A research team from Barcelona studied the liver of Alzheimer's disease mice models, and demonstrated the importance of the liver-brain axis regarding the psychological symptoms of the disease.
In the last decade, regional and global health organizations have pushed for making safety a central pillar of procurement, with a directive that cost should not be a barrier. The crucial question is: How easy is that to implement? How can a confident decision be reached that protects patients and healthcare workers without straining costs?
Dutch scientists have revealed new scientific insights into the features of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare type of childhood liver cancer.
Data on a test that can detect HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C from a single drop of blood is being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases.
HighlightsNew AI-powered diagnostic multi-disciplinary platform, ergonomic designDeepInsight technology: proprietary Artificial Intelligence deep learning know-howWide range of transducers for all applicationsComprehensive diagnoses of hepatic diseasesAdvanced application with fusion imaging to support procedure guidance and treatment evaluationUseful tools to help diagnose breast cancerSeamless…
HighlightsCompact AI-powered diagnostic platform, ergonomic designDeepInsight technology: proprietary Artificial Intelligence deep learning know-howWide range of transducers for all applicationsComprehensive diagnoses of hepatic diseasesUseful tools to help diagnose breast cancerSeamless workflow: Protocol assistant, Auto Measurements
Using imaging guidance, interventional radiology – a sub-discipline of diagnostic imaging – allows targeted and ultraprecise diagnostic and therapeutic procedures without anesthesia and without large incisions. Nevertheless, surgery continues to be widely considered the procedure of choice, making interventional radiology the Cinderella of the discipline. Professor Dr. Marco Das, Medical…
Worldwide, about one million people are suffering from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In Germany alone, there are 9,000 new patients each year, most of them men between 50 and 60 years. When liver cancer is detected early, the prognosis is excellent, says Professor Dr. Ali Canbay, Director of the Medical Clinic at the University Hospital/Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum. While, unfortunately,…
Researchers in Frankfurt have now been able to show how ferroptosis can be used to make immunotherapies against liver cancer more effective in mice.
HighlightsMulti-disciplinary Premium platform, ergonomic designDeepInsight technology: proprietary Artificial Intelligence deep learning know-howWide range of transducers for all applicationsComprehensive diagnoses of hepatic diseasesAdvanced application with fusion imaging to support procedure guidance and treatment evaluationUseful tools to help diagnose breast cancerSeamless workflow: Protocol…
Evidence that radioembolization, a trans-arterial therapy, is safe and stops disease progression in metastatic breast cancer is increasing, a prominent American interventional radiologist showed at the Spectrum conference in Miami.
Dutch physicians have developed a system to determine the right dose of immunosuppressive drugs for patients to receive a donor liver - to prevent the activation of the Epstein-Barr virus.
Researchers have now found that artificial intelligence (AI) can improve the effectiveness of colonoscopy in the presence of Lynch syndrome.
Treating pancreatic cancer patients with chemotherapy before surgery significantly improved 1-year survival rates compared to immediate surgery, a randomised clinical trial has found.
Multiparametric ultrasound will play an increasing role in imaging investigation and diagnosis as more subspecialities reap the benefits from the modality, Professor Paul Sidhu believes. The leading expert predicts that it will be more cost-effective and comfortable for patients and take point-of-care-testing onto a new level by embracing other parameters in the imaging process.
In surgery, artificial intelligence (AI) is applied mostly in imaging, navigation, and robotic intervention. However, AI can also play a major role in preoperative planning. Objective decisions-making, optimal utilisation of operating theatres and less overtime are additional advantages that are achieved with the use of AI in surgery.
Researchers in Barcelona discovered the population of residual tumour cells responsible for the recurrence of colorectal cancer in other organs after removal of the primary tumour.
To assess diffuse liver disease, MRI is currently the modality of choice. New developments in artificial intelligence (AI) could tip the scales in favour of CT imaging. At ECR 2022 in July, experts showed how AI technology enables CT to quantify liver fat as exquisitely as MRI.
Pancreatic cancer tumours are being missed on CT and MRI scans, narrowing the window for life-saving curative surgery, research presented at UEG Week 2022 has revealed.
It’s widely known that more than 70% of today’s medical decisions involve the results of laboratory tests, but the insights clinicians derive from these tests today may only be scratching the surface of their potential.
Dutch global DNA/RNA technology solutions provider MolGen B.V., participates in the 24th Annual Conference of the European Society for Clinical Virology (ESCV) held in Manchester, UK.
A comprehensive assessment of scientific literature has uncovered empirical evidence that more than 58% of human diseases caused by pathogens, such as dengue, hepatitis, pneumonia, malaria, Zika, have been aggravated by climatic hazards.
Treating liver cancer tumours to shrink them in order to allow the patient to qualify for a liver transplant leads to excellent 10-year post-transplant outcomes, according to new research.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the fast and accurate diagnosis of infectious diseases in clinical settings. Harald Maier discusses the implementation of rapid molecular diagnostics in the central clinical diagnostics laboratory at Innklinikum Altötting and Mühldorf, highlighting how the use of PCR testing has benefitted the hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Colonoscopies performed with AI support may yield an increase in the overall rate of detection of adenoma, or cancerous and precancerous polyps, by 27% in average-risk patients, according to new data.
Newly engineered in vitro tumour models open ways to better understand the crosstalk between liver cancer cells and their microenvironment, researchers from Singapore found.
Scientists from France and Belgium gained insights into the structure and function of a central liver protein: NTCP, a cellular-entry pathway for bile salts – but also for certain hepatitis viruses.
A team of researchers from Singapore has developed a novel magnetic therapy that serves as an effective companion therapy to chemotherapy to enhance treatment outcome for breast cancer.
An international research team has now found an approach to lower the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and reduce the associated development of liver fibrosis.
By comparing the infectious viral load caused by ancestral SARS-CoV-2 as well as by the Delta and Omicron variants, scientists highlight the benefits of vaccination.
Delivering a drug directly inside a lesion using minimally invasive procedures opens up new perspectives for patients and medical teams. At ECR Overture, experts looked at how to best join forces to advance the field of interventional oncology.
A platform for studying how the human immune system responds to hepatitis C infection by combining microfluidic technology with liver organoids could speed the hunt for a vaccine.
The AI-Guided Ultrasound Intervention Device is a lifesaving technology that helps a range of users deliver complex medical interventions at the point of injury.
A new study offers hope against liver cancer: A vaccine proved to be safe and effective protection in premalignant and malignant liver diseases in preclinical mouse models.
Hyaluronic Acid LT Assay is an in vitro diagnostic test (IVD) for the quantitative determination of hyaluronic acid based on the latex agglutination method. This turbidimetric method can be applied to general clinical chemistry analyzers.
Scientists have investigated the effectiveness of various common hand disinfectants against hepatitis E. They were able to show that most formulations do not completely inactivate the virus.
Non-Esterified Fatty Acids (NEFA) are one of the most important metabolites and energy source of peripheral tissues. The amount of NEFA in serum decreases by physical exercise and increases by starvation, cold or smoking. An increase or decrease is also observed in diabetes, hepatic, or endocrine diseases.
Even as we battle one pandemic (Covid-19), we sit on the cusp of another. Europe has one of the highest burdens of chronic liver disease (CLD) in the world, driven largely by alcohol overconsumption, viral hepatitis, and obesity. Furthermore, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is increasingly common and is a significant contributor to CLD – especially in people with diabetes, where its…
Professor Dina Tiniakos, from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, predicts that NASH (Non-alcohol related steatohepatitis) cases will soar worldwide by 2030, with 800,000 liver deaths, costing health economies billions of dollars.
Considerable advances in point-of-care testing (POCT) devices are emerging from lab-on-a-chip platforms, innovations in smartphone-based technology and wearable technology. Cloud-based deep learning systems herald a future revolution.
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic liver inflammation that is triggered by an immunological malfunction. In this case, the immune system falsely recognises the patient's own liver cells as "foreign to the body". The symptoms of this rare liver disease are unspecific, and the exact cause is not yet known. If left untreated, AIH can lead to abnormal scarring (fibrosis) of the liver,…
The number of colorectal cancer (CRC) cases diagnosed fell dramatically by 40% in a year during the Covid-19 pandemic, new research presented at United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week Virtual 2021 has shown. The research, which was conducted across multiple hospitals in Spain, compared data from the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic with data from the previous year. Of 1,385 cases of CRC…
After a liver transplant, patients have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives. These so-called immunosuppressants prevent the organ from being rejected. However, the drugs increase the risk of cancer and serious infections. They can also significantly impair kidney function and even lead to dialysis. In order to be able to give those affected as much immunosuppression as…
Decreasing the rate of missed lesions could translate into fewer cases of colon cancer.
Viruses do not always kill the cells they infect. Researchers at the University of Basel have discovered in experiments with mice that cells have the power to self-heal and eliminate viruses. However, these cells undergo long-term changes. The findings may provide a hint as to why cured hepatitis C patients are more susceptible to liver cancer for years after.
In view of the continuing high numbers of infections, vaccination offers important protection against severe Covid-19 disease. Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine – University of Freiburg have now been able to determine in detail at what time point initial immune protection is established after vaccination with an mRNA-based vaccine and how the reactions of the various components of the…
With the application of a novel 3D imaging technology, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that one portion of the autonomic nervous system in the liver undergoes severe degeneration in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The study, which is conducted in mice and human liver tissue, shows that the degeneration of nerves is correlated with the severity of liver pathology. The…
To date, there are no effective antidotes against most virus infections. An interdisciplinary research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now developed a new approach: they engulf and neutralize viruses with nano-capsules tailored from genetic material using the DNA origami method. The strategy has already been tested against hepatitis and adeno-associated viruses in cell…
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the world, and one of the most difficult to treat. In 2020, an estimated 495,000 individuals worldwide were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and an estimated 466,000 died, according to statistics from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Most patients with advanced disease die within a year of…
Over recent years interventional oncology (IO), as a subspecialty of interventional radiology, has become a standard component of many cancer therapies. The broad range of minimally invasive methods – and their results – are often comparable to those of traditional approaches, such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, e.g. with regard to hepatocellular cancer (HCC), oligometastatic…
Handheld laser devices that help surgeons quickly spot liver damage could transform transplant procedures, research suggests. The non-invasive technique could provide medical staff with instant data on the health of donor livers and help them to identify which organs are suitable for transplant. If widely adopted, the light-based tool could allow more livers to be transplanted safely and…
Is artificial intelligence (AI) technology ready to be utilized as a clinical tool by interventional oncologists? Not yet, but when it is, AI technology’s clinical impact may be as profound as advanced imaging is today, two leading experts agree.
Researchers from the Canadian University Healh Network (UHN) have developed and validated a deep learning model to predict a patient's long-term outcome after receiving a liver transplant. First of its kind in the field of Transplantation, this model is the result of a collaboration between the Ajmera Transplant Centre and Peter Munk Cardiac Centre (PMCC). The study, published in Lancet Digital…
Researchers at the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center (HUG-CELL), hosted by the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Biosciences (IB-USP) in Brazil, have developed a technique to reconstruct and produce livers in the laboratory. The proof-of-concept study was conducted with rat livers. In the next stage of their research, the scientists will adapt the technique for the production of…
New research has shown that results of blood tests routinely performed by GPs everywhere contain a hidden fingerprint that can identify people silently developing potentially fatal liver cirrhosis. The researchers have developed an algorithm to detect this fingerprint that could be freely installed on any clinical computer, making this a low-cost way for GPs to carry out large scale screening…
Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) develops within the liver. With one to two cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, ICC is one of the rare diseases overall, but it is the second most common liver cancer. The aggressive bile duct tumour remains clinically inconspicuous for a long time, so that it is often only detected late. Because the tumour also only responds to chemotherapy to a limited…
Do BMMFs, the novel infectious agents found in dairy products and bovine sera, play a role in the development of colorectal cancer? Scientists led by Harald zur Hausen detected the pathogens in colorectal cancer patients in close proximity to tumors. The researchers show that the BMMFs trigger local chronic inflammation, which can cause mutations via activated oxygen molecules and thus promote…
AI is revamping workflows and experts showed how radiologists can integrate it into their department to improve daily practice and healthcare at ECR. The panel also discussed the health economics side of AI to help radiologists define which products make more economic sense for their department. The session tackled automated organ segmentation, an interesting application for AI in radiology.
Researchers have called on European policymakers to make adequate resources available to tackle pancreatic cancer, a disease that is almost invariably fatal and where little progress has been made over the past 40 years. In the latest predictions for cancer deaths in the EU and UK for 2021, published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology, researchers led by Carlo La Vecchia (MD), a professor…
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston have discovered what may be the Achilles' heel of the coronavirus, a finding that may help close the door on COVID-19 and possibly head off future pandemics.
A team of scientists at the National University of Singapore (NUS) led by Dr Polly Leilei Chen from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore and Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has discovered a previously unknown mechanism of cancer formation, the understanding of which may lead to more effective treatment. Their findings concern a process called RNA editing. The DNA code of a gene gets…
Colon cancer stem cells have one weak spot: the enzyme Mll1. An MDC team led by Walter Birchmeier has now shown in Nature Communications that blocking this protein prevents the development of new tumors in the body. Since colonoscopies were introduced in Germany for early cancer detection, the number of diagnoses of advanced cancer every year has decreased, as precancerous lesions can now be…
Stringent endoscope cleaning between procedures is vital. However, with so many steps in the process – plus high demand for rapid turnaround of endoscopes – contamination and biofilm build-up are still being reported. Endoscope hygiene and cleaning protocols were central to an online event organised by Pentax Medical, with important contributions from leading specialists. The event examined…
Rather than using techniques separately, researchers have determined that coupling image-based and serum-based biomarkers achieves a higher diagnostic accuracy in detecting stage two liver fibrosis, or above. The study team, from the NAFLD Research Center, University of California at San Diego (UCSD), and colleagues at Yokohama City University in Japan, used magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)…
Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rate of any cancers, with immunotherapies currently offering negligible treatment benefits for patients. To help identify new therapeutic approaches, researchers from the University of Oxford have been focusing on leukocyte infiltration as a prognostic marker of the disease. Their study and findings were outlined by Dr Shivan Sivakumar during a session…
Patient safety in endoscopy must be approached from a holistic perspective, through solutions which increase detection rates of abnormalities, increase confidence in the safety of the reprocessing outcome, and control the risk of infection and cross-contamination. With these important benefits in mind, manufacturers should be continuously working to innovate products to establish solutions that…
An up-and-coming gene therapy for blood disorders. A new class of medications for cystic fibrosis. Increased access to telemedicine. These are some of the innovations that will enhance healing and change healthcare in the coming year, according to a distinguished panel of clinicians and researchers from Cleveland Clinic. In conjunction with the 2020 Medical Innovation Summit, Cleveland Clinic…
University of Maryland scientists have developed a method to determine the structures of large RNA molecules at high resolution.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus.
Researchers at the University of Delaware, using supercomputing resources and collaborating with scientists at Indiana University, have gained new understanding of the virus that causes hepatitis B and the "spiky ball" that encloses the virus's genetic blueprint.
Better outcomes, more favourable prognoses – oncologists and their lung cancer patients didn’t dare to dream about it. Finally, there might be hope. The so-called checkpoint inhibitors (immunotherapy drug) have been used successfully, albeit not for every patient. They are a double-edged sword, with risks as well as opportunities, as explained by Professor Cornelia Schäfer-Prokop.
A tuberculosis vaccine developed 100 years ago also makes vaccinated persons less susceptible to other infections. While this effect has been recognized for a long time, it is not known what causes it. Together with colleagues from Australia and Denmark, researchers from Radboud university medical center the universities of Nijmegen and Bonn have now presented a possible answer to this question.
Scientists at the University of Alberta have shown that the drug remdesivir is highly effective in stopping the replication mechanism of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to new research published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Aspirin is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing several cancers of the digestive tract, including some that are almost invariably fatal, such as pancreatic and liver cancers.
Researchers from Karolinska Institutet, Örebro University and Aarhus University, Denmark, have published the largest study to date on the risk of colorectal cancer in Crohn's disease. The article is published in the journal The Lancet Gastroenterology Hepatology. Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Several previous studies have reported an increased risk of colorectal…
Cystic lesions of the pancreas can occur in many forms, not all of which pose a serious threat to the patient. A thorough diagnosis using multi-modality imaging is therefore indispensable to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions.
A new effective treatment of hepatitis C that was made available to all Danes last year, not only combats the virus, but is also effective against potentially fatal complications such as reduced liver functioning and cirrhosis. This is the result of a new study from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital. Hepatitis C is a serious disease, but the biggest threat to someone’s health is…
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the most common chronic liver disorder in developed countries. Histological analysis of liver tissue is the only widely accepted test for diagnosing and distinguishing different stages of NAFLD. However, this technique provides only two-dimensional images of the liver tissue in low resolution and overlooks potentially important 3D structural…
Advances in antiretroviral therapy mean that today, people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can expect a healthy and long life. However, living with HIV does increase the risk of cancer. The reasons for this are multiple and include behavioural risk factors (smoking etc.) but many cancers can be attributed to the effects the virus has on the immune system, specifically its…
The results of a major study across 195 countries, presented at UEG Week Barcelona 2019, indicate that global death rates for pancreatic cancer and incidence rates for colorectal cancer both increased by 10% between 1990 and 2017. The Global Burden of Disease study, is the first to provide comprehensive worldwide estimates of the burden, epidemiological features and risk factors of a number of…
Fatty liver disease is contributing to an increase in liver cancer and basic scientists at The University of Texas Health Science at Houston (UTHealth) have new insight as to why. In the journal Cancer Research, the investigators report that in mouse models, excess fat impairs the ability of a tumor-suppressing protein named HNF4α to do its job. “This study provides potential mechanisms for…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ofev (nintedanib) capsules to slow the rate of decline in pulmonary function in adults with interstitial lung disease associated with systemic sclerosis or scleroderma, called SSc-ILD. It is the first FDA-approved treatment for this rare lung condition. “Patients suffering from scleroderma need effective therapies, and the FDA supports the efforts…
A pioneering European research project designed to develop new diagnostic tests to assess patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) has expanded giving access to more patients. Liver Investigation: Testing Marker Utility in Steatohepatitis (LITMUS) funded by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint undertaking, brings together clinical scientists from international…
SuperSonic Imagine announces that a multicenter retrospective study conducted in Europe and China, has confirmed the clinical utility of ShearWave Elastography in patients with chronic liver disease, the first results of which were presented at the International Liver Congress (ILC 2019). The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of ShearWave Elastography (SWE) in the…
The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Essential Medicines List and List of Essential Diagnostics are core guidance documents that help countries prioritize critical health products that should be widely available and affordable throughout health systems. Now, updated versions of the two lists have been published, focusing on cancer and other global health challenges, with an emphasis on effective…
The pros and cons of CT (computed tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and CEUS (contrast enhanced ultrasound) for emergency abdominal use were highlighted by speakers in an ECR 2019 session under the broader heading: ‘Abdominal Emergencies: advanced imaging in daily routine’.
The migrant population is fast growing and heterogeneous. Experts at a session held during the European Congress of Radiology (ECR 2019) concluded that radiologists can play a key role in detecting and differentiating related diseases. Migration is a growing phenomenon and has an impact on health, according to Jozef Bartovic from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Copenhagen, Denmark.…
A new targeted therapy using non-thermal radio waves has been shown to block the growth of liver cancer cells anywhere in the body without damaging healthy cells, according to a study conducted by scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.
Fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapies are widely used, at least in the European area, for treating various types of cancer including digestive, breast, throat and brain cancer. Fluoropyrimidines are a group of anticancer drugs including the well-known 5-FluoroUracil (5-FU) and the prodrug capecitabine.
In October 2016, Xenios became a part of Fresenius Medical Care (FME), the world’s leading provider of products and services for people with chronic kidney failure. The integration of the expertise from FME and Xenios and thus the combination of the companies’ competences strongly enhances treatment options in critical care within the intensive care unit (ICU) of hospitals across the world.…
The safety of blood transfusions is questioned again and again by the mass media. Sometimes ‘bad’ blood causes infections; sometimes a transfusion leads to cancer years later. The fact is that transfer blood is subjected to the highest safety standards – there are very clear statutory regulations. Nonetheless, there will be shortages of ‘life’s fluid’ because, given increasing…
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a condition where fat accumulates in the liver and has become the most common liver disease worldwide. While NAFLD shows few or no symptoms at initial stages, it is a potentially serious disease which can progress to an inflammatory state called steatohepatitis (NASH), which can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer. Fatty liver disease can be managed by…
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is among the most common chronic hepatic disorders in Western industrial countries and the rate is also rapidly rising in newly industrialized countries. Experts estimate that about 30 to 40 percent of the population worldwide develop this liver condition. In the United States, this disease is well on the way to becoming the most frequent indication for liver…
A first-in-human study reports that the novel positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) tracer 18F-GP1 showed excellent image quality and a high detection rate for the diagnosis of acute venous thromboembolism (VTE). Well-tolerated in patients, 18F-GP1 PET/CT also identified blood clots in distal veins of the leg below the knee, where conventional imaging has limitations.
Acute porphyria is a group of uncommon diseases that can cause severe, potentially life-threatening attacks of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting and paralysis. Liver transplantation is currently the only effective treatment available for the most seriously afflicted patients. A clinical trial conducted in collaboration with researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now shows that a new drug…
The European Society of Pathology (ESP) holds its European Congress of Pathology (ECP) at different venues annually. This year, in Spain, 3,448 delegates from 87 countries attended. There, ESP president Dina Tiniakos spoke about the increasing role of pathology in precision medicine including challenges linked to digitisation. ‘Precision medicine is the centre-point for cancer management, but…
As Shimadzu celebrates its 50th anniversary in Europe, we spoke with Stéphane Moreau, Manager of LC-MS & Life Sciences at the Marketing Europe/Analytical Business Unit of Shimadzu Europa GmbH, about today’s and many more decades of exciting clinical developments.
More than 100 million Americans have potentially deadly fatty liver disease and most do not even know it. Overeating and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol this holiday season could put someone with the disease on the fast track to liver failure. “There are no symptoms associated with fatty liver disease and no pain, so most people never get checked or treated for it and, over time, if it is…
Researchers have developed techniques to detect Lyme disease bacteria weeks sooner than current tests, allowing patients to start treatment earlier. The new techniques can detect an active infection with the Lyme bacteria faster than the three weeks it takes for the current indirect antibody-based tests, which have been a standard since 1994. Another advantage of the new tests is that a positive…
Test results are denoted by a colour change and could be further analysed by a smartphone app, making it attractive as a point-of-care diagnostic device.
In healthy individuals, the Zika virus causes flu-like symptoms. If a pregnant woman becomes infected, the unborn child can suffer from severe brain abnormalities as a result of mechanisms that have not yet been explained. A study by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPI-B) shows that Zika virus proteins bind to cellular proteins that are…
The Vacuette Safety Winged Set is a new addition to Greiner Bio-One’s (GBO) range of safety products. GBO now offers its customers an even wider selection of safety blood collection sets. In response to high demand for Greiner Bio-One safety products, the existing range will be joined by the new Vacuette Safety Winged Set. As always, the aim is to provide functional, user-friendly and…
The first defense line of the body against virus infections is composed of so-called restriction factors. SAMHD1, one of such restriction factors, does not only play a role in the defense against viruses but also in the development of autoimmune disorders and cancer. The question of which effect SAMHD1 exertsin the cell is decided by addition or removal of phosphate groups.
T cells fight pathogens and tumors: Researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Lübeck present a simple and fast method to rapidly assess their function. Due to its simplicity, reliability and versatility, it could be broadly implemented for basic research and in the clinical setting. Methods so far to test T-cell response were technically cumbersome and time-consuming and therefore only…
Radiologists must ensure precise scientific data and radiology-based evidence are used to regulate the use of Gadolinium Containing Contrast Agents (GCCAs), a Spanish leading radiologist explained in closed-door leadership meeting earlier this year in Barcelona.
In what is believed to be the largest pancreatic cancer genome-wide association study to date, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute, and collaborators from over 80 other institutions worldwide discovered changes to five new regions in the human genome that may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. The new findings represent one more step toward…
Indiana University researchers have made an important step forward in the design of drugs that fight the hepatitis B virus, which can cause liver failure and liver cancer. It's estimated that 2 billion people worldwide have had a hepatitis B virus infection in their lifetime, with about 250 million -- including 2 million Americans -- living with chronic infection. Although a vaccine exists, there…
Patients with cirrhosis should be screened regularly for liver cancer, though few are – in part because busy physicians often don’t order the screening tests, said UT Southwestern oncologists. “The frequency of liver cancer is increasing rapidly in the U.S. and liver cancer-related mortality has nearly doubled over the past decade. The poor prognosis of the disease is largely driven by the…
In April 2016 CEUS received the USA’s FDA approval. This year‘s RSNA Samsung Symposium ‘Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound (CEUS): Innovations and a Problem-Solving Tool in Clinical Practice’ provided an opportunity to take stock. For European Hospital, Professor André Clevert, Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ultrasound at University Hospital Munich, Germany, describes the current…
Siemens Healthineers confirmed that it has completed its acquisition of Fast Track Diagnostics (FTD). The closing of the deal occurred on December 19, 2017, expanding the Siemens Healthineers molecular diagnostics portfolio and underscoring the company’s commitment to this designated growth area. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. FTD’s broad range of CE-marked infectious disease…
Donating blood is a tangible way to help people who are struggling with serious health conditions, yet many people may not think about it or make time for it. In January – which the American Red Cross has dubbed National Blood Donor Month – blood bank supplies are typically among the lowest of the year, as many people have been traveling or busy with the holidays. Inclement weather can also…
Selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) is often only looked at from a palliative perspective. However, the procedure is now also increasingly moving into the curative field, as Prof. Dr. Jens Ricke, Chair of Radiology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich and Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Radiology at the University Hospital of the LMU reports. “As a locoregionally used…
Imaging is increasingly useful in detecting colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastases and evaluating how these lesions respond to treatment. Dr Daniele Regge reviewed all the latest advances during last September’s Madrid meeting of the European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO)
Liver disease is widespread in Germany. It is, in fact, the most common cause of death in patients under the age of 40, with liver cirrhosis, which can develop into liver cancer, playing a major role here. These days, modern, comprehensive treatment concepts are unimaginable without interventional radiology, for liver cirrhosis as well as liver cancer. Prof. Dr. Christian Stroszczynski, Director…
From its earliest beginnings in 2006 to its most recent update this year, the Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System (LI-RADS) is helping radiologists deliver clearer and more consistent imaging reports to hepatologists and surgeons worldwide. "LI-RADS is the leading system for interpretation and reporting of liver imaging exams in adults with cirrhosis. It is also the first radiology…
The WHO European Region is the only region worldwide where the number of new HIV infections is rising. With more than 160 000 people newly diagnosed with HIV across the Region, including more than 29 000 new cases from the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA), this trend continued in 2016. One reason for this worrying trend: over half (51%) of the reported HIV diagnoses happen in a…
The ability to demonstrate blood perfusion as well as organ function using contrast agentenhanced ultrasound is quickly finding innovative uses in clinical practice. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has advanced rapidly since its first introduction. Today it is widely used as a primary imaging technique for a number of indications and pathologies. At a symposium organised by Bracco Imaging…
Samsung Medison, a global medical equipment company and an affiliate of Samsung Electronics, introduced the RS85, a new premium ultrasonic diagnosis device that provides enhanced image quality, usability, and convenience for medical and radiology professionals. “We are pleased to launch the RS85, a new premium medical device with superior image quality and usability based on Samsung’s…
A practicing radiologist specialising in ultrasound, Pavlos Zoumpoulis MD PhD is also President and CEO of Diagnostic Echotomography, a day clinic based in Kifissia, Greece. The past President of the Hellenic Society of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology spoke with our European Hospital team about his experiences with the next-generation in shear wave elastography on Mindray’s Resona 7 platform.
‘Ultrasound imaging is an attractive non-ionising medical imaging tool. It’s safe, free of side effects and offers an unmatched real-time imaging capability,’ interventional radiologist Professor Giancarlo Bizzarri underlines during our EH interview.
A new study presented this week at The Liver Meeting held by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases found that daily aspirin therapy was significantly associated with a reduced risk in hepatitis B virus‐related liver cancer. Past research suggests that daily aspirin therapy — which is often prescribed to prevent cardiovascular disease — may also prevent the development of…
A new study found that increased utilization of split liver transplantation could decrease the number of children who die awaiting liver transplantation without decreasing liver transplantation access for adult patients. “Among children listed for liver transplant in the United States, more than one in 10 infants and one in 20 older children die while waiting for a liver,” says Emily Perito,…
A Spanish team has, for the first time, successfully placed a pulmonary valve using catheterisation through the hepatic vein in a paediatric patient. Specialists believe this type of intervention could become an interesting alternative when traditional access points are not available.
Over recent years, virology, once medicine‘s step-child, moved into the limelight, pushed by impressive progress and pulled by globalisation-induced need for expertise in virus diagnostics and viral epidemics.
German researches have linked the increased production of a certain enzyme in the liver to fatty liver and insulin resistance.
Obsolescence and strategies to manage equipment data to benefit patients were at the centre of debates during the Radiology Triangle meeting in Madrid earlier this year.
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most frequent liver diseases worldwide and an estimated 20 million people in Germany are affected.
A saliva test developed by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health nearly matches the performance of a blood test widely used to assess recent or past hepatitis E virus infections, a new study reports. The findings could offer an easier, less expensive alternative to gathering data for studying and eventually treating the disease, which infects an estimated 20 million…
Scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have improved a state-of-the-art gene-editing technology to advance the system’s ability to target, cut and paste genes within human and animal cells—and broadening the ways the CRISPR-Cpf1 editing system may be used to study and fight human diseases.
For almost three quarters of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients in Europe it is too late for curative treatment because the disease is often only diagnosed at a very advanced stage. Interviewed Professor Guido Gerken MD, Director of the Department for Gastroenterology and Hepatology at University Hospital Essen, about improved and timelier diagnostic capabilities that have already been…
Last year the WHO launched a global strategy on viral hepatitis aiming to eliminate hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) as public health threats by 2030.
Globalisation has been a defining term in this 21st century: with almost anybody able to visit any place at any time, diseases, viruses and bacteria can be travel companions. Thus virology is gaining increased attention. Professor Barbara Gärtner, President of the German Association of Virology, talks about the issues and challenges arising from this development.
MRI enhanced with gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid -the scan referred to as “EOB MRI” - is significantly better than contrast-enhanced CT for assessing colorectal liver metastases that disappear after chemotherapy, according to a study published online March 22 in Radiology.
New 3-D simulation models that include haemodynamics enable better treatment of hepatic tumours via radio-embolisation, according to eminent Spanish radiologist José Ignacio Bilbao Jaureguizar.
Riad Salem, MD, MBA, will be honored with the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Foundation Leaders in Innovation Award March 7, during the group's annual scientific meeting in Washington, D.C., for his work in radioembolization.
University of Limerick professor J Calvin Coffey has identified an emerging area of science having reclassified part of the digestive system as an organ.
Researchers at University of Vienna discover unexpected role of signalling protein in hepatocellular carcinoma.
A new molecular diagnostics system is revolutionising analysis of hospital samples across an area of northern Italy. The Greater Romagna Area Hub Laboratory has recently installed the Beckman Coulter DxN VERIS Molecular Diagnostics System and is already reporting improved workflow and quicker turnaround time for results.
Jose Ramon Armengol-Miro has directed the World Institute for Digestive Endoscopy Research (WIDER) since 2007. There, he leads the investigation of Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES). The technique was introduced to gastrointestinal endoscopy over ten years ago. Speaking with European Hospital the expert assessed its use and value today.
Technological advances increasingly enable endoscopists to treat disease and perform surgical procedures. However, professionals must work hard to learn and maintain knowledge of complex interventions, says Dr Ferran González-Huix Lladó, President of the Spanish society of digestive endoscopy (SEED)
Virology is fast emerging as a key discipline within modern healthcare against a backdrop of a shifting global demographic and the impact of climate change.
A 50-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with hepatitis, most likely due to his intake of 4-5 energy drinks every day for three weeks, reveal doctors writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
Scientists at the University of Basel discovered a fundamental new mechanism explaining the inadequate immune defense against chronic viral infection. These results may open up new avenues for vaccine development.
Fernando López Zárraga is a member of the Executive Board of the Spanish Society of Vascular and Interventional Radiology (SERVEI). In an interview with European Hospital he explains issues facing interventional radiology in Spain and why this is becoming an increasingly attractive field.
Researchers from the University of Cambridge and the University of Bath, and The BMJ, show how NHS England, unable to budget for broad access to these drugs, tried to alter the outcome of the NICE process, and when it failed, defied NICE’s authority by rationing access to them.
Jens Hahn MD is an Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Specialist who works with the international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF in English: Doctors Without Borders). Here he describes his work in Afghanistan and South Sudan, and the use of rapid diagnostic tests in the field.
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes hepatitis B, an infectious disease that afflicts 230 million people worldwide, thereof 440 000 in Germany. Persistence of the virus in liver cells leads to progressive organ damage in the patient and contributes to a high risk of cirrhosis and liver cancer development. Providing a new paradigm to hepatitis B understanding, researchers at the German Cancer Research…
The 13th Symposium of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, which opened its doors last Thursday 19th May and took place in Athens, Greece, came to a conclusion yesterday, after more than 2,000 participants benefited from a series of scientific sessions focusing on the latest developments in Dermatology and Venereology.
Virologists from KU Leuven, Belgium, have shown that an experimental antiviral drug against hepatitis C slows down the development of Zika in mice. The research team was led by Professor Johan Neyts from the Laboratory of Virology and Chemotherapy.
No self-respecting TV crime series is without a pathologist – but the fictitious pathologist who incessantly solves crimes has little to do with reality.
‘Already used in adults for several years, elastography is a promising tool in paediatric imaging,’ according to radiologist Dr Mehrak Anooshiravani-Dumont, from Geneva University Hospital. ‘It allows detection of changes in the mechanical properties of tissues, such as fibrosis, based on viscoelastic characteristics.‘
The refugee wave rolls on with no ebb in sight. For many, Germany remains their travel destination. In August and September alone, tens of thousands refugees arrived in Munich, presenting the Bavarian capital with a major challenge: How could the city provide initial medical care for everyone? While the German Asylum Procedure Act governs the appropriate procedures, in this unprecedented…
Leading Spanish experts presented the latest developments in hepatitis C management in their country during the May meeting of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) in Seville. Report: Mélisande Rouger
A banana a day may not keep the doctor away, but a substance originally found in bananas and carefully edited by scientists could someday fight off a wide range of viruses, new research suggests. And the process used to create the virus-fighting form may help scientists develop even more drugs, by harnessing the “sugar code” that our cells use to communicate. That code gets hijacked by…
Dirk-André Clevert MD, Associate Professor of Radiology at the Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Munich, Germany, describes a new diagnostic approach in abdominal ultrasound.
When a pathogen invades the body, specific cells in the human immune system are ready to take immediate action in order to destroy it. The molecular characteristics of these killer cells were unknown until recently. Now, for the first time, a team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has managed to create a molecular profile of the protective cells. By studying these immune cells from…
There may be two new ways to fight AIDS -- using a heat shock protein or a small molecule – to attack fibrils in semen associated with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the initial phases of infection, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Vaccination remains one of the most efficient strategies against infectious diseases, often being the best protection against infections such as hepatitis B, or influenza. European Hospital reports on expert reviews of vaccines in the pipeline and the potential of nanomedicine given during the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) annual meeting in…
The District of Columbia's needle exchange program prevented 120 new cases of HIV infection and saved an estimated $44 million over just a two-year period, according to a first-of-a-kind study published today by researchers at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (Milken Institute SPH) at the George Washington University.
The number of hepatitis C patients suffering from advanced liver damage may be grossly underestimated and underdiagnosed, according to a study led by researchers at Henry Ford Health System and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mutations in ARID1a, which are common in many cancer types, disrupt DNA damage repair in cancer cells, allowing the cancer to progress. This gene may also be an Achilles' heel when treating certain tumors, according to a team of researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The time needed to genetically sequence the bacteria causing tuberculosis (Mtb) from patient samples has been reduced from weeks to days using a new technique developed by a team at University College London (UCL). This could help health service providers to better treat disease, control transmission of this infection, and monitor outbreaks.
People waiting for organ transplants may soon have higher hopes of getting the help that they need in time. Researchers at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology have developed a new technique that extends the time that donor organs last and can also resuscitate organs obtained after cardiac arrest.
Expecting 10,000 participants, prior to the 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (25-28 April) its Programme Director, Professor Winfried V Kern MD, was keen to point out: ‘The findings and recommendations that emerge from this vibrant platform each year have, in the past, had a tremendous impact not only on guidelines and best…
Beckman Coulter Diagnostics will be showcasing its new DxN VERIS Molecular Diagnostics System at ECCMID 2015 in Copenhagen.
Bio-Rad Laboratories, a global provider of life science research and clinical diagnostic products, announced that Bio-Rad is extending its agreement with Beckman Coulter and has named the company exclusive global distributor of Bio-Rad's Access HIV combo assay and the Access hepatitis C virus (HCV) assay in select geographies.
A new treatment for liver cancer developed by the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht has received the European CE mark for quality and safety. This implies that hospitals throughout Europe can now start using this innovative treatment that uses radioactive holmium microspheres to attack liver tumors. The treatment is being marketed by Quirem Medical, a spin-off company of the UMC Utrecht.
As part of an effort to understand how an experimental drug for atherosclerosis causes the build-up of fat in the liver, scientists have developed a computer model that can predict how the rate at which liver stores fat in response to various situations.
Iron deficiency and resulting anaemia cause fatal comorbidities worldwide. Despite this, they are generally underestimated. Professor Lothar Thomas, specialist in laboratory medicine at the Central Laboratory in the Frankfurt/Main University Hospital, is seeking more information about new laboratory parameters for diagnosis and monitoring of iron deficiency and iron substitution therapy. The…
40 percent of people in the EU suffer from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a disease which is becoming increasingly more frequent as a result of diabetes and excess weight in an affluent society.
For medical ultrasound it’s quick, easy and portable – and so popular with Professor Christoph Dietrich, chief of Medical Department 2 at Caritas Hospital, Bad Mergentheim, one of the first physicians worldwide to test the M9 in clinical routine. ‘The compact Mindray colour Doppler system is about the same size as a notebook computer. The imaging suite comes to the patient,’ the…
Ask about UltraFast ultrasound and you might expect a technical answer explaining why the ultrasound is faster. However, for Stéphanie Franchi-Abella MD, fast means just fast, an ultra-quick acquisition she can take of a squirming, agitated new-born in the blink of an eye. ‘These babies are small and breathing rapidly, the organs are moving fast in the image and it’s sometimes difficult to…
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty in Mannheim at Heidelberg University are searching for new approaches to prevent liver fibrosis. They have identified a surface molecule on special liver cells called stellate cells as a potential target for interfering with this process. When the researchers turned off the receptor, this led to reduced liver…
The very first successful organ donation from a newborn to be carried out in the UK is reported in the Fetal & Neonatal Edition of Archives of Disease in Childhood. The donor was a girl born at term after an emergency caesarean section in the neonatal unit of Hammersmith Hospital, London. The donation involved the kidneys, which were transplanted into a patient with renal failure, and liver…
CDI Europe, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE) and MEP Karin Kadenbach hosted an event at the European Parliament to highlight the urgent action needed to address the current issues relating to the management of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).
At the close of the Gastrointestinal Medicine and Surgery meeting in Leipzig, Professor Peter R Galle, Congress President of the German Society for Gastroenterology, Digestive and Metabolic Diseases, spoke with EH about today’s emphasis on interdisciplinary exchange and the need to augment cooperation even further. Report: Chrissanthi Nikolakudi
A first of its kind expert consensus report on Clostridium difficile infection (CDI), contributed to by more than 1,000 healthcare professionals across Europe, has been presented today at the Healthcare Infection Society (HIS) International Congress in Lyon, France. The consensus report aimed to identify a set of expert views on CDI management, in order to determine attitudes to diagnosis,…
The 4,831 exhibitors at Medica as well as the 724 exhibitors at Compamed gave the almost 130,000 visitors impressive proof of the benefit of their product innovations and wealth of ideas for high-quality and affordable health care. Approx. 84,000 visitors came from abroad travelling from some 120 countries to Düsseldorf.
At least 60% of liver lesions can be characterised purely by ultrasound. Screening and examinations of supposedly healthy patients often result in an accidental discovery of liver lesions. According to Dr Antonius Schuster MD MBA, Head of the Department of Radiology at the LKH Bregenz, (Vorarlberg). ‘The prevalence of such changes is around 20% of patients examined’. Depending on a…
Earlier this year a drug was launched that can cure hepatitis C without severe side effects in most patients. Whilst the treatment is fast, it is very expensive but does avoid liver cancer and thus makes liver transplants superfluous. This is only one of the many promising developments in hepatitis research that Dr Markus Cornberg of the Medical University Hanover will address at the Medica…
Until recently liver biopsies were performed to stage hepatic fibrosis in order to identify the suitable therapy. ‘Since any intervention in the human body is associated with risks – haemorrhage and infection for example – we have long been looking for an alternative method to determine liver tissue elasticity. Today shear wave elastography is exactly such a method,’ says Professor…
World-renowned experts discussed the situation of predomonant epidemics at the International Roche Infectious Disease Symposium in Barcelona.
New molecular technologies to screen drug-resistant TB are replacing, for example, culture-based tests that are slow, require experienced personnel, and need stringent microbiological safety precautions.
The Robert Koch Award will be shared between Professors Casanova and Fischer; Professor Bujard is being awarded the Robert Koch Gold Medal
In a series of studies involving 140 American men and women with liver tumors, researchers at Johns Hopkins have used specialized 3-D MRI scans to precisely measure living and dying tumor tissue to quickly show whether highly toxic chemotherapy – delivered directly through a tumor’s blood supply – is working.
Ultrasound technology is continuously developing and competing with the sectional imaging procedures – therapy progress can be monitored, facilitating personalised medicine.
An innovative technology is enabling radiologists to provide more accurate diagnoses.
Snibe, the Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering Company Ltd., is a leading Chinese biomedical technology company dedicated to developing and manufacturing clinical laboratory equipment and in vitro reagents. Founded 18 years ago and a growing force in the Chinese market, the firm is based in Shenzhen, China’s fourth largest city, situated in Guangdong Province.
A joint meeting combining the Euroson and Three Countries congresses creates a veritable European summit on the state-of-the-art in ultrasound
All hospital professions can be affected by injuries resulting from cuts and needlesticks, whether they are doctors, nurses or cleaners.
A 2012 study analysing the care of cancer patients in the USA in 138 Veterans’ Administration hospitals (pub: Journal of the National Cancer Institute) questions the effectiveness of tumour board review. The study measured effectiveness by comparing the presence of tumour review boards with stage-specific quality of care and patient outcomes.
Apart from tumour immunologists themselves, for a long time oncologists have underestimated the role of the immune system in cancer treatment. Nonetheless, in recent years increasing attention has been given to this aspect of cancer.
According to Molly Polen, at the AACC, great opportunities lie ahead for laboratory medicine and, to seize them, ‘meeting with colleagues and learning about new technologies is a critical first step. The 2013 AACC will provide these and other opportunities, such as informative sessions and live demonstrations of new technology.’
Access to healthcare is a fundamental citizen’s right. However health disparities still exist and are even more put at risk with the economic crisis and austerity measures.
Although receding since late March, the 2012-13 seasonal flu epidemic in metropolitan France, appears to be the longest in some 30 years, even if it did not strike the highest numbers, according to the monitoring network Sentinelles-Inserm.
Snibe, Shenzhen New Industries Biomedical Engineering Co., Ltd., is a leading Chinese biomedical technology company dedicated to developing and manufacturing clinical laboratory equipment and reagents.
The future will be aesthetic or, put another way, Art meets Science. With this motto, the 43rd Congress of the German Society for Endoscopy and Imaging Procedures e.V., jointly held in Munich with six other specialist associations, demonstrated that aesthetic means the brilliance of images generated by the latest generation of X-ray, CT, MRI and ultrasound equipment.
The hepatocellular carcinoma is the sixth most frequent cause of cancer worldwide, explained Dr Bruno Sangro at ECR, and it is the third most frequent cause of death due to cancer.
Across the globe, up to 400 million people carry the hepatitis B virus, and more than 180 million – approximately 400,000 in France – are infected with the hepatitis C virus.
Simultaneous surgical successes open new perspectives for multiple transplants
Colon cancer remains the second most common cause of cancer-related death in the Western world with 450,000 citizens in Europe newly diagnosed and 230,000 deaths annually (Source: Globalscan 2008).
Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) supports physicians in vital treatment decisions.
Adding micro-bubbles to the blood lights up the body for ultrasound scanners. Non-invasive, non-toxic and low-cost, these examinations present a disruptive, readily accessible technology for diagnosing disease. John Brosky reports
The use of contrast agents in ultrasound imaging of the gastrointestinal tract is no longer limited to the liver, although the clinical results of hepatic applications continue to be those that are most comprehensively confirmed.
Research in the field is booming thanks to newly arriving methods to identify gene sequences. Scientists are interested in a wide range of issues from disease-relevant variations of human genetic information to the detection of viral genetic material that supports therapies. Several highlights of current research were presented this spring at the 9th International Symposium on Molecular…
The 34th Congress of the European Society of Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism 8-11 September, Barcelona, Spain
For his Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen Honorary Lecture at ECR 2011, Professor Richard Baron MD, from the Radiology Department at the University of Chicago, USA, focused on Detecting liver tumours: the search for the Holy Grail. Why does he compare this aim with that of the medieval knights?
Devised by the European Liver Test group, the new, non-invasive Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) test on Siemens ADVIA Centaur Immunoassay Systems can identify, in under an hour, bloodbased biomarkers to detect the amount of fibrosis in the liver.
More and more patients with lung cancer are being treated with thermo-ablation techniques, and radiologists are increasingly being confronted with images from these patients that may be difficult to interpret.
“On a day-to-day basis, each of us in thoracic imaging is dealing with a large number of patients with pulmonary metastasis or lung cancer,” said Christoph Engelke, MD. “These patients have been targeted by different chemotherapies and surgical therapies. Yet the prognosis in advanced lung cancer stages has not been changed.”
Following last year’s acquisition of Aloka Co Ltd by Hitachi Medical Corporation, their powerful combination in Hitachi Aloka Medical Ltd has united next generation technologies in high-end ultrasound for use by family physicians and small practices.
Medical imaging is no longer limited to diagnosis and evaluation. New, high resolution imaging systems enable very precise positioning of lasers, endoscopes and micro-instruments for surgery near the nerves, spinal cord or blood vessels and for selective tumour destruction, with minimum levels of pain and low complication rates.
Excising the entire cancer tumour from the stomach prevents relapses. This procedure can now be performed endoscopically. Holger Zorn reports from the Visceral Medicine 2011 Congress in Leipzig.
The European Research Council (ERC) has earmarked about €2.5 mio. to fund the research being conducted by gastroenterologist and biochemist Professor Dr. Dr. Detlef Schuppan at Mainz University Medical Center. Professor Schuppan is a specialist in liver diseases ranging from fibrosis to cirrhosis (the terminal stage of fibrosis) to hepatic cancer.
Embolisation – the blocking of vessels - is a key procedure in Interventional Radiology. It plays a steadily growing role in the treatment of various tumour lesions, with hepatic cellular carcinoma and uterine fibroids the main focus.
Explaining the value of the iU22 xMATRIX ultrasound system, Philips describes its new array transducer within the system – the X6-1 PureWave xMATRIX – as revolutionary.‘It harnesses the power of over 9000 active elements, more than 35 times greater than conventional transducers, to capture crisp, high-resolution images of even technically challenging patients,’ the company points out,…
World of Ultrasound met Prof. Ioan Sporea, Prof. Gebhard Mathis and Prof. Byung Ihn Choi to ask them three questions.
Sahlgrenska University Hospital provides emergency and basic care for the 700,000 inhabitants of the Gothenburg region. It also provides highly specialised care for the 1.7 million inhabitants in Sweden’s west because, in this country, endoscopic ultrasound examinations are only provided in university hospitals. Thus Sahlgrenska’s physicians receive referrals of difficult diagnostic cases…
Although many new features in US-guided interventions are being marketed, which are really necessary, which just nice-to-have? It’s a question to be faced by experts during the refresher course ‘Interventional ultrasound’ at WFUMB 2011. One of the most established ultrasound techniques in minimally invasive procedures is contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) – a tool that is safe, gentle…
Around 700 international experts met in Vienna to discuss the latest advancements in ultrasound, such as a new technique called real time imaging, and of approximately 200 scientific papers. That was back in 1969 when for the first time physicians and scientists from around the world came together in Austria’s capital to share their knowledge of the use of ultrasound waves in medicine. The…
UHB is leading the way in creating key networks with other European centres of excellence to share knowledge between renowned specialists. The project is already enhancing the Trust’s profile as a focus of translational research in Service Delivery, Haematology, Liver Disease, Diabetes and e-Prescribing.
ALOKA Holding Europe AG, the innovator in ultrasound, is working with the world renowned liver surgeon, Professor Guido Torzilli to explore the clinical benefits of intra-operative ultrasound in hepatic cancer cases. Ultrasound has one enormous advantage over traditional techniques, such as MRI and CT, since it can be used intra-operatively. The success of this alternative technique for…
Over 8,000 international clinicians and scientists travelled to Berlin in March to attend the International Liver Congress 2011, hosted by The European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL), to hear the latest research, perspectives and treatments in hepatology.
Emerging interventional techniques appear promising for the treatment of hepatic tumours, even those at advanced stages. Attendees at the special focus session on transarterial procedures, taking place today at ECR, will find out just how far these techniques, as well as combined approaches, have gone.
Vienna - For the 23rd time, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is opening its doors to welcome 19,000 participants from over 90 countries. The scientific exchange of knowledge and the presentation of the latest developments in the field of radiology will again be presented right in the heart of Europea. In an inaugural press conference on March 3rd, the hot topics of the congress were…
Until now, interventional and endoscopic therapies have held little importance in common cancer treatment. However, given the trend towards personalised medicine and targeted cancer therapy, increasing attention is being paid to reasonable complements to traditional cancer surgery.
Improvements in microfluidics and detection technologies are beginning to expand the range of point-of-care diagnostics beyond simple blood chemistry tests to sophisticated immuno-assays and molecular diagnostics. Though yet to see much adoption in European hospitals, these point-of-care (POC) diagnostics are coming into use in the USA, initially in emergency rooms and ICUs where fast results are…
Researchers from Italy determined that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a safe and effective therapy for managing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in cirrhotic patients. The high repeatability of RFA is advantageous in controlling recurrences of cancerous tumors in the liver. Results of this 10-year retrospective study are available in the January 2011 issue of Hepatology, a journal published by…
Sonography is a jack-of-all-medical-trades. Unlike magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography it does not require radiation and it is not performed by a radiologist but by the experts in the individual clinical disciplines. Technical progress has turned sonography into much more than the “stethoscope of the 21st century” – a sophisticated imaging modality that requires special…
Malignant diseases rank second in mortality rates in Germany. These patients thus receive a major proportion of ambulant and hospital care, with apparent socioeconomic consequences. To optimise treatment planning, for all solid tumour entities it is mandatory to delineate or stage the primary extent of tumour invasion and spread prior to therapy as precisely as possible.
California, USA: 20,000 visitors and 700 manufacturers showing products in almost 2000 booths at the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting (July 5-29, 2010) underlined the importance of this, the world’s largest gathering of clinical laboratory professionals.
An increase in survival in metastatic melanoma – the cancer with the most rapidly increasing incidence across the EU – has been shown for the first time in a major international study by researchers from across Europe. The results showed that patients who received a novel monoclonal antibody called ipilimumab lived 34% longer than control patients given gp100 peptide vaccine.
„Diseases of the nervous system and the brain occur more frequently than cancer. According to recent calculations of health care costs, they represent a burden of 386 billion euros a year on European economies,“ says Prof. Gérard Said, newly elected president of the European Neurological Society (ENS) at the annual meeting in Berlin, Germany. „This is often greatly underestimated.“
In 2000, the Israeli firm Given Imaging introduced Video Capsule Endoscopy (VCE), a new technology initially devoted to small bowel examination. Since then, the EndoCapsule from Olympus Japan, MiroCam from IntroMedic Korea and some less advanced devices from China have been introduced as technical competition for some new areas, such as oesophagus or colon.
New research from the University of Bristol and a large group of international collaborators shows that Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) continues to dramatically reduce rates of mortality from HIV infection in high-income countries, such that non-AIDS-related deaths exceed AIDS deaths after approximately four years of taking ART.
Physicians, over many centuries, have depended on the sense of touch as their hands on method to detect diseases in many body areas. This technique is called palpation. However, though it was known that abnormalities in the stiffness or mechanical environment in tissue may have a profound impact on how many diseases progress, conventional imaging modalities could not display tissue stiffness in…
"Cancer can be prevented too" is the theme of a new campaign being launched today in the lead up to World Cancer Day on 4th February, by the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). The campaign is backed by a new scientific report: 'Protection against cancer causing infections' which focuses on the nine infections that can lead to cancer.
Several years ago the Partners of the Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being (NDPHS) was organised to serve the Baltic Sea region. Due to the very different levels of public healthcare systems in north-east European countries, the NDPHS decided its main mission is to reduce social and economic differences and improve quality of life and demographic issues.
Whereas, in the past, the diagnoses of infectious diseases focused on antibody detection, more recently laboratories aim to identify the agent itself, using the invaluable PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test. We asked Prof Beatus Ofenloch-Hähnle, head of Reagent and System Development Immunology, at Roche Professional Diagnostics, and Benjamin Lilienfeld, Global Product Manager for Infectious…
A recent study determined that repeated liver stiffness measurements (LSM) in the first year following liver transplant (LT) could discriminate between slow and rapid "fibrosers". LSM were extremely accurate, particularly at the 6-month post LT point, in detecting severity of fibrosis. Determining those at risk for a recurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) allows for early-stage administration of…
Ultrasound presents a promising technology for non-invasive examinations of the abdomen. There is a vast, unmet medical need in the area of liver fibrosis for the clinical assessment of patients with fibrosis who either refuse or cannot undergo the painful and invasive biopsy procedures that provide hard histological evidence of the state of the disease.
Cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most frequently occurring cancers throughout the world, are expected to increase dramatically in the next 10-15 years in Germany alone. The main reason is the increased occurrence of fatty hepatitis. Thus, in the future, interventional radiologists will also be increasingly involved in HCC patients treatment.
During a gathering of clinicians, scientists and economists at this year's Medical Technology Congress (Treffpunkt für Medizintechnik) held in Berlin's Charité Hospital, all 17 lectures focused on cancer treatments. Bettina Döbereiner reports
The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) hosts its 2009 meeting in conjunction with the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Along with this, a high European participation is on the cards. "We are pleased that so many peers from Europe join us each year, and that our European colleagues lead many of the important scientific sessions," said Barbara Goldsmith PhD, current AACC…
The Research Institute of the Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron (IR-HUVH) in Barcelona is the first Spanish health centre to acquire the Genome Sequencer FLX System from 454 Life Sciences, a Roche company. This new high-performance sequencing system improves the productivity and precision of genome sequencing at IR-HUVH.
Beckman Coulter, Inc. has expanded its drugs of abuse test menu to include a DRI* Oxycodone Enzyme Immunoassay (OXYX). The assay is for the qualitative and semi-quantitative determination of oxycodone and its metabolite, oxymorphone, in human urine.
With the possibilities of tissue elasticity measuring the diagnostic use of ultrasound has recently increased enormously; the opportunities and limits of this technology and its areas of application are continuously growing.
‘Like the original Ode to the Liver, by Pablo Neruda, I too hope not to be betrayed by my liver. At least, not today!’
Working in partnership to integrate diagnostic imaging, laboratory diagnostics and IT, the Hospital Clinic Barcelona and Siemens Healthcare aim to develop innovative systems to prevent, treat and follow-up for various pathologies.
Migrant medicine as a course for German medical students? This is a unique concept in a country where it is currently only being offered at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen.
Czech hospitals are seeking powerful inspiration regarding antibiotics (ATB) consumption from France, where a recent public campaign helped to decrease ATB consumption by 30%.
Tumour ablation - and Radiofrequency (RF) ablation in particular - is getting more and more important in oncology. The therapy option offers benefits in terms of costs, ease of set-up and flexibility so that experts see the need to expand the applications of it.
ESC speaker John Cleland from the University of Hull, UK, sumed up the latest treatment available for patients with diabetes mellitus and expressed his worries about side-effects and efficacy of available anti-diabetic drugs. If you want to read his ESC abstract, just click the “read more” button.
Accurate diagnostic analysis and staging of cancer of the bile duct still remains a challenge. According to a new study from Germany a new imaging system called Cellvizio allows physicians to examine tissue at the cellular level from inside the body may now enable them to diagnose one of the most difficult cancers to detect.
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers to cause death. A PET scan improves prognosis and changes management of recurrent colorectal cancer in more than half of patients according to a latest study from Australia. Therefore, the data suggest to conduct nuclear imaging in cancer treatment more often.
The inverse epidemiological association between serum levels of HDL-C and risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) is graded and has been validated in multiple studies. However, there is remaining controversy whether a low HDL-C should not predominantly be considered a marker of poor lifestyle (obesity, lack of exercise, hypertriglyceridemia, diet, etc.), rather than a primary causal agent for…
Researchers funded by the European Union have devised OptoLabCard, a system that prepares samples and performs DNA tests on bacteria in a portable, easily used, cost-effective lab-on-a-chip.
An international panel of physicians has updated the guidelines and recommendations for antiretroviral treatment of adult human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection after evaluating recent data, according to an article in JAMA, a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.
Along with MRSA and ESBL bacteria, Clostridium difficile is causing a growing problem. Epidemics of a new C. difficile strain have already occurred in hospitals in North America, England and the Benelux countries.
In 2005, former German Chancellor Schröder and Russian President Putin agreed on a strategic partnership to give infectious disease control the highest priority.
Endoscopic procedures, which are well established in the diagnosis and therapy of gastrointestinal diseases, not only carry procedural risks but also the risk of endoscopy associated infections.
Andrea Martini and Joerg Larsen, of the Institute for Roentgendiagnostics, Braunschweig Teaching Hospitals, Germany, discuss nanotechnology, hybrid imaging and the quest for a personalised medicine.
As reported in the January issue of Hepatology, MRI imagery is emerging as a non-invasive way to determine the existence and extent of hepatic fibrosis. It could eventually help the development of pharmacologic strategies to combat the condition.
Inverness Medical acquired the Determine Brand of diagnostics was from Abbott laboratories in 2005. This move was part of their ongoing strategy to provide clinicians worldwide with a comprehensive portfolio of rapid, potentially life-saving diagnostic tools.
By Professor György Harmat MD, Director General of the Budapest Municipal Council Pal Heim Children's Hospital, Hungary
The British Midlands' University of Nottingham discovered a possible vaccine for use in the treatment of Hepatits C. At the 161st. meeting of the Society for General Microbiology in Edinburgh, UK, a paper titled “Human Antibodies to Hepatits C Virus – Potential for Vaccine Design” was presented.
Researchers define the role of signal molecule c-Met
By Beate M Stoeckelhuber MD, Associate Professor and Radiology (Interim) Director at the Department of Radiology, Luebeck University, Germany, with Smaragda Kapsimalakou MD, also at Luebeck
In recent years new imaging procedures have delivered many answers and solutions for oncological diagnostics and therapy. However, one question could not be answered: Is a tumour developing?
Denmark - Vitamins A, E and beta carotene, taken singly or with other supplements, 'significantly increase mortality' according to a review study released by the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group* at Copenhagen University Hospital. Their study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), did not find evidence that vitamin C could increase longevity, but did find that selenium…
Unlike conventional radiation therapy, selective, internal radiotherapy (SIRT), uses tiny radio-active microspheres to attack malignant liver tumours.
Dr Hanns-Joachim Weinmann, Diagnostics and Radiopharmaceuticals, Magnetic Resonance Imaging & X-Ray Research, Schering AG, examines what is feasible and what still lies only at a tantalising distance.
In our last issue we featured the Future Operating Room Project developed at St Olavs Hospital, University Hospital of Trondheim, Norway, a collaboration between the hospital and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. There, highly promising research on navigation is being carried out in co-peration with the research foundation Sintef Health Research. Professor of Surgery Hans O…
By Dr Fabian Kiessling, Head of the Division of Molecular Imaging, Department of Biophysics and Medical Radiation Physics, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ)
Scientists at biopharm firm Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc* (PRDT) recently confirmed their identification of lead ligands capable of specifically targeting certain 'challenging' viruses.
Medication regimes based on cocktails of antiretroviral drugs can reduce the AIDS virus to almost undetectable levels.
The planning of hepatic surgery of primary and secondary liver tumours is a multimodal process, using modern imaging techniques - mainly contrast enhanced imaging such as CAT and MRI - depending on the patients individual situation as well as on the experience of the medical personnel who are planning the therapy.