July 8, 2026 • 9 mins
Dr. Jim Keany, Chief Medical Officer at Dignity Health St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, joins The Bill Handel Show for 'Medical News'! Dr. Keany speaks on a blood test the screens for several different types of cancer.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Medical News Doctor Jim Keeney, chief medical officer for Dignity
Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Good morning, Jim.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
The Morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey, you're just about to have your birthday.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I understand what you came to my birthday party. What
are you talking about those a couple of months ago?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh well, there you go, I can plain.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's talk about dementia, okay, early on set dementia. Okay,
I'm I'm absolutely convinced I have that. Uh there, yeah,
quit laughing, because I'll forget you.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Worried I marry Christmas? Jim, Yeah, we worry about that before.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
A couple of topics.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
A couple of topics, one good topic that actually is
great medical news and on the other side, great medical
news for me because it's a negative medical news.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Let's start with the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
New blood tests that screens for several different types of cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
That a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Science is moving at a rapid pace in dealing with cancer.
And the other thing that is not talked about, at
least on this show and among people I talked to,
is how many different kinds of cancer there are out there,
and how medical science is attacking each one separately, and
(01:23):
that's way it has to be.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So, Jim, would you comment on.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
That, Yeah, sure, so, I mean at this point, you're right.
That's what happens is we have individual screening tests for
individual cancer. So there's a prostate screening test at PSA
and exam, you might do an ultrasounder and MRI to
look at it. You might do biopsies. Then for lung
cancer it's separate. It's a whole different screening process with
(01:46):
chest tex rays may be a CT of the chest
and maybe a biopsy as well. Then you have breast
cancer a different one, colon cancer a different one. So
we have all these screening tests, and not everyone had
access to those. Not everyone can afford them. Some of
them it's not available in their area. So we've looked
for what they call a liquid biopsy, meaning we can
(02:09):
just take your blood and check your blood for the
products that these cancers produce, and maybe that could be
an easy, you know, inexpensive early warning system. The problem
is the blood is literally like you know, a whole
ecosystem with so much stuff and it's so many chemicals
in it that there's a lot of noise in the
(02:29):
in the sample, and that obscures the ability to see
maybe a tiny signal from a cancer that's growing well.
The researchers at theeter Sinai have identified what they call
large oncosomes, and oncosomes are you're you know, you have
breakdowns in cells throughout your entire body, and as those
(02:51):
cells break down, they release the chemicals that are inside
the cell, which are relatively small, but they also release
the organelles. You know, you have organs inside your all
that do different functions, so we call those organelles. One
of the organelles is a vesicle, and these vesicles are
kind of large little blobs that have proteins around the
outside of them. So they're large enough to be easily detected,
(03:15):
and it turns out that they're pretty standard across invasive cancers.
So you can test for this one type of thing
and find multiple different invasive cancers. So what you want
to know about screening test is number one, it's going
to pick it up early, early enough to do something
about it. Number two, it's not going to give you
a bunch of false positives so that you don't you know,
(03:37):
you're now you're doing unnecessary testing in addition, and number three,
it's got to be you know, easy and effective to
actually get done. And this seems to hit all those boxes.
But you know, I don't want to make it sound
like it's available today. This is research, so we still
don't know. And they're focusing right now on faust date,
(03:58):
you know again because you know manrule of the world.
So we're going to do prostate first and breast cancer later.
It's just the way medicine has worked for a million years,
and so you know we are. They're looking right now
at it replacing maybe not replacing this testing, and that's
the point. It doesn't replace all those other tests, but
maybe it narrows down who needs all those other tests.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, So is it fair to say that we are
getting closer to the magic bullet and dealing with cancer?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, of course that's not a treatment. So for me,
in my mind, the magic bullet's a treatment that kills
the cancer without killing anything else in your body, right,
And that's my definition of the magic bullet. But this
would be I mean, our problem is that we know
for most cancers that early diagnosis completely changes your world, right,
especially for colon cancer is a great example of that.
(04:47):
You know, the colon cancer grows almost like a mushroom
stock in your intestine, and the head of the mushroom
is the cancer if you and it's pre cancers to
start with. So if you get a clon and they
just snip off the stock, you're done. You're absolutely done.
There's no further treatment necessary that Over time, the head
(05:08):
of that stock will grow down and once it touches
the intestines, and now the cancer is invaded into the intestines,
the treatment has completely changed. At minimum, you need that
section of intestine cut out and it probably has metastasized
by then, and now you know you're in a world
of trouble, right, Okay, you know early detection is what
(05:30):
this is going to provide for us, and that's what
that's the great thing that's going to help us with.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
All right, Jim, I have one more question regarding the
blood tests. We talk about this new blood test for
a couple of cancers, and that is as we've talked
over the years, and we've discussed the various ailments, and
we've talked about hundreds of them. You say, we need
(05:55):
a blood test, how many symptoms diseases? But you can
find in a blood test.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I have no idea. It's a large number, that's the point, right,
And I wish it was as easy as and a
lot of people do think it's as easy as you
get a test that you're having a heart attack. That's
not the case. Even for the heart enzymes that we test.
Those are indicators that you may be having a heart attack,
but there's other things that'll make those go up. So
(06:25):
all these tests need to be interpreted. And I think
that's the key thing that people miss is the interpretation
of the blood test is important.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, then let's move over to the West Nile virus.
Last time we talked, it wasn't a very big deal,
except that looks like now is becoming a very big deal.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah. I mean, this is the worst they've seen it
since two thousand and four. As far as the season
starting so far, thirty eight positive mosquito samples, and over
the last five years we average about four positive mosquito samples.
At this time of the year, We've had forty eight
human cases and thirty eight severe neuroinvasive cases, so that's
(07:07):
the highest number since two thousand and four. It's been
happening locally. There was a patient hospitalized in Long Beach
area for the neuroinvasive disease that comes with West Nile virus. Rarely,
but it does come. You know, one percent that you know,
considering how widespread something like West now virus could be,
that could be a big number if there are a
(07:27):
lot of cases. And so remember that we talked about
this before West now virus. About one out of five
people who have West Nile virus and are infected will
show any symptoms at all, So most people won't show symptoms.
Out of that those, then you know about one percent
who have West nonvirus will get this neuroinvasive disease and
(07:48):
out of those ten percent will die. So pretty disease.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, but is there a vaccine? Is there a vaccination
for this?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
There's absolutely no treatment. There's no vaccination. This is prevention.
It's all about prevention. So right, the keys here are
that you're going to try and reduce places where mosquitos
would breed. So you've got to get rid of all
standing water, you know, those little water catchers underneath your pots,
your pets water bowl that's outside, you know, any place
(08:18):
your gutters. You got to clean out your gutters and
get rid of the standing water, because there's debris in
your gutters. All those things have to be taken care of.
Then you should avoid and this is tough because right
in southern California, sunrise and sunset are some of the
best times a day, but when you're out at those times,
that's peak mosquito activity. So you need to be aware
of that and wear long sleeved shirts or you know,
(08:39):
use repellents like deep containing repellents that will help you
not get bitten.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All right, Jim, we're done again for another week. We
will see you next Wednesday. Thanks as always.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
All right, take care okay, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
It's always you wait, Thanks as always. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Total silence. Oh oh, thank thank you. I love the
interviews on the various news outlets. Thank for thanks for
being with us.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Silence. Oh, it's my pleasure to be here. All right,
we are done.
All right, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Medical News Doctor Jim Keeney, chief medical officer for Dignity
Saint Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Good morning, Jim.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
The Morning Bill.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey, you're just about to have your birthday.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I understand what you came to my birthday party. What
are you talking about those a couple of months ago?
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Oh well, there you go, I can plain.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Let's talk about dementia, okay, early on set dementia. Okay,
I'm I'm absolutely convinced I have that. Uh there, yeah,
quit laughing, because I'll forget you.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Worried I marry Christmas? Jim, Yeah, we worry about that before.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
A couple of topics.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
A couple of topics, one good topic that actually is
great medical news and on the other side, great medical
news for me because it's a negative medical news.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Let's start with the good stuff.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
New blood tests that screens for several different types of cancer.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
That a couple of things.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Science is moving at a rapid pace in dealing with cancer.
And the other thing that is not talked about, at
least on this show and among people I talked to,
is how many different kinds of cancer there are out there,
and how medical science is attacking each one separately, and
(01:23):
that's way it has to be.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
So, Jim, would you comment on.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
That, Yeah, sure, so, I mean at this point, you're right.
That's what happens is we have individual screening tests for
individual cancer. So there's a prostate screening test at PSA
and exam, you might do an ultrasounder and MRI to
look at it. You might do biopsies. Then for lung
cancer it's separate. It's a whole different screening process with
(01:46):
chest tex rays may be a CT of the chest
and maybe a biopsy as well. Then you have breast
cancer a different one, colon cancer a different one. So
we have all these screening tests, and not everyone had
access to those. Not everyone can afford them. Some of
them it's not available in their area. So we've looked
for what they call a liquid biopsy, meaning we can
(02:09):
just take your blood and check your blood for the
products that these cancers produce, and maybe that could be
an easy, you know, inexpensive early warning system. The problem
is the blood is literally like you know, a whole
ecosystem with so much stuff and it's so many chemicals
in it that there's a lot of noise in the
(02:29):
in the sample, and that obscures the ability to see
maybe a tiny signal from a cancer that's growing well.
The researchers at theeter Sinai have identified what they call
large oncosomes, and oncosomes are you're you know, you have
breakdowns in cells throughout your entire body, and as those
(02:51):
cells break down, they release the chemicals that are inside
the cell, which are relatively small, but they also release
the organelles. You know, you have organs inside your all
that do different functions, so we call those organelles. One
of the organelles is a vesicle, and these vesicles are
kind of large little blobs that have proteins around the
outside of them. So they're large enough to be easily detected,
(03:15):
and it turns out that they're pretty standard across invasive cancers.
So you can test for this one type of thing
and find multiple different invasive cancers. So what you want
to know about screening test is number one, it's going
to pick it up early, early enough to do something
about it. Number two, it's not going to give you
a bunch of false positives so that you don't you know,
(03:37):
you're now you're doing unnecessary testing in addition, and number three,
it's got to be you know, easy and effective to
actually get done. And this seems to hit all those boxes.
But you know, I don't want to make it sound
like it's available today. This is research, so we still
don't know. And they're focusing right now on faust date,
(03:58):
you know again because you know manrule of the world.
So we're going to do prostate first and breast cancer later.
It's just the way medicine has worked for a million years,
and so you know we are. They're looking right now
at it replacing maybe not replacing this testing, and that's
the point. It doesn't replace all those other tests, but
maybe it narrows down who needs all those other tests.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Okay, So is it fair to say that we are
getting closer to the magic bullet and dealing with cancer?
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Well, of course that's not a treatment. So for me,
in my mind, the magic bullet's a treatment that kills
the cancer without killing anything else in your body, right,
And that's my definition of the magic bullet. But this
would be I mean, our problem is that we know
for most cancers that early diagnosis completely changes your world, right,
especially for colon cancer is a great example of that.
(04:47):
You know, the colon cancer grows almost like a mushroom
stock in your intestine, and the head of the mushroom
is the cancer if you and it's pre cancers to
start with. So if you get a clon and they
just snip off the stock, you're done. You're absolutely done.
There's no further treatment necessary that Over time, the head
(05:08):
of that stock will grow down and once it touches
the intestines, and now the cancer is invaded into the intestines,
the treatment has completely changed. At minimum, you need that
section of intestine cut out and it probably has metastasized
by then, and now you know you're in a world
of trouble, right, Okay, you know early detection is what
(05:30):
this is going to provide for us, and that's what
that's the great thing that's going to help us with.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
All right, Jim, I have one more question regarding the
blood tests. We talk about this new blood test for
a couple of cancers, and that is as we've talked
over the years, and we've discussed the various ailments, and
we've talked about hundreds of them. You say, we need
(05:55):
a blood test, how many symptoms diseases? But you can
find in a blood test.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
I have no idea. It's a large number, that's the point, right,
And I wish it was as easy as and a
lot of people do think it's as easy as you
get a test that you're having a heart attack. That's
not the case. Even for the heart enzymes that we test.
Those are indicators that you may be having a heart attack,
but there's other things that'll make those go up. So
(06:25):
all these tests need to be interpreted. And I think
that's the key thing that people miss is the interpretation
of the blood test is important.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Okay, then let's move over to the West Nile virus.
Last time we talked, it wasn't a very big deal,
except that looks like now is becoming a very big deal.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
Yeah. I mean, this is the worst they've seen it
since two thousand and four. As far as the season
starting so far, thirty eight positive mosquito samples, and over
the last five years we average about four positive mosquito samples.
At this time of the year, We've had forty eight
human cases and thirty eight severe neuroinvasive cases, so that's
(07:07):
the highest number since two thousand and four. It's been
happening locally. There was a patient hospitalized in Long Beach
area for the neuroinvasive disease that comes with West Nile virus. Rarely,
but it does come. You know, one percent that you know,
considering how widespread something like West now virus could be,
that could be a big number if there are a
(07:27):
lot of cases. And so remember that we talked about
this before West now virus. About one out of five
people who have West Nile virus and are infected will
show any symptoms at all, So most people won't show symptoms.
Out of that those, then you know about one percent
who have West nonvirus will get this neuroinvasive disease and
(07:48):
out of those ten percent will die. So pretty disease.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
Yeah, but is there a vaccine? Is there a vaccination
for this?
Speaker 3 (07:57):
There's absolutely no treatment. There's no vaccination. This is prevention.
It's all about prevention. So right, the keys here are
that you're going to try and reduce places where mosquitos
would breed. So you've got to get rid of all
standing water, you know, those little water catchers underneath your pots,
your pets water bowl that's outside, you know, any place
(08:18):
your gutters. You got to clean out your gutters and
get rid of the standing water, because there's debris in
your gutters. All those things have to be taken care of.
Then you should avoid and this is tough because right
in southern California, sunrise and sunset are some of the
best times a day, but when you're out at those times,
that's peak mosquito activity. So you need to be aware
of that and wear long sleeved shirts or you know,
(08:39):
use repellents like deep containing repellents that will help you
not get bitten.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
All right, Jim, we're done again for another week. We
will see you next Wednesday. Thanks as always.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
All right, take care okay, you know.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
It's always you wait, Thanks as always. Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Total silence. Oh oh, thank thank you. I love the
interviews on the various news outlets. Thank for thanks for
being with us.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Silence. Oh, it's my pleasure to be here. All right,
we are done.
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