cheered Dr. Don Catlin, the former UCLA scientist charged by baseball with developing a urine test for HGH. "I'd certainly put my hat in the ring for a grant," said Catlin, who now runs the Anti-Doping Research Institute in Los Angeles.

A genetic test can help doctors determine which breast cancer patients are likely to benefit from chemotherapy, even for those whose tumors are more advanced, researchers reported Thursday. The finding needs to be confirmed in clinical trials, but experts said the test could already be used to spare some women from the debilitating side effects of cancer drugs.