Sound Medicine -- July 5, 2003

Hosts Barbara Lewis and Dr. Kathy Miller talk to physicians and researchers about:

Health Benefits of Tea

The Merck Manual and Communicating With Your Doctor

Ceramic Hip Replacement

Real Media | Windows Media

Health Benefits of Tea

Dr. James Klaunig, director of the Division of Toxicology and a professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Indiana University School of Medicine, has found that tea appears to have beneficial effects on people. One of these benefits is the reduction of oxidative stress, especially in smokers.

Tea is made from leaves that grow on a low-growing shrub, and was discovered over five thousand years ago. The health benefits often attributed to the beverage include: fighting cancer, decreasing heart disease, and serving as an anti-bacterial and anti-viral agent. However, controlled studies of these claims have not been conducted, so their authenticity is questionable. What has been determined, however, is that tea is an antioxidant, and antioxidants have been known to have beneficial purposes. Tea has caused malignant tumors in rodents to actually decrease in size.

Caffeine does not negate the effects of tea, nor does temperature affect its usefulness. Four to six cups of tea per day appears to be the optimal dosage to supply the right intensity of antioxidants. Supplements do not appear to be as effective antioxidants as drinking tea itself. Furthermore, herbal teas do not supply the benefits as they are generally made from flowers or berries, not actual tea leaves, and are therefore not truly teas.

Resources:

Read more about Dr. Klaunig’s research in this IUSM news release.

Visit the Tea Health Web site for more information on the health benefits of drinking tea.

Read the interesting history of tea published by the Stash Tea Company.

The Merck Manual and Communicating With Your Doctor

The Merck Manual of Medical Information is now in its second home edition. The Merck Manual has been a standard medical reference book for physicians, but the new home edition guides are aimed at the patient. One of its highly touted parts is the section on how to talk to your physician. To help us try to bridge that gap is one of the assistant editors of the Merck Manual of Medical Information-Second Home Edition, Dr. Michael Berkwits.

Communication between doctors and patients is moving more towards a shared conversation, but there is still a gap. Doctors are often pressed for time and are thus unable to explain tests and treatments to people. Also, patients often have a lot of different doctors for different purposes, and this can be confusing. Furthermore, medical information systems are also not as efficient as they could be.

To alleviate these problems, patients should make a list of their medicines or bring along medicine bottles with labels to doctors' appointments. That way, even if the patient does not know the name of his or her condition, the doctors can more easily be able to figure it out. It is also helpful for patients to make a list of the top two or three topics they want to discuss, and top two or three questions they want to address. Finally, if a person feels that his or her doctor is not doing enough, or if the patient is not familiar with the doctor's manner, it should be discussed. If the communication barrier is serious enough, a patient might consider seeing another physician.

Resources:

The Merck article on communicating with your doctor is available online.

Ever considered email consultations with your physician? Read about a recent study on the topic performed at the University of Michigan. Companies like Medem Inc. provide secure messaging services connecting patients with doctors.

Ceramic Hip Replacement

Four months ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new total hip replacement system made of ceramic. Prior to this approval, technologies used for total hip replacement included polyethylene and metal systems. The ceramic hip was tested in a five-year clinical trial and was shown to be more durable than its predecessors. Dr. William Capello, MD, co-medical director of the Clarian Total Joint Institute and professor of orthopedic surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine, was a lead investigator in the clinical trial.

The main problem with the metal and plastic bearings in traditional artificial hips is the wearing down of the plastic. Researchers found that sturdy, alumina-based ceramic is very tough and very strong, and it therefore has an extremely good resistance against wear.

There is an increasing demand for artificial hips as people are living longer. Traditionally doctors have resisted recommending artificial hips for younger people because they often needed to be replaced relatively frequently. However, now with the improved bearings and improved prostheses, doctors may be more willing to recommend them. Patients can expect a faster recovery with the ceramic hip. It requires smaller incisions, and more muscles are spared. As these techniques become more refined, recovery will be even more rapid.

Resources:

Frequently asked questions about hip replacement.

More about joint replacement from WebMD.

Is there a medical topic you'd like us to cover? Reach us by email: soundmed@iu.edu
or by phone:
(317) 274-4848.

On July 4, 1776, when America was declared independent from England, America's greatest enemies consisted not just of the British troops but also of a disease called "the king of terrors in America". What was this disease?

A. Plague
B. Smallpox
C. Malaria

Find out!

It's as American as apple pie. It’s beer on a hot summer day. So whether you are playing softball at a family picnic or hiking down to your favorite spot to watch the fireworks this holiday weekend, you may be tempted to quench your thirst with a brewski. But you’re conflicted. You've heard the warnings against using alcoholic beverages to combat thirst. But why? Beer has a lot of water in it!

Find out!

Good doctor-patient communication is one of the most critical steps in ensuring appropriate medical treatment. Approximately 80% of the information needed for a diagnosis comes from the patient’s communication to the doctor; the remaining comes from physical examinations and tests. To ensure good communication with your doctor:

• Give your doctor a detailed account of your symptoms, the medications you have been taking and their effects.

• Ask questions regarding the medicines, medical tests and diagnoses.

• If your doctor uses technical terms you don’t understand, ask him or her to explain the unfamiliar words.

• People with dementia or hearing loss should not be afraid to ask the doctor to speak up louder and slower.

• Make a list of your symptoms and the medications you are currently taking before going to see your doctor. You can even prepare a list of questions that you don’t want to forget to ask.

• Elderly patients should bring someone along who can help ask questions, take notes and remind the patient about complaints they forget to tell the doctor.

Sources::

The British Broadcasting Company's guide to Doctor - Patient Communication.

InteliHealth's guide to doctors' technical jargon.