[ExI] Jaw-dropping CWRU Alzheimer's breakthrough?

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK

>>
http://www.skinandallergynews.com/news/medical-dermatology/single-article/be
xarotene-confers-no-survival-benefit-for-mycosis-fungoides/ead99788fa.html

>
>> Bexarotene may help your skin cancer but kill you for other reasons.  
>> {8-[  spike
>
>


>...I think you will find that doctors have become more cautious about using
chemotherapy in the elderly population. Obviously they don't want to deny
treatment that might help a patient, but the elderly present a complicated
decision process...
A survey of doctors recently showed that the majority of them would refuse
to have aggressive treatment in end of life circumstances. It is a very
difficult decision to make that everybody must face for themselves.  Best
wishes, BillK

_______________________________________________

Oy thanks BillK for that insight.  I hadn't thought of it in those terms,
but it makes sense.

Yesterday we learned that my family member's doctor is closing up shop and
leaving town.  So in that sense we are back to square 1.  I didn't get a
chance to talk to her and ask why, but I know she was swamped with requests
for bexarotene off label, and was generally turning down requests.

Regarding chemotherapy, a family would need to estimate growth rates of
cancer, balance the risk that the chemotherapy will kill the patient (I know
personally of two cases where it did in older patients) decide on the best
way to go.  But Alzheimer's add a whole nuther layer of complication,
because it isn't clear how you get informed consent from the patient.  For
some reason the symptoms of Alzheimer's varies greatly with time.  Some days
the patient seems almost normal, other days, she is lost in her own home.
We plan a family gathering in three weeks to discuss strategy.

spike