All Blog Posts from Couric & Co.

Dr. Jonathan LaPook is the medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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The New York Post’s well-known history of clever headlines (“Headless Body in Topless Bar”) has earned it a daily glance from many New Yorkers looking for the latest news – if not an occasional smile. But yesterday’s headline, “TED IS DYING,” provided neither. As a physician, I was deeply offended.

Even if the paper’s editors turn out to be right, who are they to offer a medical prognosis? Do they know all the details of the case? Are they taking care of the senator? Even if they don’t care about the feelings of the senator, his family, his friends, or any of the rest of us, there’s no reporting in the article to justify the headline.

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Studies suggest that low levels of vitamin D are linked to certain cancers. Dr. Jon LaPook and Katie Couric discuss vitamin D – how much you need, where you can get it, and what happens if you take too much.

Watch their full, Web-exclusive interview right here:

Dr. Jonathan LaPook is the medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

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How many adults do you know who've gotten whooping cough? The number might be low, but what most people don't realize is that the illness is on the rise. It's thought of as a kids' sickness, mostly because symptoms are often less severe in adults – and often go undiagnosed.

But it's very contagious, and adults can spread it to infants, in whom it can be really deadly. One study showed that in infants younger than 12 months who had contacted whooping cough, or pertussis, in 24 percent of the cases, the infant had had contact with a parent or grandparent who had a cough.

Here's where adult vaccinations come into play. An adult pertussis vaccine has been available for a couple of years, and is recommended for adults age 65 and older. Same goes for a shingles vaccine: Shingles affects 1 million people each year, but only 2 percent of adults are vaccinated.

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Our medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook reported on how doctors are using biological treatments to speed athletes' recovery times. Now he's filling in more details on how such treatments work. — and how they might be approaching a tipping point.

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“Biological treatment” is a new buzz word in orthopedics. The concept is to use the body’s own repair systems to improve healing and restore function. One such treatment is the use of “platelet rich plasma” (PRP). Platelets are tiny pieces of blood cells that are important for blood clotting. As it turns out, they also seem to be important for wound healing. Researchers are now starting to see whether it’s helpful to spin down a few tablespoons of a patient’s own blood, separate out a portion that is rich in platelets, and inject that platelet-rich plasma into injured parts of the body such as knees and elbows.

PRP therapy is already being used in Europe. In the United States, it is starting to take off. Dr. Allan Mishra, an orthopedist at Stanford University Medical Center, has been a pioneer in its use in the United States. He first started using PRP in 2001. I spoke to Dr. Mishra tonight and he pointed out that healing in the tendons and cartilages tends to be poor because of limited blood supply. With PRP, “you’re taking a component of your own blood, concentrating the wound-healing components and injecting those back into your body into an area where you are not able to heal very well.” In brief, he adds, “you’re trying to take advantage of your own body’s ability to heal itself.”

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