To my fellow physicians:
Please direct me to various comprehensive web sites for MD's or other certified physicians only regarding medicine..
I was trying to find the prognoses for small cell squamous ca of the lung and was unable to find a site for physicians only
If there is a straight dope equivalent where physicians can toss around questions and answers, I’d appreciate that one as well.
Thanks in advance…
Not an MD, but a critical care RN with 2-plus years experience checking in.
You might try here:
http://ccforum.com/home/
The Critical Care Forum…one of the collest places on the web.
My soon to be ex is a radiation onc nurse…I’ll see if she can ask her
boss.
jon in mo
Old fart mistake…23-plus years experience…in MICU/CCU
The reason that you can’t find information on small cell squamous cancer of the lung is probably because it doesn’t exist – there is small cell, there is squamous. Never heard of small cell squamous, though I’m not a doctor (yet).
In terms of medical information, I use UpToDate. It ain’t free, although the subscription is picked up by my school. It is kind of the big clearing-house of medical information right now. For evidence-based medicine guides to the efficacy of certain treatments, I go to the Cochrane Guide. For other information, I look for review articles through PubMed. Another place I may look for your specific information is the American Cancer Society or American Lung Association, they both have resources for professionals or for other people looking to do research.
You may never of small cell squamous lung cancer but i can assure you it does exist …A non-small cell squamous ca of the lung also exists. My ex-wife has a stage 4 non- small-cell squamous ca of the lung and has taken her 6 doses of chemotherapy.
You may never of small cell squamous lung cancer but i can assure you it does exist …A non-small cell squamous ca of the lung also exists. My ex-wife has a stage 4 non- small-cell squamous ca of the lung and has taken her 6 doses of chemotherapy.
Sorry, just looked it up. Rare pathologic variant of squamous cell lung cancer. Never heard of it.
The varieties are small cell lung cancers and the non-small cell lung cancers (squamous, large cell, adenocarcinoma). Of squamous cancers, there are basaloid (small-cell type) and clear cell types.
My bad.
Yes, small cell squamous exists as a histologic variant of classical small cell carcinoma.
Here are two abstracts, the first one of which may have been the first description of small cell squamous in the literature. The second abstract attempts to describe any correlation between outcome and histologic variation:
Prognostic study.
Now, in terms of internet resources, you could do a lot worse than PubMed itself (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/ or simply pubmed.com). Of course, that site provides just raw abstracts and they don’t always link to the full text article and, if they do, it may not be free.
So, in addition to the sources that my young friend edwino notes, I’ll mention just one. But, it’s big and comprehensive. And free. I’m referring to eMedicine (http://www.emedicine.com/). Don’t let the fact that it’s free and available for anyone to use make you think its articles won’t be up to your standards. They are usually quite sophisticated and helpful. Try it for a while and see what you think.
Hah, Harlan Spjut is the emeritus chair of the Department of Pathology where my thesis advisor works… None of those other people are still around (to my knowledge), though.
This may be getting too detailed for some, but:
Two major tumor classification systems (WHO 3d edition and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (Pathology Panel) do not recognize a spcific small cell variant of squamous cell carcinoma. The authors of the chapter in the current edition of Sternberg’s Diagnostic Surgical Pathology describe a variant they call squamous cell carcinoma of small cell type.
If you’re going to research this variant I’d use this terminology, as “small cell squamous ca” might lead to confusion. Part of the reason for specificity is that usual treatment for standard small cell carcinoma might not be effective in squamous cell carcinoma of small cell type (which has been shown to have more epithelial and fewer neuroendocrine characteristics).
Jackmannii, M.D.
Have you tried the NCI website? It has physician pages and patient pages.
Here’s the link to what might be a useful page at that site: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/non-small-cell-lung/HealthProfessional/page2
I thank you for your help…I gave the lung cancer prognosis as material I’m searching for in a site = (for physicians only) where a user name and password is needed to enter. A site whereby questions and answers can be given on all health issues involving the entire system including head and neck…orthopedic questions…obgyn…internal medicine…surgery. pathology etc…l too complicated for most laymen but written for physicians and the like.
If there is such a site, please let me know.
I realize this isn’t exactly what you asked for, as it is a subscription site and not a BBS.
But you might want to check out www.mdconsult.com
It does biblio searches, etc., etc. for those in the field.
(Cough, cough. In the interest of full disclosure, I know about it because when they were starting up, I wrote their search routines [blush])