Olympic Swimmer Has Cancer

41-year-old won three silvers in pain during Beijing Olympics

(NEWSER) - Dara Torres will finally get some relief after swimming to three silver medals with a damaged shoulder, CNN reports. The 41-year-old is scheduled today for a surgery she put off before the Olympics. Torres went to Beijing armed with anti-inflammatories, but started having intense pain while there. She plans to be back in the pool within 10 days of the operation. More»

Woman has phobia of hospitals, needles

(NEWSER) - A court's decision to force a woman to have life-saving cancer surgery against her will has triggered a fierce debate on medical ethics in Britain. Doctors will be allowed to forcibly sedate the 55-year-old, who has learning difficulties and a phobia of hospitals and needles, in order to bring her to hospital and operate on her cancer of the uterus. The judge in the case ruled that the woman was incapable of making a rational decision about her care or of fully understanding the consequences of not having surgery. More»

(NEWSER) - Trouble at nuclear reactors that produce two-thirds of the world’s medical isotopes have created massive testing delays in the US, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The isotopes, created in Canada and the Netherlands, are used for presurgery stress tests and to locate some cancers; doctors are limping along with older, less effective ones. The Canadian reactor is offline indefinitely because of a leak, and the iffy Dutch one is scheduled for 6 months of maintenance next year. More»

(NEWSER) - Michael Phelps’ suspension ended today, and the swimmer is back in the pool preparing for a tourney next week in Charlotte, the AP reports. The Olympian said he was actually unaware of the end of the 3-month ban, imposed after photos emerged of him hitting a bong. “I had no idea,” he said. But he’s happy to be competing again, for the first time since his stunning success at the Beijing Olympics. More»

New technique takes much of the guesswork out of tumor removal

(NEWSER) - Surgery to remove tumors has always been a delicate undertaking. Surgeons must try to remove all of the cancerous cells while minimizing the loss of surrounding tissue, a task made harder by the fact that it’s difficult to tell the difference just by looking. No longer: Scientists have found a way to make tumors glow green, the Economist reports. More»