Your Health

By David Bjerklie Sunday, Oct. 20, 2002
    • USEFUL AT LAST?
    It has been touted before — prematurely — as a treatment for cancer, heart disease, even AIDS. But the dietary supplement coenzyme Q-10 may have finally hit pay dirt with Parkinson's disease. In a 16-month study of 80 patients, high doses of Q-10 four times daily significantly delayed the progression of the disease. Researchers declared the results "tremendously encouraging" but were quick to warn that the study was too small to be definitive.

    CHECK YOUR MATH
    The numbers looked good. Too good, it turns out. Early statistics showed cases of melanoma, breast, lung and colorectal cancers to be falling, but researchers now say these numbers are actually up, not down. The source of the error: not all cases diagnosed in a given year were included in that year's tally; between 3% and 12% of cancers went unrecorded because of reporting delays.

    EQUAL TREATMENT
    Although previous studies have shown that a lumpectomy followed by radiation is just as effective as a full mastectomy, many doctors and patients are still concerned that if they don't remove the entire breast, their cancer is more likely to return. But two studies that followed 2,500 women with small breast cancers for 20 years found no difference in long-term survival between those who underwent mastectomies and those who opted for lumpectomies and radiation. According to an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, it is time to declare the case closed. --BY DAVID BJERKLIE

    Sources: Archives of Neurology; Journal of the National Cancer Institute; N.E.J.M.