Andrew Putnam, Oncologist
Caring.com Expert
Andrew Putnam, M.D. is a Palliative Care physician at Smilow Cancer Center at Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale University.
Recently Published on Caring.com
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Cancer cells are not foreign invaders, but instead they are the body's own cells that have lost control and so multiply and spread around the body. Chemotherapy drugs can b...
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Clearing of throat constantly - throat cancer? — Apr 14, 2013Constant clearing of the throat can mean many things like post nasal drip or even gastric reflux disease. Usually the cause is some sort of irritation of the esophagus, br... -
Any treatment solutions for swollen feet and hip pain? — Oct 12, 2012The hip pain is a different and can have various causes. If your dad has lost a lot of weight, he may have lost the normal padding on his hips and lying on his side can hu... -
Any treatment solutions for swollen feet and hip pain? — Oct 12, 2012Swollen feet can be caused by several processes in a cancer patient. It sounds like the original cause in your dad was the IV fluids that can often cause people's feet to ... -
Unfortunately, the stage of a cancer is determined by where the cancer is and where it has spread, not how the patient looks. Sometimes people with a stage 4 cancer can st... -
When your partner is refusing cancer diagnosis and treatment, it is an extremely difficult situation for you both. In this situation it is important to engage your partner... -
What can I do to get my energy back and how can my current situation affect my kidney transplant? — Mar 06, 2012I am sorry that so much is going on in your life. Fighting fatigue and energy loss can be very hard with one medical problem, let alone three. One question is are you get... -
I am so sorry that your mum is having such a hard time with the side effects of the various treatments for her breast cancer. While some of this may be nerve damage due to... -
Can a person have two different types of cancer? — Mar 06, 2012Yes it is possible. Cancer is a general word and cancers of different parts of the body are different. It is very possible for different types of cancer to arise in diffe... -
Breast cancer and Hepatitis B and C are very different diseases and do not seem to be related. Breast cancer, like all cancers, grows when some part of your body loses the... -
The dangerous number for a PSA before you worry about prostate cancer varies depending on the man's age. The number usually considered normal for a PSA is 4. It is import... -
What can symptoms can we expect during my mother-in-law's hormone therapy for breast cancer? — Oct 14, 2011It is challenging to predict future symptoms in many cancers including breast cancer. The symptoms depend on where the cancer spreads to and how rapidly it grows in differ... -
When looking for financial assistance with cancer treatment, the clinician who can likely be the most help is a social worker. In addition to many other skills, A good soc... -
Is my wife's trouble eating related to her hormone therapy? — Oct 14, 2011It is very challenging to encourage eating with anyone with advanced cancer. While it may be the hormone therapy, it is also possible that it is the advanced stage of the ... -
This certainly is a very difficult decision with no obvious "right answer". I have not seen this specific situation but there are a couple of general considerations when t... -
Doctors do not know for sure when someone will die. We have no crystal balls. From our experiences, we can have some idea and so the "weeks to months" which gives a gener... -
You ask several questions having to do with chemotherapy in lung cancer patients. From your description it sounds like your mother's cancer is metastatic. If so I am very... -
This is a question of radiation and chemotherapy safety. Radiation only affects people exposed to the source of radiation. So when your father is treated with radiation, ... -
How can I help dad with the neuropathy in his feet? — Jun 10, 2011I am so sorry to hear that your father is having such a hard time. Neuropathy in feet (and sometimes hands) can be very painful. The medications that can help with this p... -
How do we decide if mom should get treatment for her cancer? — Jun 10, 201118 years after colon cancer, this could also be a new cancer. In any case, it is important to talk to an oncologist to get full information. The decision of whether to tr... -
In the situation you describe, I believe that the importance of an accurate picture of possible change outweighs the risk of the CT Scan. Yes the radiation exposure of a C... -
Are blood tests always taken before a chemotherapy session? — May 17, 2011It is usual to have blood tests before chemotherapy but not always on the same day. Different chemotherapies have different risks and so different tests need to be done at... -
There are two parts to the answer about drinking alcohol with stomach cancer. The direct answer is that alcohol is not thought to be a risk factor for stomach cancer and s... -
Lymph nodes are areas in the body, where lymph fluid flows and there often the body fights disease. The fluid carries the disease but also brings white blood cells and ant... -
It is important to remember that while coughing and lung cancer are related, a cough can be caused by other possibilities. A cancer patient can catch a viral or bacterial ...
