A recent project at the University of Chicago aims to mobilize the most potent weapon of all in the battle against cancer: the patient’s own body. The treatment uses a “nanoparticle cocktail,” or combination of drugs, to drive a process called checkpoint blockade immunotherapy. In layman’s terms: “When a patient has cancer, the immunity cells … Read more
Just like people, the cells in human bodies aren’t in a hurry to meet their maker. Normally, cells have a natural life cycle that ends in a process called apoptosis, which eliminates old or damaged cells to make room for the new. Problem is, sometimes cells cheat death by mooching off certain proteins in the … Read more
Though the diagnosis could be devastating, with this list we present reason for hope. Here, the 385 physicians chosen by their peers as the best cancer doctors in the six-county area.
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When surgeon Steven Gitelis describes the hybrid plasma scalpel, he uses a comparison almost everyone can understand: “This device is like a lightsaber.” Well, you probably won’t see Luke Skywalker swinging one anytime soon, but the scalpel’s breakthrough technology could dramatically change surgery for pancreatic, head and neck, liver, and soft tissue cancers. Surgeons typically … Read more
The immune system relies on T cells to attack abnormalities that sneak into the body. Each invader triggers only one type of T cell, like a stubborn bolt that requires a particular wrench to remove it. But not every body has the right set of wrenches to handle certain infiltrators—including melanoma. About 20 years ago, … Read more
How much is too much? The answer is trickier than you might think for a surgeon removing a brain tumor. Ideally, the whole thing would come out. But cutting out an entire tumor can cause severe damage to the surrounding brain tissue, leading to complications that range from motor skill impairment to death. So the … Read more
It’s one of the terrible ironies of cancer: The initial tumor typically doesn’t kill a patient. Rather, nomadic cells develop from the growth and attack other critical organs—and that’s what eventually proves fatal. “You can see a specific pattern: Colon cancer cells settle in the liver, but they don’t go to the spleen. So why … Read more
About 60 percent of women who witnessed trauma in this South Side study had PTSD, compared to 20 percent in the general population.
At the end of an illustrious career, a Chicago doctor faces the greatest challenge of his life. His experience should change the way we think about treating chronic illness.
A full-day, five-day-a-week childcare program with very low child-staff ratios, starting practically from birth, isn’t cheap—but it might pay off anyway.
