Hypnosis is an artificially produced state of consciousness which allows for greater responsiveness to suggestion. Ian Lipski M.D., associate professor in Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center, uses medical hypnosis to help patients manage cancer treatment side effects like anxiety, fear and pain. Medical hypnosis shifts the focus of power away from the medical staff and gives the patient control over his/her cognizance. Learn how Dr. Lipski helps patients...

Uterine cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women and is the most common cancer of women’s reproductive organs. Over 40,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with uterine cancer each year. Shannon Westin, M.D., assistant professor in Gynecologic Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center discusses symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and current research for uterine cancer.

African American women with early stage, invasive breast cancer were 13 percent less likely than Caucasian women with the same diagnosis to receive a minimally invasive technique, axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy, years after the procedure had become the standard of surgical care, according to research from MD Anderson Cancer Center. The older technique, axillary lymph node dissection (ALND), is associated with a higher rate of lymphedema and worse outcome. Dalliah Black, M.D.,...

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/combined-urology-radiation/id431848... Deborah Kuban, M.D., professor, and Benjamin Smith, M.D., assistant professor, both in Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson, discuss a study examining the emergence of integrated urology-radiation oncology practices in Texas. They discovered prostate cancer patients generally travel further for treatment at the radiation oncology facility owned by their urologist, as opposed to traveling to the...

Download from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/advanced-care-planning-acp/id431848... . Advanced care planning is not about giving up, emphasizes Katherine Pisters, M.D., professor in Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Donna Zhukovsky, M.D., professor in Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, both at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Rather, it’s a way for cancer patients to tell their loved ones what’s important to them as they approach the end of life. MD...

Download from itunes: http://bit.ly/VjNLcp . The time has come to say, “Your cancer is terminal and you need to get your life in order.” Who has this difficult job and how can they help ease the pain? David Hui, M.D., medical director of Palliative Care and Rehabilitation Medicine, and Chaplain Steven Thorney, are part of MD Anderson’s Supportive Care Center. Here they help patients get their physical and emotional symptoms under control and work with them to establish end-of-life...

Around 15,000 people in the United States are diagnosed each year with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). MDS occurs when the bone marrow does not properly produce one or more of the following: red blood cells, white blood cells and/or platelets. In the past it was thought MDS was only deadly when it developed into acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), but current research shows MDS can be fatal without reaching the stage of AML. Guillermo Garcia-Manero, M.D., professor in Leukemia, explains the...

Download from iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/cancer-vaccine-to-prevent/id43184821... A peptide vaccine appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence in women with varying levels of HER2 expression, according to research presented at this year's Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). This vaccine educates the immune system to recognize HER2 as an invader. After years of false starts, immunotherapy is a burgeoning and promising field for...

More than 50% of palliative care cancer patients have serious issues with constipation leading to emergency room visits. It’s important for cancer patients to bring up concerns about constipation with their oncologists, but some are reluctant, says Knox Todd, M.D., department chair in Emergency Medicine at MD Anderson. In this podcast, Todd discusses causes, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer-related constipation and makes suggestions for how to avoid associated emergency room...

Download podcast from iTunes: http://www3.mdanderson.org/streams/AudioPlayer.cfm?xml=cfg%2FCNL-Physici... Shane Leonard was a high school student who had to give up a coveted engineering internship to be treated for salivary gland cancer at MD Anderson Cancer Center. It turned out to be one of the best experiences of his life. During Leonard’s treatment at MD Anderson’s Proton Therapy Center, he formed a bond with Richard Amos, senior medical physicist. Leonard’s mentoring...