Search for: "MERS" - 608 articles found

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News • AUTOMA+ 2024 congress

Pharma leaders to explore new technologies and digital innovations

Digital leaders and major players of the whole value chain gather at Pharmaceutical Automation and Digitalisation Congress (AUTOMA+ 2024) to share professional opinion on trends and latest solutions for the pharma digital transformation. Following the long-standing tradition, the Congress is held in the heart of the pharmaceutical industry, Zurich, Switzerland, on 18-19 November 2024.

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Single Plane

Artis zee multipurpose

HighlightsArtis zee multipurpose is designed to meet the demands of interventional radiology and fluoroscopy. The optional system left suspension meets the needs of endoscopic applications in gastroenterologyDetector: 30 × 40 (1,920 × 2,480 pixels), 154 μmErgonomic system controls for smooth table-side operation2k imaging with highly practical and user-friendly handling features3D…

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Reading

iQ-VIEW

HighlightsiQ-VIEW is the vendor neutral easy-to-use multimodality reading station that has been designed by radiologists for imaging specialists. A unique previous study management using artificial intelligence accelerates the diagnostic process by automatically presenting relevant previous studies of any modalities. iQ-VIEW PRO automatically merges different patient identities from any PACS.

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News • Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response

ASMR videos: Why do they work?

Soothing words, gentle sounds: ASMR videos are known to induce pleasant tingling sensations in viewers. Researchers have now published the first systematic review on why (and how) this works.

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News • Message from our partner

Unleash the full potential of AI and robotics with Automa+ Health 2023

Machines are getting smarter every day, and companies across the world are discovering new ways in which they can use AI to significantly enhance engagement and customer experience. That is why decision-makers from pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and healthcare providers gather to network and discuss the latest innovations, as well as the potential for both AI and robotics, at Healthcare…

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Sponsored • Health & Care Expo

Taiwan goes “beyond healthcare”

Post-pandemic problems, ageing societies, the impact of climate change on human health: To find solutions for new and ongoing healthcare challenges, thinking outside the box is crucial. This year’s Medical Taiwan Health & Care Expo took this approach to heart: True to its motto “beyond healthcare”, the event showcased a wide range of innovative products, promising start-up presentations…

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Article • Radiation protection debate

Patient shielding: a relic from the past of radiology?

Against a backdrop of changing technology and reduced patient dose, a new momentum is emerging within radiology to eradicate patient shielding. The subject has been extensively debated and researched in recent years but there is now a growing consensus to end the practice, apart from with a few exceptions. The topic was the focus of a session at ECR 2023 in Vienna where different perspectives…

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Article • Good-bye “surgery first”

Interventional radiology: out of the shadow and into the light

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…

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Interview • Interview with President Adrian Brady

ECR 2023: Going back to normal – with a few twists

ECR 2023 returns to its traditional date in March, but delegates can expect novelties with sessions touching not just cutting-edge science, but also archaeology and palaeontology, and putting trainees in the spotlight, Congress President Professor Adrian Brady told Healthcare in Europe in an exclusive interview.

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Article • Radiology & artificial intelligence

How to integrate AI in the clinical workflow: 7 lessons

In radiology, it is not about if but about when artificial intelligence (AI) will be used, said Professor Dr Tim Leiner of Utrecht University Medical Center at this year’s European Congress of Radiology in Vienna. For all those who are new to AI, the Dutch radiologist gave an overview of the lessons he and his team have learnt so far.

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Article • Digitisation in the OR

Robotic duo pushes boundaries of microsurgery

One robot supports the surgeon’s control of tiny instruments, while another automatically keeps an eye on what is happening: With this novel combination, surgeons in Münster have successfully performed fully robot-assisted microsurgery for the first time. Presenting the new procedure at the Hornheide Specialist Clinic, the experts explain how the interaction of both robotic systems ensures…

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Article • Bioprinting

3D biocomposites can repair large bone defects

Loosening hip implants can cause major damage to the bone and a simple replacement won’t suffice to carry the load during movements. “To solve this problem we have to turn to innovative technologies such as bioprinting. Scaffolds are required that – while adapting slowly – offer long-term stability,” says Professor Dr Dieter Wirtz, Director of the Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma…

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Article • Tradefair trends and topics

Taiwan goes face-to-face at Medica 2021

Virtual insights, telehealth devices portable imaging solutions and innovative approaches to endoscopy - at this year's Medica, Taiwanese companies again showcased their latest products. Even with a slightly reduced attendance due to the pandemic, the exhibitors found ingenious ways to promote their merchandise and attract the attention of potential business partners.

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Sponsored • Coronavirus antigen detection

An innovative test for the early diagnosis of Covid-19

Compared to previous SARS and MERS, SARS-CoV-2 became a pandemic due to the high infectivity and different mode of contagion. SARS-CoV-2 spreads more because it is contagious also before symptoms, during incubation phase. No tests to date have been able to find the virus during the pre-symptomatic stage. Stark has developed a new, rapid, non-invasive method "Stark Portable Covid-19 Antigen…

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Article • Augmented reality in the OR

AR helps surgeons to see, feel and understand

X-ray vision, context-sensitive guidance, coordinator, training assistant and more: augmented reality (AR) has hit the OR. While still in its infancy AR does grow rapidly and has already shown enormous potential. University Professor Dr Rüdiger von Eisenhart-Rothe, Chair of Orthopaedics and Sports Orthopaedics at the Technical University Munich, explains the advantages of different AR…

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Sponsored • Smart textiles

Elitac Wearables – NeuroShirt

The NeuroShirt, developed from Elitac Wearables in collaboration with the University Medical Centre Utrecht (NL), is a patent-pending smart shirt that helps guide neurosurgeons during complicated skull-base surgeries. It connects to the neuronavigation system and continuously indicates both the distance and direction of critical structures through haptic feedback (vibrations). ‘This way,’ the…

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Article • Physicians forecast benefits for healthcare providers and patients

The impact of technology in 2030

How will digital technology impact healthcare in 2030? If challenges to acceptance and utilisation can be overcome, healthcare providers and patients will benefit significantly, according to physicians participating in a recent online seminar on this topic.

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News • Gender equality in clinical trials

Women in Covid-19 research: a good start, but...

There has been a "positive shift" in inclusive gender practices in Covid-19 vaccine research, but there is still room for improvement, experts say. Women have been equally recruited and represented in randomised control trial research about Covid-19 vaccine safety, efficacy and effectiveness, according to a new study by The George Institute for Global Health and The Australian National…

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News • Immune response study

Is a "natural" Covid-19 infection better than vaccination? It's complicated

Hope for a future without fear of Covid-19 comes down to circulating antibodies and memory B cells. Unlike circulating antibodies, which peak soon after vaccination or infection only to fade a few months later, memory B cells can stick around to prevent severe disease for decades. And they evolve over time, learning to produce successively more potent “memory antibodies” that are better at…

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News • Negative volume segmentation

Novel 3D image segmentation for literal ‘jaw-dropping’

Researchers at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) led by Professor Dylov and their colleagues from First Pavlov State Medical University of St. Petersburg, Russia, have developed a brand-new approach to the task of 3D image segmentation — figuring out the contours of the constituent parts in a complex structure. While their so-called negative volume segmentation…

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News • Ductal adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic cancer ‘priming’ may make chemotherapy more effective

A new approach to ‘prime’ the tumour environment may improve how effective chemotherapy is for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, one of the most aggressive forms of pancreatic cancer. In preclinical models, a team at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research could enhance the tumours’ response to chemotherapy by reducing the stiffness and density of the connective tissue known as the stroma,…

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News • After a heart attack

3D mapping of post-infarction scarring increases prognostic potential of cardiac MRI

A multidisciplinary team of scientists based at the Universidad de Valladolid and the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC) has developed a highly efficient method for identifying the 3-dimensional features of the scar tissue formed after a myocardial infarction. The study was carried out in partnership with scientists and clinicians at Hospital Clínico San Carlos, Hospital…

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News • Potential for pan-variant therapies

SARS-CoV-2 might have a 'sugar coated' weak spot

Researchers identify two sugar-binding proteins that impede the viral entry of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The team, spearheaded by researchers at IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – may have found the “Achilles’ heel” of the virus, with potential for pan-variant therapeutic interventions. The findings are now published in the EMBO…

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News • Coronavirus protein and antibody detection

Bioluminescence lights up traces of Covid-19 in the blood

Home test kits to check for Covid-19 spike proteins and anti-Covid-19 antibodies are fast and simple to use but lack the sensitivity and accuracy of laboratory tests. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology with Utrecht University have developed a new type of sensor that combines the sensitivity and accuracy of current laboratory-based measurements with the speed and low-cost of…

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Article • Fighting cancer together

New interdisciplinary approaches to intervention & immuno-oncology

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…

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News • Medication development platform

Smart biomarkers to find new drugs against brain diseases

Dr. Hayder Amin and Dr. Caghan Kizil from the DZNE’s Dresden site aim to speed up developing drugs against brain diseases through cutting-edge technology. To this end, they are generating an innovative technology platform, termed “i3D-Markers”, based on high-density microelectrode arrays and 3-dimensional networks of human neurons. Compounds to be tested will be dripped onto this setup, and…

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News • Unexpected find

Anti-tapeworm drug shows promise against Covid-19

Researchers from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the University of Bonn have examined the way in which SARS-CoV-2 reprograms the metabolism of the host cell in order to gain an overall advantage. According to their report in Nature Communications, the researchers were able to identify four substances which inhibit SARS-CoV-2…

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Article • Digital pathology

Today’s tissue for tomorrow’s research

Specialist biorepositories are helping advance personalised medicine by supporting the availability of human tissue for research using digital pathology techniques. The pivotal role of the Glasgow Tissue Research Facility (GTRF) in making tissue available to shape new therapies and treatments was outlined in a presentation to the online “Transforming Digital Pathology – Integrating AI to Move…

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Article • Imaging with benefits

Low-field MRI: good quality images, few artefacts and high patient comfort

Low-field MRI is the flavour of the season after several 1.5T models were launched. The major advantages of this technology are a relatively low purchasing price and operating costs and few artefacts while the image quality is comparable to a 1.5T scanner. Patient comfort is another benefit of low-field scanners. This advantage, however, tends to get short shrift despite the fact that it might…

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News • SARS-CoV-2 medication

Remdesivir: additional mechanism against Covid-19 discovered

When a cell is infected, SARS-CoV-2 not only causes the host cell to produce new virus particles. The virus also suppresses host cell defence mechanisms. The virus protein nsP3 plays a central role in this. Using structural analyses, researchers at Goethe University in cooperation with the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute have now discovered that a decomposition product of the virostatic agent…

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News • Vigorous ventilation

Covid-19: Why faster air exchange in buildings is not always beneficial

Vigorous and rapid air exchanges might not always be a good thing when it comes to addressing levels of coronavirus particles in a multiroom building, according to a new modeling study. The study suggests that, in a multiroom building, rapid air exchanges can spread the virus rapidly from the source room into other rooms at high concentrations. Particle levels spike in adjacent rooms within 30…

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News • Merging modalities

AI combines ECG and X-ray to diagnose arrhythmic disorders

Kobe University Hospital’s Dr. Makoto Nishimori and Project Assistant Professor Kunihiko Kiuchi et al. (of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine) have developed an AI that uses multiple kinds of test data to predict the location of surplus pathways in the heart called ‘accessory pathways’, which cause the heart to beat irregularly. In this study, the…

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News • M.O. of Darobactin unveiled

Novel antibiotic deceives bacteria through mimicry

An increasing number of bacterial pathogens are resistant to antibiotics. And the most dangerous pathogens share a common feature: a double membrane that is difficult to penetrate. Even when antibiotic agents are able to break into this shell, the bacteria just pump them right out again. But a recently discovered compound called Darobactin manages to circumvent these protective measures and kill…

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News • SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies

Covid-19 immunity may last from days to decades

Scientists from Singapore found that antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 wane at different rates, lasting for mere days in some individuals, while remaining present in others for decades. The study, published in The Lancet Microbe, shows that the severity of the infection could be a deciding factor in having longer-lasting antibodies. Individuals with low levels of neutralising antibodies may still be…

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News • Model analysis

Machine learning for Covid-19 diagnosis: promising, but still too flawed

Systematic review finds that machine learning models for detecting and diagnosing Covid-19 from medical images have major flaws and biases, making them unsuitable for use in patients. However, researchers have suggested ways to remedy the problem. Researchers have found that out of the more than 300 Covid-19 machine learning models described in scientific papers in 2020, none of them is suitable…

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News • Nueva sigla para crear más conciencia acerca de los ataques cerebrales

¿Sospecha de accidente cerebrovascular? actua 'RÁPIDO'

Los investigadores acaban de establecer un nuevo acrónimo en español con el objetivo de crear un mayor nivel de conciencia en la comunidad hispana acerca de los síntomas de los ataques cerebrales. Conocido como RÁPIDO, la intención de este nuevo acrónimo es replicar el equivalente popular que existe en inglés de FAST. En los estudios se ha mostrado que hoy en día los adultos hispanos…

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Sponsored • Agfa’s SmartXR

AI gives the digital radiography workflow a boost

In the move to evidence-based medicine, healthcare budgets put more pressure on efficiency, while quality of care has to meet ever increasing standards. Agfa has chosen to direct its development of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions towards helping radiology departments meet these challenges. Agfa’s SmartXR AI upgrades for its digital radiography portfolio focus on supporting operational…

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Article • ECR session on technology advances

AI and Big Data offer opportunities for radiographers

Advances offered by Big Data and Artificial Intelligence within the healthcare environment are opening up new opportunities for radiographers. Roles in systems development, and being part of the safeguarding aspect by ensuring machine-based bias does not take over patient management, may be performed by radiographers alongside other contributions as AI plays an increasing role in healthcare.…

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Article • The QuADRANT project

Clinical audits in radiology to promote high quality medical care

Clinical audit within radiology departments can help promote high quality medical care and improve patient experience, as well as provide educational and teaching opportunities. Aiming to see consistent delivery across Europe, clinical audit is currently under the initiative ‘Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Radiotherapy, and Nuclear medicine including Therapies’. The latest project…

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Oncology and imaging

EC approval for Siemens Healthineers/Varian merger

The European Commission (EC) has concluded its review of the planned merger between Siemens Healthineers AG and Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and approved the transaction subject to certain conditions. In accordance with its commitments, the company will continue to keep its imaging and oncology software solutions interoperable with third-party offerings in the future. This concerns the connection…

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Video • Wearable for blood pressure, heart rate, glucose and more

New patch monitors multiple markers at once

Engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft, stretchy skin patch that can be worn on the neck to continuously track blood pressure and heart rate while measuring the wearer’s levels of glucose as well as lactate, alcohol or caffeine. It is the first wearable device that monitors cardiovascular signals and multiple biochemical levels in the human body at the same…

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News • Lessons learned from Covid-19

A 'blueprint' for preventing the next pandemic

Scientific and public health experts have been raising the alarm for decades, imploring public officials to prepare for the inevitability of a viral pandemic. Infectious epidemics seemingly as benign as "the flu" and as deadly as the Ebola virus provided ample warning, yet government officials seemed caught off guard and ill prepared for dealing with Covid-19.

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News • Environmental connections

Has climate change driven the emergence of SARS-CoV-2?

Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favoured by bats. A new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the…

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News • Promising candidate

Single-dose nanoparticle vaccine for Covid-19 in development

Before the pandemic, the lab of Stanford University biochemist Peter S. Kim focused on developing vaccines for HIV, Ebola and pandemic influenza. But, within days of closing their campus lab space as part of Covid-19 precautions, they turned their attention to a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Although the coronavirus was outside the lab’s specific area of expertise,…

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Article • Preventing endoscope contamination

Ways to enhance hygiene in endoscopy

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…

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Sponsored • Eliminating the need for additional monitors

New displays for different diagnostic images

Displaying medical images from different modalities such as CT, CR/DR, MR, ultrasound or mammography and pathology on one monitor - that is what most radiologists want. Many of them still use several medical displays next to each other. JVCKenwood's new CL-S1200 30.9-inch colour monitor makes this a thing of the past. The 12 megapixel device (4,200 horizontal and 2,800 vertical) can display…

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News • Brain rejuvenation

Drug reverses age-related mental decline within days

Just a few doses of an experimental drug can reverse age-related declines in memory and mental flexibility in mice, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists. The drug, called ISRIB, has already been shown in laboratory studies to restore memory function months after traumatic brain injury (TBI), reverse cognitive impairments in Down Syndrome, prevent noise-related hearing loss,…

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Article • A technique evolves

Cardiac CT: a diagnostic jack-of-all-trades

According to Professor Fabian Bamberg, Medical Director at the Clinic for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Freiburg, Germany, ‘In recent years, cardiac CT has seen a mindboggling technological evolution.’ It is, he believes, a very robust procedure that allows the routine acquisition of high-resolution images with very few side effects.

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Article • Pandemic management

How the Covid-19 crisis defines good leadership

A senior UK health figure has highlighted how contrasting leadership approaches are impacting the response to the global coronavirus crisis. Dr Clare Gerada also fears that response is affecting health professionals and leaders within the sector, with a significant rise numbers seeking help for mental health issues. Delivering the prestigious Sir Godfrey Hounsfield Lecture to the 2020 British…

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News • Downsizing imaging

Siemens launches its smallest and most lightweight whole-body MRI

With its Magnetom Free.Max, Siemens Healthineers is presenting a new class of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems that the company calls “High-V MRI.” The scanner’s unique combination of digital technologies and the new field strength of 0.55 tesla broadens the range of clinical applications for MRI systems. Magnetom Free.Max considerably improves pulmonary imaging with MRI and allows…

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Article • Profiling the coronavirus

Experts unlock Covid-19 secrets

Experts have identified two distinct immunological and cellular profiles in the lungs of Covid-19 patients which they believe could help define treatment pathways. From some of the earliest Covid-19 autopsies conducted in Europe, Swiss-based researchers have performed integrative digital pathology and transcriptomic analyses of lung tissues of 16 coronavirus patients who died from respiratory…

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Sponsored • Specialist centre chain

HartKliniek – cardiology with a Dutch twist

Cardiology tends to be surrounded by a maze of regulations, responsibilities and red tape. Leave it to the traditionally mercantile Dutch to streamline things. Case in point: HartKliniek, a chain of medical specialist diagnosis and treatment centres in the Netherlands which aim to transform cardiology to a more effective model – less personnel, more time for patients. We spoke with Menno and…

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News • False positive results

Accuracy of rapid covid test may be lower than previously suggested

The accuracy of a rapid finger-prick antibody test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for covid-19 infection, may be considerably lower than previously suggested, finds a study published by The BMJ. The results suggest that if 10% of people given the test had previously been infected, around 1 in 5 positive test results would be incorrect (false positive results). These conclusions contrast…

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News • Using virus particles in exhaled breath

New SARS-CoV-2 test to deliver results in under 5 minutes

Research and innovation hub Imec announced that it has started developing a groundbreaking SARS-CoV-2 test. Unlike current approaches (using blood, saliva, or a nasopharyngeal swab), the new test will identify SARS-CoV-2 virus particles in a person’s exhaled breath. The solution promises the accurate identification of a contagious case in less than five minutes.

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News • COVID immunity research

Coronavirus re-infection: what we know so far – and the vital missing clues

As President Trump claims that he is immune to COVID-19 and isolated reports emerge of reinfection, what is the truth about immunity to COVID-19? To date, there have been six published cases of COVID-19 reinfection, with various other unverified accounts from around the world. Although this is a comparably small fraction of the millions of people known to have been infected, should we be…

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Sponsored • Keeping up with Progress:

Robotic Evolution Meets Innovative Life Cycle Management

While the debate on the added value of robotics and robot-assisted systems has been in full swing for a while now, the demand for robotic surgery throughout Europe’s medical institutions continues to grow exponentially, particularly in specialties like visceral surgery and orthopaedics. But what exactly are the benefits and downsides involved with the use of surgical robots?

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News • Fending off the coronavirus

The role of T-cells in SARS-CoV-2 virus defense

Our immune system can efficiently fend off viral diseases. Two types of immune cells play an important role in this process: The T-cells, which firstly can directly destroy virus-infected cells and secondly enable the formation of efficient, virus-neutralizing antibodies by B-cells. These two cell types also play a crucial role in the immune defense against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Whereas antibody…

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Video • Intelligent surgical unit

Advancing robotic surgery with machine vision capabilities

TransEnterix, Inc., a medical device company that is digitizing the interface between the surgeon and the patient to improve minimally invasive surgery, announced that Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center, a hospital in New Jersey, successfully completed its first surgical procedures using the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU).

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Article • Antimicrobial Resistance Action Fund

AMR research gains $1 billion funding

A unique, ground-breaking global campaign, which has seen major pharmaceutical companies unite to fight antibiotic resistant infections, has been launched with a one-billion-dollar investment fund. The Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Action Fund aims to help save the collapsing antibiotic pipeline and make 2-4 new antibiotics available within a decade.

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Article • Tissue analysis

Infrared spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool

New techniques of infrared-based technology are showing strong potential for cost-effective tissue analysis. Peter Gardner, Professor of Analytical and Biomedical Spectroscopy at the University of Manchester, outlined how hyperspectral imaging coupled with sophisticated computer algorithms can identify and grade cancerous tissue, as well as offer an indication of prognosis. The technique, he…

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Article • Cardiac device

The pioneering mini-pacemaker

A pioneering new generation of wireless mini-pacemaker is set to benefit many more patients than before. Following a successful first-in-Europe implantation procedure at the University Hospitals of Leuven, the advance has been described as ‘the beginning of a new paradigm of cardiac pacing’ with the development of the next-generation mini-pacemaker regarded as a major step forward in this…

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Sponsored • Distant experts observe adverse signs

Remote cardiac monitoring

For cardiology patients fitted with an implantable cardiac monitor, cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, home monitoring is a blessing. The system also has many advantages for medical staff, as Kristina Rauholt reports. The nurse and Certified Cardiac Device Specialist for Allied Professionals (CCDS) at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Sweden, has worked with home monitoring…

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News • Muscle dystrophy

Duchenne: "Crosstalk" between muscle and spleen

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is the most common muscle disease in children and is passed on by X-linked recessive inheritance. Characteristic is a progressive muscular atrophy. The disease often results in death before the third decade of life. Researchers of the Universities of Maynooth (Ireland) and Bonn have found a connection between dystrophic muscles and the lymphatic system in mice…

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News • Aerosol recommendations

How humidity affects indoor spread of SARS-CoV-2

The airborne transmission of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 via aerosol particles in indoor environment seems to be strongly influenced by relative humidity. This is the conclusion drawn by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) in Leipzig and the CSIR National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi from the analysis of 10 most relevant international studies on the…

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News • Critical care

COVID-19: High mortality in hospital patients

Approximately one fifth of COVID-19 patients admitted to German hospitals between the end of February and mid-April died. For patients receiving ventilation, the mortality rate was 53%. For those not receiving ventilation, the rate was significantly lower at 16%. 17% of all patients were ventilated during this period. These are the main results of an analysis by WIdO, the research institute of…

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Article • The difficulty? Unpredictability in the entire process

Immunotherapy for lung cancer patients

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.

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News • Angiology

Introducing a thinner, stronger, more flexible iliac stent

Medical device company Biotronik is proud to announce the availability of its next-generation balloon-expandable cobalt chromium iliac stent system, Dynetic-35. When compared to leading competitors, the new peripheral stent has up to 14 times greater flexibility and up to 23% higher radial strength. It is indicated for the treatment of de novo or restenotic atherosclerotic lesions in the iliac…

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Article • Digital pathology

VIPR: Deep learning for small cohorts

To investigate rare diseases, applying image-based analytics approaches, including the use of deep learning convolutional neural networks (DL-CNNs), can be a major challenge due to great difficulties in acquiring sufficient numbers of cases and associated digital image sets from the small cohorts typically available. To realise algorithms that are both effective and generalisable, conventional…

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News • Blocking coronavirus entry portals

Cell ‘membrane on a chip’ could speed up COVID-19 drug screening

Researchers have developed a human cell ‘membrane on a chip’ that allows continuous monitoring of how drugs and infectious agents interact with our cells, and may soon be used to test potential drug candidates for COVID-19. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, Cornell University and Stanford University, say their device could mimic any cell type - bacterial, human or even the…

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News • Clinical and healthcare information systems

Andrea Fiumicelli is new CEO of Dedalus Group

Dedalus Group, leader in Europe and one of the world’s leading players in clinical and healthcare information systems supporting clinical professionals and healthcare facilities has appointed Andrea Fiumicelli as CEO of the Group. The manager returns to Italy after several years spent abroad as top manager of large international companies operating in the ICT (Information & Communication…

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News • Protective equipment

Face masks could shrink the 'R' number and prevent a second COVID-19 wave

Population-wide use of facemasks keeps the coronavirus ‘reproduction number’ under 1.0, and prevents further waves of the virus when combined with lockdowns, a modelling study led by the University of Cambridge suggests. The research suggests that lockdowns alone will not stop the resurgence of SARS-CoV-2, and that even homemade masks with limited effectiveness can dramatically reduce…

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News • Frac­tures of the hu­meral shaft

Surgical patients recover faster

A finnish study compared functional bracing, the non-operative treatment of humeral shaft fractures, with surgical treatment of similar fractures in adult patients. In the study, patient recovery was monitored for a year.

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News • What radiologists need to know

How lung disorders like COVID-19 affect children

Although the clinical symptoms of new pediatric lung disorders such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), swine-origin influenza A (H1N1), Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI), and coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia may be nonspecific, some characteristic imaging findings "have emerged or are currently…

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News • Molecular electronics

Biosensor chips for infection surveillance and more

Roswell Biotechnologies, Inc., a manufacturer of molecular electronics sensor chips, and imec, a research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, announced a partnership to develop the first commercially available molecular electronics biosensor chips. These chips are the brains behind Roswell Technologies' new platform for DNA sequencing, to support precision medicine,…

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Article • Infection control in hospitals

Nosocomial influenza: The enormous effect of mask wearing

The Coronavirus dominates everyday conversation as well as medical and scientific discussions, but in a Leipzig hygiene congress, other topics – such as nosocomial influenza – took a strong position. Dr Andreas Ambrosch, head of the Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Microbiology and Hospital Hygiene at the Brothers of Mercy Hospital in Regensburg, Germany, presented a new study on the spread…

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Video • Coronavirus structured reporting

Radiology and COVID-19: How to establish safe workflows

Radiology experts from Norway and Germany highlighted the role of structured reporting in communicating clear results to the rest of the team, to improve patient and staff safety during the pandemic. They also related Germany’s experience of the crisis and what lies ahead in an online conference organized by the European Society of Radiology (ESR) last week.

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News • Existing solutions to a new problem

COVID-19 vaccine candidate could cover global demand

Any new coronavirus vaccine that works well and is safe will still have the daunting challenge of needing to be produced to scale in a very short amount of time. It will also have to be safely delivered into the hands of the most remote populations. The more complex and untested the vaccine approach, the more difficult it will be to both scale its production and deliver it around the world. By…

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Interview • Chest X-ray, CT and more

Imaging the coronavirus disease COVID-19

Chest X-ray is the first imaging method to diagnose COVID-19 coronavirus infection in Spain, but in the light of new evidence this may change soon, according to Milagros Martí de Gracia, Vice President of the Spanish Society of Radiology (SERAM) and head of the emergency radiology unit at La Paz Hospital in Madrid, one of the hot spots for viral re-production of COVID-19.

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News • COVID-19 update

WHO labels coronavirus disease as a pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially categorized the current outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as a pandemic. Speaking at the COVID-19 media briefing, the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom said: "WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels…

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Article • Integrated diagnostics

Radiologists, pathologists and geneticists gather around a digital table

Radiology, pathology, medical genetics and laboratory medicine under one roof: many hospitals are toying with the idea of ‘integrated diagnostics’ but it was the medical management at Geneva’s University Hospital that dared to take the first step and consolidate all these diagnostic disciplines in a single organisational unit: The Diagnostic Department. ‘Our long-term vision is a…

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News • RT-PCR for COVID-19

First of 3 diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus available

Biotechnology company bioMérieux, a world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics, is announcing the forthcoming launch of 3 different tests to address the COVID-19 epidemic and to meet the different needs of physicians and health authorities in the fight against this emerging infectious disease. bioMérieux has finalized the development of the SARS-CoV-2 R-Gene test. This real-time PCR test…

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News • Machine learning in intensive care

AI can predict circulatory failure in ICU

Researchers at ETH Zurich and Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, have developed a method for predicting circulatory failure in patients in intensive care units (ICU) – enabling clinicians to intervene at an early stage. Their approach uses machine learning methods to evaluate an extensive body of patient data. Patients in a hospital’s ICU are kept under close observation: clinicians…

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News • Automated helper

Robot uses AI and imaging to draw blood

Engineers at Rutgers University have created a tabletop device that combines a robot, artificial intelligence and near-infrared and ultrasound imaging to draw blood or insert catheters to deliver fluids and drugs. Their most recent research results, published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence, suggest that autonomous systems like the image-guided robotic device could outperform people on…

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News • Intestinal distress

Celiac disease: 'Reprogramming' the immune system to tolerate gluten

Celiac disease affects 0.3-2.4% of people in most countries world-wide, and approx. 2% in Finland. Celiac patients suffer from a variety of symptoms, typically intestinal complaints, such as diarrhea, but are often symptom-free. Immunologist Tobias Freitag co-developed and tested nanoparticles containing gliadin for the immunomodulatory treatment of celiac disease in Professor Seppo Meri’s…

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News • SARS-like virus from China

What we know about the new corona virus

Nine people have died and more than 400 have been sickened by the new corona virus spreading in China. A few cases have been confirmed in Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, Japan and the U.S., and on Wednesday, the World Health Organization is holding an emergency meeting on the outbreak. How worried about a new pandemic should we be? Virus researcher Ali Mirazimi, adjunct professor at the Department…

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Article • The future has begun

Cancer care 2035: multi-disciplinarity is key

An enthralling insight into the care that could be offered to cancer patients of the future was presented by cancer imaging expert Professor Regina Beets-Tan during her a keynote presentation at the recent British Institute of Radiology congress. In the session ‘Oncologic imaging: Future perspectives’, the professor outlined what a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) of the future – a team in…

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News • Personalized diagnostics

AI checks effectiveness of immunotherapy

Scientists from the Case Western Reserve University digital imaging lab use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict which lung-cancer patients will benefit from expensive immunotherapy. This is done by teaching a computer to find previously unseen changes in patterns in CT scans taken when the lung cancer is first diagnosed compared to scans taken after the first 2-3 cycles of immunotherapy…

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News • Start-up Park at Medica 2019

Young and digitally driven inventors

More dynamic, more digital, and more networked – the medical industry is striding into the future. Thus, it’s wise to keep a finger on the pulse, be informed and deepen communications with specialists. At Medica, the presence of start-ups has grown annually, largely due to the special attention they receive. This year, 36 out of several hundred of these mostly young and digitally-driven firms…

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Sponsored • A country encouraging intelligent medical innovations

Taiwan innovators shine at Medica

Health tech Made in Taiwan is among the mainstays of every MEDICA; this year’s fair is no exception. In co-operation with the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economics and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), 20 world-class healthcare companies are demonstrating innovative medical solutions based on national advances in Artificial Intelligence…

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Article • Laboratory economics

Lab services: Don’t cut the cost!

In recent years, whenever the German media reported on laboratory medicine, questions consistently arose: ‘How can excessive costs for lab services be cut?’ and ‘How could money saved be distributed among other medical specialists and general medicine practitioners (GPs)?’ The questions are myopic in their failure to address two important aspects of laboratory medicine – its…

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Article • Structural adjustments

More competition among health insurers or among hospitals?

Temperatures rose significantly when a press release arrived at the Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s competition authority. ‘Does the Bundeskartell­amt obstruct useful structural adjustments in the hospital sector?’ the release asked. Issued by the organisers of the European Health Congress, it claimed that the authority had blocked 40 hospital mergers. In view of a recent study by the…

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News • CRISPR 2.0

Is 'prime editing' the next step in gene editing?

A team from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has developed a new CRISPR genome-editing approach by combining two of the most important proteins in molecular biology – CRISPR-Cas9 and a reverse transcriptase – into a single machine. The system, called “prime editing,” is capable of directly editing human cells in a precise, efficient, and highly versatile fashion. The approach…

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Article • UK tests high-speed remote medical diagnosis

Ultrasound scanning via a 5G network

To demonstrate advances in 5G connectivity for healthcare, a UK team has linked a paramedic in a simulated ambulance to a hospital-based clinician. The paramedic wore a robotic or ‘haptic’ glove, which received signals over the live 5G network. Using a joystick, the clinician remotely directed the paramedic to move the ultrasound sensor to where on the patient the clinician wanted to scan.…

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Article • Artificial intelligence

Superlative future assistance

As a member of the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) planning committee Professor Elmar Kotter suffered no serious challenge in pinpointing subject matter for the IT sessions. More than 300 submissions were received on artificial intelligence (AI). From the presentations, Kotter, Professor of Radiology and Senior Consultant at the Clinic for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, at the…

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News • New ideas

MEDICA becomes number one trade fair for health start-ups

Healthcare is going digital worldwide at an incredibly rapid pace. More and more applications for prevention, diagnostics and therapy are being made into apps (with matching hardware) for smartphones and tablets or are even available as wearables for direct use on the body. Digitalisation is also striding forward in Germany, where doctors, therapists and patients still take a fairly analogue…

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Article • Cancer of unknown primary

CUP: in search for the smoking gun

Cancer of unknown primary (CUP) can send radiologists on a frustrating scavenger hunt: metastases were detected but the primary cancer is nowhere to be seen. Professor Alwin Krämer, Head of the Clinical Cooperation Unit Molecular Haematology/Oncology at University Hospital Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center, explains strategies for dealing with CUP.

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News • Hypothyroidism

Underactive thyroid: Study validates treatment guidelines

A study led by the University of Birmingham provides strong support for current recommendations on treating patients with an underactive thyroid and validates latest UK and US guidelines, say researchers. The retrospective cohort study, published in The BMJ, analysed anonymous GP records of over 162,000 patients who have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism – a highly prevalent condition more…

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News • t-MALDI-2

Dual-beam laser mass spectrometry gives unique insights

Cells are the basic building blocks of life – and, as such, they have been the object of intense study since the invention of the optical microscope in the 17th century. The development of mass spectrometry (MS) methods – those which define the chemical composition of cells – represented a further milestone for research in the field of cell biology. In the latest issue of the journal Nature…

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News • Contrast agent in cola drinks

Gadolinium found in fast food restaurants

A research group detected the MRI contrast agent gadolinium in tap water and in cola soft drinks bought in restaurants of well-known fast-food franchises in cities across Germany. Gadolinium appears not to impose any health risk at the low concentrations observed. However, it is an indicator of the potential presence of other waste water-derived, possibly toxic xenobiotics.

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News • Interventional radiology

Safe, cheap embolisation for emerging countries

Vincent Vidal (Marseille, France) and colleagues have demonstrated the in vivo feasibility of arterial embolization with permanent and absorbable suture fragments, leading them to propose what they have termed the “FAIR-Embo” concept to the wider interventional radiology (IR) community. Writing in Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology (CVIR), they conclude: “Embolization by absorbable…

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Article • Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The lab-on-a-chip SERS platform

Analytically sensitive and specific detection of pharmaceuticals or metabolites in bodily fluids, as well as fast and reliable detection of human pathogens, are major challenges for instrument-based analytics in medical diagnostics. Over the past few years the combination of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and microfluidic devices (Lab-on-a-Chip) has emerged as a perfectly suited…

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Article • Females to the top

Go girl, go! Achieving gender equality in healthcare upper management

France has 32 hospital groups – two regional hospital groups (CRH) and 30 CHUs. Ranked among the 10 best hospitals in France, The Rennes University Hospital (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire [CHU] de Rennes) employs 7,700 people (the second largest employer in the region) and processes almost 1,500 hospitalisations every day. Untypically, since 2015 the general director has been female:…

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Article • MERS-CoV

Seeking answers to combat Middle East respiratory syndrome

With a case fatality rate of 35 percent, a Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus (MERS-CoV) infection – also called camel flu – is a dangerous disease. About seven years ago, when the virus was first isolated, mortality was close to 100 percent since only severe infections that led to the patient being in intensive care were recorded. Today the environment of each victim is…

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News • Psychiatry

Leonardo da Vinci: pure genius or ADHD?

Professor Marco Catani suggests the best explanation for Leonardo da Vinci's inability to finish his works is that the great artist may have had Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder. Leonardo da Vinci produced some of the world’s most iconic art, but historical accounts of his work practices and behaviour show that he struggled to complete projects. Drawing on these accounts, Professor…

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Sponsored • Spectrophotometry

1 measurement, 1000 different results

Of course every lab needs a spectrophotometer to measure its DNA, RNA or protein concentrations. In most cases, this is a small and easy-to-use instrument. Normally you pipette approximately 1 µl of your liquid onto a pedestal, close the lid to cover your drop of liquid and, after pressing the measuring button, you will know the concentration of your sample. Since the procedure is so simple and…

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Article • Mass spectrometry in patient care

LC-MS/MS: Why qualitatively high-value analysis is cheaper in the end

In the past, we repeatedly focused our attention on developments in the clinical application of mass spectrometry-based methods in patient care. Various aspects became significant. Today, the use of Liquid Chromatography Triple Quad Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) can be considered today’s standard, although classically applied immunoassays continue to be…

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Article • Digital pathology & AI

Unleashing the power of digital pathology for precision medicine

Digital pathology, combined with the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI), is one of the most promising fields for the delivery of precision medicine. In the first keynote address for the 5th Digital Pathology & AI Congress (Europe) held in London last December, Professor of Pathology, Marilyn Bui, focused on how digital pathology is impacting on precision medicine. During her address,…

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News • New hematologic biomarker

FDA clearance for early sepsis indicator

A major milestone on its strategic mission to lead in sepsis diagnostics, Beckman Coulter announced that its Early Sepsis Indicator has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Sepsis is a global healthcare crisis that affects more than 30 million people worldwide. The Early Sepsis Indicator is a first-of-its-kind, hematology-based cellular biomarker that is…

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Article • Differentiate and select

Myths and truths about antibiotics, antiseptics and vaccination

Sixty-two percent of Germans fear antibiotic resistance, according to a survey recently conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment. ‘Patients colonised by multi-resistant pathogens are particularly scared. But many of these fears are rooted in misunderstandings,’ explained Professor Mathias Pletz at the Congress for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine (KIT).

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Article • Blood transfusions

Donor organs become immunologically invisible

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…

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Sponsored • New staining technology

Staining is an art – ColorAX2 will become your favourite artist

ColorAX2 with its new staining technology offers you low staining reagents consumption. The compact, lightweight and autonomous system features 10 independent staining chambers and allows easy and clean procedures. The unique technology of ColorAX2 prevents cross-contamination and significantly reduces the consumption of reagents and waste. Besides it helps you reduce your operation costs. The…

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Article • Carbapenemase producing enterobacteriaceae

Detecting drug-resistant CPE quickly is still a challenge

Early detection and confirmation of carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae (CPE) are essential when choosing the appropriate antimicrobial therapy and to implement infection control measures. Here, a leading Spanish microbiologist reviews an arsenal of tools currently available to clinicians. Resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics in enterobacteriaceae (EBc) is due to one or more of these…

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Article • Infection control

Knowledge is one thing - implementation another

Insufficient knowledge of infection control, resulting in insufficient compliance, increases the risk of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and multiresistant pathogens that put patients at risk. At the 2019 Annual General Meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology e.V. (DGHM) in Göttingen, Professor Frauke Mattner, Senior Consultant at the Institute of Hygiene, Kliniken der…

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News • Microbiome

Examining the "forgotten organ"

Shahid Umar, PhD, researcher with The University of Kansas Cancer Center, has dedicated two decades of his scientific exploration to better grasp the connection between colon cancer and the human microbiome. Called the “forgotten organ,” the microbiome comprises trillions and trillions of microbes, including bacteria, fungi and viruses, in our body.

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Article • Fusion of CT and ultrasound

Merging the benefits of two imaging worlds

Radiologist Alexis Kelekis, Associate Professor of Interventional and Musculoskeletal Radiology at Attikon University Hospital, Athens, speaks about his work and developments in merging scans and techniques to gain greater accuracy in diagnosis and planning. The benefits of fusion imaging are widely acknowledged. Favoured in clinical practice by radiologist Alexis Kelekis, he explained: ‘The…

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Interview • Algorithms in radiology

AI in diagnostics: Smart scans are the future

AI algorithms are making their way not just into diagnostic workstations, but will also in future be found in the diagnostic methods themselves. Prof. Mathias Goyen, Chief Medical Officer Europe at GE Healthcare, discusses AI algorithms in radiology. "According to a study by the consultancy firm Accenture, the estimated annual market volume for AI applications in healthcare in the USA will…

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Article • Disruptive technologies

No way to stop the waves of change, but radiologists can learn to surf

Technological change is a major part of change management in radiology and it is inevitable. Artificial intelligence (AI) has slipped into every area of life including the hospital, and is already making decisions in radiology systems. The good news is that radiologists could win on two fronts, provided they play their cards well, a leading USA radiologist told delegates at a recent congress in…

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Interview • POC ultrasound

Touchscreen and exam pre-set assets

During our interview with Professor Felice Eugenio Agrò, Professor, Director and Chairman of the Postgraduate School in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care at the University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, he spoke of the use of Mindray’s TE7 ultrasound system, which provides a touchscreen and focused exam pre-sets. ‘Anaesthesiologists are seeking safe and accurate methods during procedures. Many…

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Article • Advancing radiology

Giving MRI a boost – and a brain

In his talk at the Garmisch Symposium­, entitled “MRI in 5 minutes – Dream or Reality?” Dr. Daniel Sodickson of the New York University School of Medicine will give attendees a preview of the MR scanners of the future, which he likens to self-­driving cars. Sodickson — a professor and vice chair for research in the department of radiology at NYU, a principal investigator at the Center…

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Article • Evolving technique

Flow cytometry rises to new challenges

Flow cytometry has proved an invaluable diagnostic tool for leukaemia and lymphoma for almost three decades. Now, however, this is evolving in applications to seek out residual disease in cases and in fusion with molecular testing to advance its diagnostic potential. However, although recognised as fast, flexible and accurate, flow cytometry suffers from a lack of standardisation, according to…

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Article • Digitising care

Every nurse is an e-nurse

Following a report from software firm Nuance Communications that suggests technology firms should consider shadowing nurses to fully understand their workflows and inform the creation of solutions that work for them, nurses’ views on technology and data are to be consulted in a new Royal College of Nursing initiative alongside NHS Digital’s chief nurse Anne Cooper.

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Article • Surgical interventions

Technology and team spirit to ensure future talent

The number of surgical interventions in Germany over the last ten years has increased by around 30%, but it would be wrong to talk of a heyday – mainly due to a lack of young talent, says Prof. Dr. Jörg Fuchs. The president of the German Society of Surgery (DGCH) and director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Paediatric Surgery and Paediatric Urology at Tübingen University Hospital talks about…

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News • BIA-ALCL

Breast implant cancer risks: are women aware?

Breast surgeons across the UK must ensure women are aware of BIA-ALCL, a non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that is associated with implants; and more responsibility must be taken to diagnose and report cases, surgeons attending the 2018 London Breast Meeting have warned. Hundreds of breast specialists from around the world met at the Royal College of Physicians for the four-day conference this autumn,…

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News • Pilot project

Could AI 'Audrey' be the future first response assistant?

Imagine a first responder answering the call to a natural disaster, a house fire, or an active shooter incident where there may be multiple injuries and unknown casualties. The information the responder needs to fulfill the mission is immeasurable. When you also consider the volume of data they receive from other responders, dispatch, command centers, victims, and onlookers while receiving and…

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News • Reinforced learning

AI masters tightrope walk of cancer treatment dosage

Using a new approach called 'reinforced learning', researchers have taught an artificial intelligence (AI) to responsibly choose the right amount of chemo- and radiotherapy for glioblastoma patients. The technique, which is insprired by behavioural psychology, has given the AI the ability to master the tightrope walk between effective tumor shrinkage and the medications' severe side effects.

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Article • Patient blood management

Blood transfusions: Patient groups should be precisely defined

Although blood transfusion today is a well-established and safe procedure, the medical science community has not yet arrived at a consensus regarding appropriate patient blood management (PBM) methods. ‘Many PBM approaches have not yet been scientifically validated; consequently over- as well as under-transfusion might be associated with adverse events and complications for the patient,’…

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Article • Post-hypothesis analysis

The mechanics of radiomics

Confirming or infirming hypotheses has long driven scientific research; however, this traditional and costly approach is giving way to data-driven initiatives, according to Prof. Laure Fournier, a leading radiologist at Georges Pompidou European Hospital in Paris. “Usually we formulate the hypothesis first, then take an image and analyze it. We like that in France, it comes from Descartes. The…

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News • AI & Deep Learning

How to escape from data silos

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning are poised to transform healthcare, potentially freeing practitioners across many disciplines from routine tasks and saving lives through efficient early detection. Offering insight into the health of both individuals and populations, these ’deep learning‘ algorithms have the potential to process vast amounts of data and identify warning…

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News • Gas embolotherapy

Blowing bubbles for cancer treatment

Recently, scientists have explored another version of embolization, called gas embolotherapy. During this process, the blood supply is cut off using acoustic droplet vaporization (ADV), which uses microscopic gas bubbles induced by exposure to ultrasonic waves. A team of researchers from China and France has discovered that these bubbles could also be used as potential drug delivery systems.

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News • Talent, magic, or a bit of both?

The science behind Michael Jackson’s dance moves

When was the last time you watched a Michael Jackson music video? If your answer is “never” or “not for quite a while,” you are really missing a treat. According to Rolling Stone, “No single artist … shaped, innovated or defined the medium of ‘music video’ more than Michael Jackson.” Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, MTV had only one format—music videos—and that genre…

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News • Cross-species concerns

Could a new pig virus be a potential threat to humans?

A recently identified pig virus can readily find its way into laboratory-cultured cells of people and other species, a discovery that raises concerns about the potential for outbreaks that threaten human and animal health. Researchers at The Ohio State University and Utrecht University in the Netherlands collaborated to better understand the new virus and its potential reach. Their study, the…

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News • ECCMID

Antibiotic combination against multidrug-resistant pathogens

Gram-negative pathogens are responsible for half of all healthcare-associated infections and their ability to resist traditional antibiotics makes them more dangerous for seriously ill patients in a healthcare setting. The need for new approaches to treat these pathogens is essential and there are a number of trials trying to find suitable answers. One of them is the RESTORE-IMI 1 pivotal Phase…

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Article • Hygiene and microbiology meeting

No all clear for nosocomial infections

Experts at the 70th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology, held in Bochum, exchanged information on newly discovered resistances. ‘Specifically, resistance against a class of antibiotics that has, so far, always been viewed as a reserve appears to be developing more intensively than previously assumed,’ explained Professor Sören Gatermann, congress president and…

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News • Working together

New Birmingham hospital Trust formed by merger

Plans to bring together University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust - which runs the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham - and Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull hospitals, have been given the green light from the trusts’ respective Boards of Directors, with the decision cleared by both Councils of Governors. The enlarged…

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Article • Regulation

Implementing MDR is complex and expensive and holds little reality

By 2020 medical devices manufacturers must document the clinical effectiveness of their devices more extensively. The Medical Device Regulation (MDR) presents a fundamental impact on innovation and price calculation for medical devices. Since the faulty PIP breast implants scandal in France (March 2010), there have been frequent calls for tighter licensing regulations for medical devices within…

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Article • Tomosynthesis

Catching more invasive cancers earlier

What beats digital mammography to detect breast cancer in asymptomatic women? Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) – was a big discussion at RSNA 2017. Sarah M Friedewald MD, medical director of the Lynn Sage Comprehensive Breast Center of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and its division chief of breast and women’s imaging, discussed the clinical implications of DBT for routine…

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Article • An era of turbulence and innovation

The birth and rebirth of imaging

The New Horizons Lecture at the RSNA annual meeting is a keynote address that looks to the future, and the inventor of a major innovation in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, Daniel K Sodickson MD PhD, did just that. His lecture entitled ‘A New Light: The Birth and Rebirth of Imaging’ looked back at how MRI has evolved and forward at what it will become.

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Article • Therapy monitoring

Liquid biopsy versus radiomics – the race is on

The development of new procedures to monitor cancer treatments is gathering momentum. One such innovation is liquid biopsy. This new lab technique allows non-invasive identification, characterisation and monitoring of circulating tumour DNA. Thus, liquid biopsy can potentially revolutionise oncological diagnostics – and put a spoke in the wheel of radiology. High time to act, says Professor Dr…

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News • Beyond PSA monitoring

New prostate cancer risk model could better guide treatment

One of the biggest challenges in treating prostate cancer is distinguishing men who have aggressive and potentially lethal disease from men whose cancer is slow-growing and unlikely to metastasize. For years, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, cancer grade and tumor stage have been used to sort prostate cancer patients into risk groups established by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network.…

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News • Mitosis' structure

Understanding the inside of cancer cells

Cell division is an intricately choreographed ballet of proteins and molecules that divide the cell. During mitosis, microtubule-organizing centers (MTOCs) assemble the spindle fibers that separate the copying chromosomes of DNA. While scientists are familiar with MTOCs’ existence and the role they play in cell division, their actual physical structure remains poorly understood. Shruthi…

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News • Practico

Merivaara introduces versatile operating table

Merivaara has unveiled one of the world’s most versatile operating tables for elective procedures. The new, smarter Practico was designed to improve ergonomics with the industry’s widest range of posture possibilities. “Customers have been asking for a table like this for years,” says Jyrki Nieminen, Merivaara’s R&D director. “It has been in development for two years and we have…

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News • Less is not always more

Nurse numbers strongly linked to patient confidence in hospital care

Patients’ unfavourable views of hospital care in England are strongly linked to insufficient numbers of nurses on duty, rather than uncaring staff, indicates observational research published in the online journal BMJ Open. Increasing the registered nurse headcount may boost satisfaction with the quality of care, conclude the researchers, who base their findings on national survey data from…

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News • Milestone

Researcher grow hairy skin in a dish

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have successfully developed a method to grow hairy skin from mouse pluripotent stem cells - a discovery that could lead to new approaches to model disease and new therapies for the treatment of skin disorders and cancers.

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News • Macrophages

How immune cells help early breast cancer spread

Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that normal immune cells called macrophages, which reside in healthy breast tissue surrounding milk ducts, play a major role in helping early breast cancer cells leave the breast for other parts of the body, potentially creating metastasis before a tumor has even developed, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The macrophages play a role…

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News • Genome editing

CRISPR treatment may prevent hearing loss

Using molecular scissors wrapped in a greasy delivery package, researchers have disrupted a gene variant that leads to deafness in mice. A single treatment involving injection of a genome editing cocktail prevented progressive hearing loss in young animals that would have otherwise gone deaf, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator David Liu and colleagues report in the journal…

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News • Trade fair

Strong nordic presence at Arab Health 2018

Danish, Finnish and Swedish organisations join forces to facilitate business partnering and networking at Arab Health 2018. At the event, 75 Nordic companies bring innovative life science solutions aiming to add sustainable value to the Middle East healthcare sectors and to build lasting relations between the Nordic participants and local stakeholders. Business Finland, Business Sweden, Danish…

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Article • Infection - defect - regeneration

Challenges in septic bone surgery

Infections associated with osteosynthesis and prostheses are not to be underestimated: the infection rate is reported to be one to three percent after joint prosthetic surgery and five to 10 percent after osteosyntheses. ‘When you include later infections, the rate is twice as high,’ says Professor Andrej Trampuz, infectologist and Head of the Centre for Septic Surgery at the Centre of…

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News • More than the sum of its parts?

Combination strategy could hold promise for ovarian cancer

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers demonstrated that mice with ovarian cancer that received drugs to reactivate dormant genes along with other drugs that activate the immune system had a greater reduction of tumor burden and significantly longer survival than those that received any of the drugs alone. The study already spurred a clinical trial in ovarian cancer patients. The…

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Article • Combined techniques

Raising the bar higher in CRC imaging

Combining molecular information and high contrast resolution may well improve current performance in colorectal cancer (CRC) cases, according to Vicky Goh, who presented the latest results on PET/MRI during the last European Society of Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting in Madrid PET/MRI brings the best of both modalities together: high contrast to noise and high spatial resolution combined with…

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News • Study

Secrets of Ebola uncovered - in the heart of a devastating outbreak

In a comprehensive and complex molecular study of blood samples from Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, published in Cell Host and Microbe, a scientific team led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison has identified signatures of Ebola virus disease that may aid in future treatment efforts. Conducting a sweeping analysis of everything from enzymes to lipids to immune-system-associated molecules,…

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Article • Augmented Reality in the operating theatre

Virtual data merges with a real body

Medical Augmented Reality (AR) assistance systems overlay information onto a surgeon’s field of view. This technology is complex and expensive. Therefore, the procedure must offer a big advantage compared to conventional treatment and diagnostic methods to qualify for standard use. The objective is a system that shows a surgeon a 3-D image of inside the body plus instruments used during surgery…

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Article • prenatal diagnostics

Ultrasound is indispensable in prenatal exams

‘In prenatal diagnostics, particularly in the first trimester, ultrasound continues to be the modality of choice when looking for malformations,’ says Professor Markus Hoopmann, deputy director of prenatal medicine and gynaecological ultrasound at the Women’s Health Clinic in Tübingen University Hospital. This case for ultrasound is significant because today fetal DNA that circulates in…

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News • Neurotransmissions

Nanosensors uncloak the mysteries of brain chemistry

Nanosensors are incredible information-gathering tools for myriad applications, including molecular targets such as the brain. Neurotransmitter molecules govern brain function through chemistry found deep within the brain, so University of California, Berkeley researchers are developing nanosensors to gain a better understanding of exactly how this all plays out. During the AVS 64th…

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News • Virus spread

New flu forecasting tool uses evolution to make earlier predictions

Each year, public health officials monitor the spread of influenza to identify which flu strains need to go into that year’s vaccines and where outbreaks will occur. But it can be difficult to predict how bad a particular flu season will be until people actually start getting sick. A new flu forecasting tool built by scientists at the University of Chicago aims to make better predictions by…

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Article • POCT

Integrating three laboratories

For POCT, point-of-care testing, a lab has to purchase new equipment, perform new measurements and handle new parameters – right? Right! However, more importantly, POCT requires the adaptation and integration of the existing lab organisation, with all its consequences, from additional quality control down to new areas of responsibility. Dr Herbert Stekel is currently integrating three…

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News • Handheld mass spectrometer

This pen may be mightier than cancer

A team of scientists and engineers at The University of Texas at Austin has invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds—more than 150 times as fast as existing technology.

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News • Oncology

A tiny device offers insights to how cancer spreads

As cancer grows, it evolves. Individual cells become more aggressive and break away to flow through the body and spread to distant areas. What if there were a way to find those early aggressors? How are they different from the rest of the cells? And more importantly: Is there a way to stop them before they spread?

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News • DNA fragments

Using barcodes to trace blood cell development

There are various concepts about how blood cells develop. However, they are based almost exclusively on experiments that solely reflect snapshots. In a publication in Nature, scientists from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg now present a novel technique that captures the process in a dynamic way.

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Article • Diagnosing Zika

Commercial blood test proves reliable

The Society for Virology (GfV) which promotes virology through the increase and exchange of research within German speaking countries, as well as via cooperation with other scientific societies, announced this year that a new test can unambiguously confirm the diagnosis of a Zika virus infection – leading to fast diagnosis and identification of an infection.

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News • Long-term support

Stroke: Lethal risk even without complications

People who survive a stroke or a mini-stroke without early complications have an increased risk of death, another stroke or heart attack (myocardial infarction) for at least 5 years following the initial stroke, found a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

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Sponsored • Professional pressure

Doctors divided about tutoring future colleagues

Professionally active doctors increasingly hesitate to take on the task of tutoring students from undergraduate medical education. Stress and pressure from higher up, and sometimes also from colleagues, contributes to this ambivalence, according to a thesis at Sahlgrenska Academy.

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Article • Infection control

Global warming: Science can only react to emerging diseases

The ‘Transmission, Prevention, and Reporting of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ program for the International Conference IMED 2016 in Vienna, this November, reflected events in the field of emerging diseases that have occurred over the last two years. Therefore, key congress topics included the Zika virus, the effects of global warming and the unusually high number of hospital-acquired…

News • Investigating deaths

Wide variability in coroner decision-making

Coroners in England and Wales don’t seem able to agree on what caused a person’s death or whether the death merits an inquest or not - despite being faced with identical case information - reveals a small study published online in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

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Sponsored • Skin treatment

New medical 3D scanner will be shown at KIMES fairs in Seoul

Big reveal is going to happen at KIMES fairs in Seoul. SMARTTECH together with its Korean Distributor, the KAIS Company, will present the 3D scanning technologies dedicated to medicine. KIMES provides attendants with the opportunity to identify and confirm the great potential and prospect of the future medical industry as well as the latest medical industry trend as a venue where 1,200 domestic…

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News • Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality visor to dramatically improve surgery

Employing new photonics technology, European scientists are developing a new Augmented Reality surgical visor in a bid to improve accuracy of interventions, showing anaesthetic and medical data while superimposing a patient’s x-ray in perfect unison with their body, meaning surgeons never having to look away during an operation and surgery times reduced by over 20 minutes for every 3 hours.

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News • Happy Birthday!

Bracco celebrates its 90th anniversary with "Bracco Fellowships"

Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a leading global company in the diagnostic imaging business, today announced at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) the launch of the "Bracco Fellowships", a new, unique initiative to promote excellence among European radiologists in partnership with the European Society of Radiology (ESR).

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Article • Infections

Science can only react

The ‘Transmission, Prevention, and Reporting of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ programme for the International Conference IMED 2016 in Vienna, this November, reflected events in the field of emerging diseases that have occurred over the last two years.

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News • Merger

Totoku will finally convert to JVC

A strong brand for a wide range of medical applications. In 2013, JVC Kenwood corporation merged with the monitor and display manufacturer Totoku. The expected synergies in the development and distribution of joint solutions and Totoku products are now reborn with JVC brand.

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News • Blood poisoning

"Pulling" bacteria out of blood

Magnets instead of antibiotics could provide a possible new treatment method for blood infection. This involves the blood of patients being mixed with magnetic iron particles, which bind the bacteria to them after which they are removed from the blood using magnets. The initial laboratory tests at Empa in St. Gallen have been successful, and seem promising.

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Sponsored • Purification System

Merck advances in high-throughput water purification systems

The Elix High-Throughput water purification system is designed to provide laboratories with a reliable water purification solution for daily water volumes of up to 9000 liters. At the heart of a central water purification solution, the Elix High-Throughput system offers full connectivity, providing authorized users real-time remote monitoring via computer, tablet or smartphone with access to all…

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Article • MR Fingerprinting

Radiologists will become computer technicians

‘Magnetic resonance imaging is a very dynamic field,’ declared Professor Siegfried Trattnig, head of the Centre of Excellence for High Field MRI in the Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, at Vienna Medical University. Indeed, this September, two mega trends emphasised by Trattnig – the shift from qualitative to quantitative imaging and Big Data – dominated the 33rd…

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Article • Big Data

‘Dr Computer’ aids intelligent lung cancer diagnoses

In imaging diagnostics computers are taking over – well, not quite, but they might soon play an important role, according to Professor Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, Medical Director of the Clinic of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Heidelberg. Meeting with European Hospital, he discussed an EU-funded project to assess malignancy in pulmonary nodules and its implications for…

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Article • Personalised medicine

Many issues must be resolved

Hardly any topic has been discussed as broadly as personalised medicine, with countless stakeholders, ministries and organisations involved. That’s good news says Professor Angela Brand, Professorial Fellow at the Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) and Professor at the Department of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University.…

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Article • Zincmolybdat

The sustainable pathogen killer

Professor Peter Guggenbichler is only too aware of infection prevention and control issues in hospitals. Prior to his retirement in 2013, from the Children’s Hospital at Erlangen University Hospital, in Germany, he led the Infectiology and Preventive Medicine Department, for 25 years. ‘After countless nights on the intensive care ward I realised that the staff does not adhere to infection…

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News • POC instruments

Siemens Healthineers acquires Conworx Technology

Siemens Healthineers announced that the company is expanding its informatics capabilities for point-of-care testing with the acquisition of Conworx Technology GmbH, the Berlin-based developer of point-of-care device interfaces and data management solutions. The addition of the Conworx suite - including UniPOC and POCcelerator - complements the Siemens Healthineers award-winning RAPIDComm Data…

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Interview • ‘Dr’ Watson

Big data takes a big brain

Agfa HealthCare aims to tap the IBM-Watson super-computer to bring big data analytics to medical imaging. To find out how Watson can be harnessed to help deliver information useful for patient care, European Hospital spoke with James Jay, the Global Vice President and General Manager for Imaging IT at Agfa Healthcare.

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Sponsored • Users first

SonoSite wins Silver in Design Award

FUJIFILM SonoSite has been named a Silver winner in the 36th Annual International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) announced by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA). SonoSite’s SII Ultrasound Machine is among more than 1,700 projects from 30-plus countries that competed in IDEA 2016.

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Artificial blood vessels can grow with the recipient

In a groundbreaking new study led by University of Minnesota biomedical engineers, artificial blood vessels bioengineered in the lab and implanted in young lambs are capable of growth within the recipient. If confirmed in humans, these new vessel grafts would prevent the need for repeated surgeries in some children with congenital heart defects.

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News • Infections

‘Open Science’ paves pathway to develop Malaria drugs

Malaria remains one of the world’s leading causes of mortality in developing countries. Last year alone, it killed more than 400,000 people, mostly young children. An international consortium of researchers unveiled the mechanics and findings of a unique “open science” project for malaria drug discovery that has been five years in the making.

News • To Image or Not?

Library of Evidence to aid imaging decisions, curb wasteful tests

Do a middle-aged man’s lightning-bolt headaches spell a garden-variety migraine, or do they call for a brain MRI to rule out more pernicious causes? Does a young woman’s recurring flank pain warrant a CT scan, or is she better off undergoing an ultrasound? To help practicing clinicians choose the most appropriate imaging test for each patient, Harvard Medical School is launching Library of…

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Article • Future changes

Laboratory medicine is an interdisciplinary subject

‘Lab medicine connects’ is the congress theme of the German Congress of Laboratory Medicine and reflects the fact that laboratory medicine is an interdisciplinary subject like no other and connects those who are involved in medicine across disciplines. It works almost imperceptibly in the background, hardly noticed by patients. European Hospital spoke with this year’s Congress President,…

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Article • Funding black hole

NHS takes radical steps to head off financial crisis

Radical steps have been taken to address a growing financial crisis facing hospitals across England. Under new rulings, NHS England will allow the worst affected hospitals to relax critical performance indicators, such as waiting time targets, as the NHS financial crisis deepens. Report: Mark Nicholls

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News • Paediatric

Leukaemia Blood Testing Has 'Massive Potential'

Researchers at The University of Manchester have unlocked the potential of a new test which could revolutionise the way doctors diagnose and monitor a common childhood Leukaemia. Dr Suzanne Johnson says that cancerous acute lymphoblastic leukaemia cells produce and release special structures that can be traced in the blood. The discovery could have major implications on the diagnosis, monitoring,…

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Article • 7 tesla MRI

A new technique for dilated cardiomyopathy

UK researchers are working on a more precise imaging technique for dilated cardiomyopathy that may lead to more effective treatments. A study from the University of Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research (OCMR), part of the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the university, has demonstrated how the next generation of MRI scanners can work to measure heart conditions in dilated…

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Article • Intervention

Hybrid ORs: not equally beneficial for all facilities

The hybrid operating room is one of the most innovative developments in the surgical sector. The combination of interventional and minimally invasive surgical procedures is exciting for many clinical disciplines. The room design, intraoperative imaging techniques as well as interdisciplinary collaboration play a pivotal role in this.

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News • Micra TPS

The world’s smallest pacemaker

Jersey Shore University Medical Center, part of Meridian CardioVascular Network, is the first hospital in New Jersey to implant the Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) – the world’s smallest pacemaker – since the device gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in April 2016.

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News • Merging

Photo Research merges with JADAK

Photo Research (PR) has merged with its Novanta sister company JADAK, a manufacturer of machine vision, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and bar code products for the health care and life science industries. Photo Research is a leader in world-class light and color measurement solutions serving the flat panel display, automotive, aerospace and related industries.

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News • Active substance

Promising treatment prospects for invasive breast cancer

Scientists from the University of Zurich have been able to understand for the first time why many cancer cells adapt relatively quickly to the treatment with therapeutic antibodies in invasive forms of breast cancer. Instead of dying off, they are merely rendered inactive. The researchers have now developed an active substance that kills the cancer cells very effectively without harming healthy…

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Article • Structure & function

Morphological medicine and pathology will boom

Professor Klaus Kayser, former Head of the Institute of Pathology at Heidelberg University Hospital’s Thorax Clinic, may be retired but he continues to be a leading figure in his discipline, a visionary, famous for this critical and ‘out of the box’ thinking. During the run-up to the European Congress on Digital Pathology (ECDP), we asked the expert about telemedicine and standards and,…

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Article • Human Resources

Physicians will learn assertiveness

Most accidents result from ‘the human factor’ – long acknowledged in aviation. Thus all crew members receive regular safety training to help prevent errors on board and on the ground. Now experts at the German Society for Orthopaedics and Trauma (DGOU) with those from Lufthansa Flight Training have developed a similar training programme for physicians. This Interpersonal Competence Training…

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News • Memory

A study shows how the brain switches into memory mode

Researchers from Germany and the USA have identified an important mechanism with which memory switches from recall to memorization mode. The study may shed new light on the cellular causes of dementia. The work was directed by the University of Bonn and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE).

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Sponsored • Xplore

Complex data made simple – the RIS by EDL

Today, radiologists are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data. Thus, solutions are needed that identify and call up only those that concern the diagnosis at hand. This is where Xplore, the RIS by French manufacturer EDL comes in: it not only provides quick access to all data that are generated and processed in a radio­logy department or a radiology office but it also presents only those data…

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Article • Virus

The Zika mystery: scapegoat or villain?

From the beginning the accusation somehow beggared belief. A ‘mild’ virus was blamed for causing hideous malformations in babies’ heads. Brazil, a country suffering its worst recession since the 1930s, as well as political upheaval, became the focus of a worldwide healthcare scare.

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News • Mimicking touch

Amputee feels texture with a bionic fingertip

An amputee was able to feel smoothness and roughness in real-time with an artificial fingertip that was surgically connected to nerves in his upper arm. Moreover, the nerves of non-amputees can also be stimulated to feel roughness, without the need of surgery, meaning that prosthetic touch for amputees can now be developed and safely tested on intact individuals.

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Article • EIBALL

Biomarkers increase impact on imaging

‘In imaging there is a trend towards quantification,’ said Professor Siegfried Trattnig, Medical Director of the High-Field MR Centre (HFMRC) at the Medical University Vienna, Austria. Whilst before, radiologists’ findings were subjective, qualitative results, based on signal intensity and grey scale, he pointed out. ‘Today imaging can draw on quantifiable and comparable parameters with…

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Interview • Radiology in Europe

A German or Swiss paradise?

The current political framework changes healthcare structures and competitive dynamics for medical services providers. These issues were raised at the 11th Management and Strategy Congress MARA (Management in Radiology) in Bonn, in autumn 2015. Dr. Martin Maurer, one of the congress organisers, explained: ‘The objective of the MARA Congress is not to hold pretty lectures but primarily to…

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Article • Obesity

Bariatric arterial embolisation

Radiology is going beyond assessing body fat, bringing a notable contribution in weight loss therapy. Clifford Weiss from Johns Hopkins University is one of the pioneers of a new procedure, bariatric arterial embolisation, details of which he will unveil at the ECR 2016.

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Interview • Cardiology

Rethinking acute aortic syndromes

Technological advances in CT imaging have sparked a veritable explosion of imaging data. Pushing against the rush of novel imaging findings there is, what Dr Geoffrey Rubin calls, the slow wave of adoption in medicine, the acceptance and agreement of the clinical community for new diagnostic assessments.

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Article • CSI

3-D printed hearts

The CSI Congress (Congenital, Structural and Valvular Interventions) is one of the major fixtures for catheter therapy of congenital and structural heart defects. Key moments in this high profile event are live broadcasts and the audience can not only to listen to but also interact with the teams in the cath labs involved.

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News • MERS

First reported autopsy of patient with MERS provides critical insights

Since 2012, at least 1,500 individuals have developed Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), resulting in more than 500 fatalities. Only now are results being reported of the first autopsy of a MERS patient, which was performed in 2014. Not only do these findings, published in The American Journal of Pathology, provide unprecedented, clinically-relevant insights about how MERS progresses, they…

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News • Biophysic

What happens when red blood cells "wriggle"

For the first time, and using physical methods, scientists have demonstrated how red blood cells move. They recognized that fast molecules in the vicinity make the cell membrane in the blood cells wriggle – but that the cells themselves also become active when they have enough reaction time.

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News • Immunotherapy

The new frontier of cancer therapy

Healthcare, the world’s largest industry, is more than three times the size and value of the financial services sector, and is transforming faster than ever before, driving humanity to rethink the way we approach our health.

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News • Congratulation

Merck honored by R&D Magazine for innovation

Merck, a leading science and technology company, today announced it has received two prestigious R&D Magazine 100 awards – one for its lab water purification systems, and the other for a technology that allows researchers to investigate scientific questions they previously couldn’t address.

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News • Study

A biomarker for multiple sclerosis

Patients with multiple sclerosis often receive a "hit and miss" treatment when the disease breaks out. A blood analysis is now for the first time able to reveal which of the two most important first-line drugs is better suited for which patients.

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Sponsored • Gynaecology

Easy to learn yet high performance US

The Acuson NX3* and Acuson NX3 Elite*, two new ultrasound systems from Siemens Healthcare, are on show at this year’s Medica Trade Fair. ‘Both mid-range systems offer a simple, intuitive interface combined with innovative imaging solutions for examinations primarily in general medicine, obstetrics/gynaecology, paediatrics and neurology,’ the manufacturer reports.

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Article • Documentation & QC

Breakthrough law to insist on video cameras

Should video cameras record surgical procedures? Athletes and sports teams review videotapes of their performance to learn how to make improvements. Could surgeons and operating theatre teams use videotapes for quality improvement and to increase patient safety and clinical outcomes by identifying and reducing errors or bad practice? Or would this be an intrusion, a distraction for a surgical…

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News • “JEDI” Technology

New understanding of how immune system works

When it comes to fending off disease and helping prevent people from falling ill, the body’s immune system – armed with T-cells that help eliminate cancer cells, virus-infected cells and more – is second to none. But exactly how the immune system works remains, in many ways, a mystery, as there are numerous cell types whose functions and interactions with our immune systems have not been…

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News • Prototype

Therapeutic toy for children with auditory disabilities

Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects, with more than 12,000 children in the United States affected each year. Three students in Wichita State University's biomedical engineering program recognized this issue and designed their senior project to create a therapeutic toy to provide early intervention therapy for children with auditory disabilities.

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Article • Development

Dynamic braces for kids with scoliosis

Some six million people in the U.S. suffer from scoliosis, a sideways curvature of the spine. These include approximately 2 to 3% of adolescents who are diagnosed each year with idiopathic scoliosis, which is usually identified during puberty and progresses until skeletal maturity. One in 500 children today require treatment using spine braces and 1 in 5,000 need spinal surgery. The typical spine…

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New method to treat antibiotic resistant MRSA

MRSA is bad news. If you've never heard of it, here's what you need to know: It's pronounced MER-suh, it's a nasty bacterial infection and it can cause serious disease and death. Senior molecular biology major Jacob Hatch knows MRSA as the infection that took his dad's leg.

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News • Retrograde amnesia

Researchers retrieve “lost” memories

Retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall established memories. In humans, amnesia is associated with traumatic brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurological conditions. Whether memories lost to amnesia are completely erased or merely unable to be recalled remains an open question. Now, in a finding that casts new light on the nature of memory, researchers from the RIKEN-MIT…

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News • Global vaccine-development fund

Saving thousands of lives

Ebola is a preventable disease, and yet a safe and effective vaccine has not been deployed. As with many vaccines, financial barriers persist: pharmaceutical companies see high costs with limited market potential, and government support is lacking. But there may be a solution to this vaccine crisis with the ability to save at-risk populations, according to a perspective piece written by…

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News • Therapy

First-ever possible treatments for MERS

As the South Korean epidemic of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) continues unabated, researchers have raced to find treatments for the deadly virus, which has killed more than 400 people since it was first discovered three years ago in Saudi Arabia.

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Article • Antimicrobial stewardship

A diagnostic marker reduces antibiotics use

Since 2009, as part of diagnostic and antimicrobial stewardship strategies, Hampshire Hospitals National Health Service (NHS) Trust has used serum procalcitonin (PCT) – an innovative and highly specific marker to diagnose clinically relevant bacterial infections and sepsis. Report: Mark Nicholls

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News • Call for papers

Ultrahigh Field MR: Cutting Edge Technologies Meet Clinical Practice

The tremendous progress of ultrahigh field magnetic resonance (UHF-MR) is a powerful motivator to transfer the lessons learned from basic research into the clinic. These efforts are fueled by the quest for advancing the capabilities of biomedical and diagnostic MRI, today. With this in mind momentum is gathering for broader clinical studies and applications. Realizing these opportunities, MAGMA -…

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Sponsored • Automation

Scottish NHS group endorses automation

It’s thumbs up for Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics’ Aptio Automation, following a two-year deployment by Dundee-based National Health Service (NHS) Dundee, the first north European healthcare organisation to use the system to consolidate formerly siloed biochemistry, immunology, haematology and haemostasis testing onto a single automation track.

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Interview • Health Apps

Can medical apps replace conventional medical diagnostics?

The question as to whether or not there is a point in using medical apps on private smartphones is being asked more frequently. Issues around medical diagnostics are among the key points here. We asked Prof. Dr. Dr. Norbert Gässler, Head of the Centre for Laboratory Diagnostics at the St. Bernward Hospital, Hildesheim, for competent advice. Interview: Walter Depner

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Article • Non-invasive Ventilation

Two in one

The recently launched Respironics V680 ventilator, from Philips Healthcare EMEA, was guided onto the market by Arne Cohrs, its Sales and Marketing Director of Therapeutic Care in Patient Care and Monitoring. We asked him about his department and the merits of non-invasive and invasive ventilators. Report: Chrissanthi Nikolakudi

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Article • Influential innovations

Unfolding new vistas for MRI, PET and PET/CT

The importance of cardiac imaging is increasing, but nuclear medicine procedures are by no means obsolete, observes Okan Ekinci, during our EH interview with the Siemens Vice President for Healthcare Consulting & Clinical Affairs about the latest innovations for cardiology.

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Article • Optical imaging

Faster than light

PET scanners are not the only way to image radiotracers. Recent work developed around a phenomenon called Cerenkov luminescence aims to bring a new modality out of preclinical development and into clinical practice.

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News • ECCMID

Scientists gather to fight infectious diseases

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease (ESCMID) announces that the globe’s most prominent infection specialists will be gathering in Copenhagen to explore solutions to the biggest infection problems during its annual congress – the 25th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place on 25-28 April 2015.

News • Study

British lung transplant patients fare better than Americans

Publicly insured Americans who undergo lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis fare markedly worse in the long run than both publicly insured patients in the United Kingdom and privately insured Americans, according to the results of a study conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and U.K. colleagues working in that nation’s government-funded National Health Service.

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Sponsored • Point-of-Care

M9 brings maximum mobility

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…

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Sponsored • Celebration

Japanese firm celebrates 140 successful years

The son of a craftsman making Buddhist altars, he was driven to create instruments for physics and chemistry. Attending the Physics and Chemistry Research Institute he gained experience with a variety of technologies and fields of expertise. He was convinced that Japan, as a should work towards becoming a leader in science. At the dawn of the industrial revolution and scientific age in 1875 he…

News • Probiotics

New Guidelines for Allergic Disease Prevention

Allergic diseases represent a spectrum of health conditions and a worldwide burden in different populations. In the field of allergy and immunology the focus on prevention has become as important as effective disease management. Now for the first time there are guidelines that recommend proactive strategies for the prevention of allergic diseases. The World Allergy Organization (WAO) has…

News • Study

Time to rethink the inner-city asthma epdemic?

Challenging the long-standing belief that city dwellers suffer disproportionately from asthma, the results of a new Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study of more than 23,000 U.S. children reveal that income, race and ethnic origin may play far more potent roles in asthma risk than kids’ physical surroundings.

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Article • IVD Market

Santa’s bag full of cash

We are seeing great priority shifts in China’s funding for R&D and manufacturing expansion. Even the agency responsible for selecting the recipients has changed, Jie Ren reports from the Beijing-based market analysis consultancy Whitney Research Inc. Report: John Brosky

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Article • Technology

Wearable sensors

Wrist-watches, wrist and arm bands, tags, finger rings, clips, smart glasses, shoes, insoles, smart patches (as thermometers), sensors woven into fabrics for T-shirts and socks and, of course, implantable devices as well as ingested pills were displayed by 23 exhibitors in the Wearable Technologies Show at Medica this year. Report: Cornelia Wels-Maug

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Article • Medical Training

Diagnosing gastrointestinal infections

The human gut literally teems with microorganisms from at least 1,000 different species that are increasingly considered to be a valuable resource for the prediction, aetiology and prognosis of disease. Due to continual contact with the environment, primarily via food, the gut is susceptible to infection when a virus, parasite or bacterium enters and disrupts normal gut microbiota (or flora).

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Seeking congenital cardiac defects

Congenital heart defects are the most common congenital disorders found in newborns – around one in a hundred babies are affected. This type of heart defect can be reliably diagnosed with ultrasound, usually during the detailed foetal scan carried out halfway through the pregnancy. Report: Brigitte Dinkloh

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A little revolution in sonography

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…

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England prepares for Ebola

More than 750 British military personnel as well as RFA Argus – the country’s medical ship – have arrived in Sierra Leone, for front line duties in the battle against Ebola. In the meantime Britain tested its readiness for a possible Ebola virus epidemic. Report: Brenda Marsh

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News • Study

Sepsis cases are rising

Sepsis kills around a hundred and thirty patients daily In Germany alone. This systemic disease is mostly caused by bacterial pathogens, and less frequently by fungal organisms or parasites. The delayed diagnoses result in high mortality. Professor Dr Frank M Brunkhorst of the Centre of Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), at Jena University Hospital, Germany, is seeking strategies to combat such…

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Blown Away!

Even though a lot of us don’t do it, let’s say you know that washing your hands is the first, and the best thing, you can do to stop sharing nasty bugs that are especially dangerous for patients.

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Poor management and overcrowding exacerbate MERS outbreak

“The Saudi Arabian government’s response to the new virulent Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) has recently been criticized, following high-level dismissals within the Saudi state healthcare service. Criticism has been leveled at the slowness of the government’s response to the outbreak, as well as in-fighting between physicians", says Andrew Thompson, Ph.D., GlobalData’s…

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Delayed diagnoses result in high mortality

Sepsis kills around 130 patients daily In Germany alone. This systemic disease is mostly caused by bacterial pathogens, and less frequently by fungal organisms or parasites. Professor Dr Frank M Brunkhorst of the Centre of Sepsis Control and Care (CSCC), at Jena University Hospital, Germany, is seeking strategies to combat such scary figures.

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Europe’s neurologists join forces in the European Academy of Neurology

Europe will now have just one international neurological association. The two European societies – the EFNS and the ENS – have merged during the Joint Congress of European Neurology in Istanbul to create the new European Academy of Neurology (EAN). Prof Günther Deuschl from Kiel, Germany, was elected the first President of the new organisation.

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LED colour displays for diagnostic use

The Japanese Display vendor Totoku has extended its i2 line-up with a two and three megapixel display. ‘The CCL258i2 and CCL358i2 are high brightness colour displays with a very high contrast ratio,’ the firm explains. ‘That’s why both can be used for primary diagnosis or critical applications like thorax exams.

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The fall and rise of cardiac surgery innovations

Grandly announced, the da Vinci became the must-have of any self-respecting cardiac surgeon, only to sink into obscurity as quickly as it had risen to stardom. Once the wunderkind of robotic surgery, today this surgical system is merely collecting dust on many a hospital cupboard. A whole slew of methods and technologies were launched with varied fanfares over the past ten years. European…

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The time machine

While the benefits of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a temporary respiratory support for adult patients are still debated, it is undisputed that for many infants ECMO is the only chance to survive, because it provides them with time to strengthen their lungs

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MERS-CoV: Global action needed?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently formed an international emergency committee to decide whether Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) should be ascribed Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) status, amid reports of a lack of information from the worst affected countries.

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Art meets science

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.

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40 years of CT scanning

Forty years ago an article was published that would change medical practice. In the British Journal of Radiology, English electrical engineer Godfrey N Hounsfield described how he had made a patient’s brain visible non-invasively by evaluating a large number of X-ray images of the skull taken from different directions.

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Healthcare delivery on the move

The recent Swiss eHealth Summit, a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) event supported by key organisations, drew 600 leaders from hospitals, policymaking and the industry. Among the key topics: how IT enables access to information in a mobile environment, referred to by speaker Uwe Buddrus as mHealth.

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Article • The future of radiology

Viewing the lung in 2022

To avoid any misunderstanding, ten years from today CT and MRI will still be the pillars of lung imaging. However, Hans-Ulrich Kauczor, Professor of Radiology and Medical Director of the radiology clinic at Heidelberg University Hospital, is convinced the emphasis will have changed.

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Hybrid imaging: Virtual FDG-PET/CT bronchoscopy

Virtual FDG-PET/CT bronchoscopy has been found to be a technically feasible tool for the detection of lymph node metastases in non-small cell lung cancer patients with good diagnostic accuracy, according to researchers at the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Dusseldorf and Essen.

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Large hospital acquisitions in Germany

Fresenius subsidiary Helios on its way to become market leader. According to a study* of company mergers, with the privatisation of hospitals, Germany is in an exceptional position in Europe. No other EU country sold so many and such large hospitals so quickly as this country has done. The concept of selling entire university hospitals is unknown elsewhere in Europe.

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Sepsis – a Global Medical Emergency

The Global Sepsis Alliance (GSA) is urging healthcare providers, patients and policymakers worldwide to treat sepsis as a medical emergency. “Tens of millions of people die from sepsis each year, making it the likely leading cause of death worldwide. Sepsis kills regardless of age, ethnicity, location and access to care,” said Konrad Reinhart, M.D., Chairman of the GSA and director of the…

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IROS 2012

Controversies were certainly aired when 800 radiologists gathered in Salzburg for The Interventional Radiological Olbert Symposium - a meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Interventional Radiology (DEGIR ÖGIR and SGCVIR) – and certainly some striking new interventions were presented. Michael Krassnitzer reports

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The end of blooming effects

During the RSNA 2011, Professor Uwe J Schoepf MD, was asked what will be the chosen procedure of the future in cardiac imaging, he answered without hesitation: ‘Definitely CT,’ and, the Director of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Medical University Charleston, South Carolina.

Researchers Use CT to Recreate Stradivarius Violin

Using computed tomography (CT) imaging and advanced manufacturing techniques, a team of experts has created a reproduction of a 1704 Stradivarius violin. Three-dimensional images of the valuable violin and details on how the replica was made were presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

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Siemens Unveils Acuson S3000 in Chicago

Siemens Healthcare launched the ACUSON S3000, its latest ultra-premium ultrasound platform, at the 97th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, USA. The new system includes advanced automated ultrasound fusion imaging as well as multi-modality review capabilities to provide additional clinical and spatial information in the analysis…

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ALPINION Medical Systems

The goals are ambitious: Although in the market merely four years, the start-up firm Alpinion Medical Systems states its intention to become one of the prime providers in the ultrasound segment with superior imaging and unique transducer technologies. In an interview with Daniela Zimmermann of European Hospital, Thomas Roth, Alpinion’s Managing Director, explains his corporate strategy and…

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The 1.2-Tesla workhorse

St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, a 537-bed teaching hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, is part of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, which leverages the resources of seven hospitals, five out-patient health centres and further care provider organisations across five counties in southeast Michigan. In August 2008, the large hospital, with a high volume of patients, became one of the first sites to operate…

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Personalized medicine could help to save 100 billion Euros

Despite huge increases in spending over the last three decades, progress in dealing with the most frequent and burdensome diseases is appalling. The EU Flagship Pilot IT Future of Medicine (ITFoM) could remedy that. The flagship‘s investments of 1 billion euros in the course of the next decade are expected to save up to 100 billion euros per year in health expenditures in the future.

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World Health Summit 2011

The World Health Summit, to be held in Berlin on October 10 - 13, 2010 will bring together researchers, physicians, leading government officials and representatives from industry as well as from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and health care systems. Its aim is to address the most pressing issues that medicine and health care systems will face over the next decade and beyond and to develop…

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The role of hospital management consultants

‘Public hospitals are not yet acknowledging the necessity of engaging management consultants in the same way as private institutions. Management and organisational consultancy is particularly important in hospitals as it is not just undertaken for the benefit of staff but also the benefit of the patients’’ explains Verena Krassnitzer, Vienna-based management consultant and supervisor,…

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MRI and plaque imaging

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in industrial nations. More than 50 percent of those deaths are associated with pathologies of the coronary arteries, despite the fact that luminal obstructions that lead to myocardial infarction or ischemia do not occur out of the blue. The initial symptoms are preceded by a whole slew of arteriosclerosis stages and the early detection of…

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Trends in cardiac pacing

‘Sacrilegious meddling with divine providence’ was the charge brought against New York cardiologist Alfred Hyman in the 1930s when, after successful animal experiments, he applied the first cardiac pacemaker – then still a cumbersome external device – in human patients. A quarter of a century later the first cardiac pacemaker, mounted in a shoe polish tin and covered by epoxy resin, was…

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CT, PET-CT, MRT and transthoracic ultrasound in lung cancer staging

Dr Helmut Prosch, at the University Clinic for Radio-Diagnostics, Vienna, Austria, is examining the role of imaging in lung cancer diagnosis and staging. The key message of his presentation in the session EUS and EBUS vs. CT, MR and PET-CT in the staging of lung cancer is that the modalities do not compete with one another – as the title suggests – but are perfectly complimentary in the…

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‘Our products are competitive’

In recent years the ultrasound division of Siemens Healthcare appeared to be a Sleeping Beauty slumbering on in the shadow of large slice imaging equipment such as PET/CT and MR/PET, the medical technology giant’s favourite daughters. With many of the world’s wealthy princes, particularly from India, Brazil, China, and so on, knocking on Siemens’ doors, the giant has at last decided to wake…

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31st German Senology Congress - More opportunities in breast diagnostics

Yes, it’s in beautiful Dresden again and -- as in 2006 when the city last hosted the Congress of the German Society for Senology -- this year’s Congress President is Professor Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland (Department of Radiology, University of Erlangen). However, the repetition ends there; the congress topics will be anything but repeated. Report: Meike Lerner

Samsung Electronics has merged with Medison

Medison and Samsung Electronics have come together and announced a new corporate identity for the healthcare business of Samsung – Samsung Medison. The combined company, built from Korea’s leading diagnostic ultrasound equipment and one of the world’s largest and most technologically-advanced electronics and consumer goods companies, has set out its vision of transforming itself into a…

Clear perspectives for medical technology

The German Medical Technology Association BVMed advocates for clear perspectives for medical technology innovations. "There is a need for a common strategic positioning of industry, science, and politics on research, development, and innovation in medical technology in Germany , states BVMed chairman Dr. Meinrad Lugan in the newly published Annual Report 2010/11.

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Taking the customer’s pulse

With 1,600 customers and a 30-40% market share in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland, IT and imaging enterprise Agfa and its hospital-wide IT solution Orbis are ahead of the game. Dr Volker Wetekam, Executive Vice President of the IT Division, Agfa Healthcare, speaks of a technological advantage of as much as two to three years in the key segments -- PACS, cardiology and regional health --…

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Easy breathe - new tools for prolonged lung support

Often a life-saving intervention, mechanical ventilation also has some serious drawbacks: the need for sedation, the risk of ventilator associated pneumonia, intubation or tracheostomy related complications. In 1972, Donald Hill from Pacific Medical Centre, Los Angeles, reported the first successful long-term mechanical lung assist device with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

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Prospects: Radiology is on a most advanced pathway in molecular imaging

Molecular imaging (MI) appears as an unavoidable challenge for the future of imaging, because MI is able to characterise cellular and molecular processes and will serve as a guide for new targeted or personalised therapies. However, MI appears as hype for many radiologists because it is too far from clinical practice. In reality, MI is already part of clinical practice using PET and targeted…

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The future of the pharmaceutical industry

The closure of Pfizer’s Sandwich Lab is part of a long-term decline in drug development, a trend that has been affecting all major UK pharmaceutical multinationals. Big pharmaceutical companies have been downsizing, outsourcing and merging in an attempts to find an innovation strategy that will keep their pipelines filled with new, potentially profitable products.

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Celebrate the Power of Imaging: the European Day of Radiology

Imaging is an indispensable tool in modern medicine, yet very few patients know just how important it is. From cancer detection and therapy to diagnosing stroke or serious trauma in time, radiologists contribute to saving lives by covering every field of medicine. To raise public awareness, the European Society of Radiology will launch the 1st European Day of Radiology on February 10, in memory…

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ECR 2011 - book now!

At the Austria Centre, Vienna, the next European Congress of Radiology (ECR) from 3 - 7 March will again provide an expert-led programme, trade fair and range of unique peripheral services, and the European Society of Radiology (ESR) annual meeting will also present top radiological science, education and technology.

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MEDICA 2010 - Vivid, vital, visionary

According to Medica organisers, November’s medical diary highlight was again a success: around 137,200 visitors from 100 countries entered the massive and many halls of Messe Düsseldorf to scour the world’s largest medical fair. From the world of politics came German Chancellor Angela Merkel, German and Healthcare Minister Philipp Rösler, as well as the Right Honorable The Lord Darzi of…

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Europe's inconsistent use of device therapy in the prevention of sudden cardiac death

Even though the use of implantable devices for the treatment of heart failure and heart rhythm disturbances has increased enormously in Europe in recent years, there still remain large differences between countries. Indeed, a report last year in the European Journal of Heart Failure found that there is an underuse of devices in many of the European countries surveyed.(1) This is especially so in…

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Medica Closing Report

The manufacturers of medical technology and medical products have weathered the phase of economic and financial crisis well, now noticing a strong tailwind for their businesses and proving a driver for growth with their innovations.

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Angela Merkel at Medica 2010

It was the premier in 41 years of Medica. Germany’s Federal Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel came to Düsseldorf for the launch of MEDICA 2010,. In her speech she spoke about the importance of German medical engineering, the position of its high export share, the health industry and other major areas in medicine.

World Stroke Day

With the “World Stroke Day” the World Stroke Organization (WSO) aims to communicate a unified message to the world: stroke is a preventable and treatable catastrophe, and together we can fight this growing epidemic. This year’s theme is “Stroke‐What can I do?” The answer is ‐ a lot. The WSO prompts individuals, groups and governments to take action against stroke either at a…

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Hungarian sludge in K.U.Leuven lab

On 4 October, the waste reservoir of an aluminium factory in Hungary burst. Red sludge, which is the waste resulting from the production of aluminium, flooded nearby villages. In the second week of October, researchers were granted access to the area. Doctoral student Stefan Ruyters and postdoctoral researcher Jelle Mertens of the Division of Soil and Water Management (Faculty of Bioengineering)…

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Aortic valve replacement in the third dimension

No white lab coats anywhere; instead men in hard hats, equipped with hammers and drills. The Düsseldorf University Hospital’s Cardiology Pneumology and Angiology Clinic is a construction site, but once the workmen have packed up their tools and removed the scaffolding the view to the human heart will be unobstructed and clearer than ever before. Here, innovative patient care and a highly…

Ultraviolet light - an invisible weapon against MRSA

A few years ago, Dr Peder Bo Nielsen MD FRCPath, Consultant medical microbiologist at Northwick Park Hospital, London, UK, launched a research programme on airborne transmission of nosocomial infections. Until then, so called air-biology held no high priority in infection prevention and control. The prevailing perception was that colonisation and contamination mainly happens due to direct contact…

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Instead of the “Tube” – An Innovative MRI is open for all Patients

Modern magnetic resonance (MR) tomographs with very strong magnetic fields produce images of steadily increasing precision and are currently gaining more and more importance in radiological diagnostics. In conventional MRI the patient lies in a tunnel, which many people find difficult or even impossible to do, given a scan time of approximately 20 minutes. Physicians of the Joint Radiology…

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Health informatics in practice

The Health Informatics Congress held in the UK this April, revealed how IT is helping health Trusts across the UK to take innovative steps in the way they respond to patients’ needs. The Clinical Showcase session examined how Trusts are coping with new patient administration and reporting systems and, in particular, how Cerner Millennium and Lorenzo systems are being implemented.

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Pharmacy storage and retrieval systems save costs

To optimise workflow and save costs in hospital pharmacies automating medication selection is increasingly popular. Since the 1980s, the firm Apostore, based in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, a subsidiary of KHT (Kommissionier- und Handhabungstechnik GmbH), has constantly extended its technological lead in this field of manufacturing, and the company reports that its Carryfix Pusher leads the market in…

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Single Shot Spectral Imaging

The limitations of mammography are well documented, yet it is still the gold standard in breast cancer detection - particularly due to the positive cost-benefit ratio. Due to prohibitive costs, MRI exams are performed only in well-defined cases. The HIGHREX project (www.highrex.eu) aims to evaluate Single Shot Spectral Imaging (SSSI) technology for use in mamma diagnostics.

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conhIT 2010

The volcanic ash creating widespread no-fly zones had no significant impact on the success of conhIT, Germany’s largest healthcare IT event; for three days in April some 3,500 experts were there to discuss current trends in their field and visit the IT trade fair to assess new solutions and products. One topic central to this year’s event was the convergence of IT and medical technology,…

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Good grades = good physician?

Above average grades or lots of patience - whoever wants to study medicine in Germany needs at least one of the two. That’s because some 40,000 school graduates apply for just 9,000 places to study medicine every semester. The coveted places are assigned by the central office for university admissions (ZVS): 20% go to the top graduates, 20% are granted on the basis of a waiting list, and 60%…

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The Hospital Management Symposium 2010

What a success! On 6 March, ECR meeting room K was filled to capacity when congress president Professor Małgorzata Szczerbo-Trojanowska opened the Hospital Management Symposium 2010 (HMS). The number of pre-registrations bore witness to HMS’ high reputation. Many ECR participants had immediately the HMS time bracket in their agendas in order not to miss the new developments in “Management,…

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Cost Management in Radiology

At this year’s HMS, André Hoppen, MD MSc, Sales Manager for VR MEDICO, Germany, looked at the most important decision-making criteria from the perspective of a financial services provider. “Finding out whether a new MRI or CT scanner will pay off is only possible by asking specific questions”, he said.

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All about healthcare IT

The eHospital Census is a comprehensive historical record of healthcare IT installations at the functional level. Regarding hospitals in 12 European countries and 44 software applications (like Radiology Informations System or PACS) the eHospital Census contains descriptions of the installed base including availability, scope, market share, age profile, and life span of installations. The…

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The USB health card

Entrepreneur Dr Gunter Pollanz was a central figure in the build-up of charter flights to Israel and in the foundation of MAOF Airlines in Tel Aviv. Later, he also developed important export structures from Israel to Europe. However, in 1997 his life took a dramatic turn when he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Prognosis: Although 54 years old he faced just three more months of life. Today, Dr…

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Large capacity intensive care ambulances

In March 2008 over 200 cars were involved in a mass traffic accident caused by fog between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Six passengers were killed; hundreds were injured. Similar road traffic accidents, airplane crashes on the most frequented hub in the region and fires in factories and skyscrapers are among the mass casualty events that the Dubai Centre of Ambulance Services face on a daily basis.

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Elastography - Hitachi expands technology applications

In recent years Hitachi Medical, the pioneer in developing ultrasound elastography to diagnose tissue stiffness, has seen competing systems launched that claim to have the same capability. ‘We are approaching a point where elastography will be considered a standard feature, call it the E-mode, for ultrasound,’ Heinz Schreiber, head of Ultrasound for Hitachi Medical Systems Europe told…

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The 2009 Organ Donation Congress

In 2008, EU organ transplants totalled 27,809, but, as of 31 December 2008, patients still on waiting lists numbered 63,283 and 3,812 of them died on that list. During 5th World Day and 11th European Day of Organ Donation held in Berlin this October, experts and patients from all over the world met to raise public awareness that, despite international transplants progress and successes, and…

Biochips to aid in cancer diagnosis

It is very difficult to predict whether a cancer drug will help an individual patient: only around one third of drugs will work directly in a given patient. Researchers at the Heinz Nixdorf Chair for Medical Electronics at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) have developed a new test process for cancer drugs. With the help of microchips, they can establish in the laboratory whether a…

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Germany´s university hospitals suffer economic crisis

Among Germany´s 2,087 hospitals, the country´s 32 university hospitals, employing 180,000 to care for up to two million patients, may appear to play a marginal role. However, their triad of research, education and applied medicine endow the university hospitals with enormous significance, for they not only represent medical science and research but also educate the nation's future physicians.…

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Public health puzzle - inequalities in health

In almost all of the industrialised countries, the general health status - as indicated for example by infant mortality, prevalence of disease, subjective health and life expectancy - has improved during the last four decades. At the same time, however, there is a proven close correlation between good and poor health and high and low socioeconomic status.

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20 years of hospital-based proton therapy

Although the potential of proton therapy was recognised over half a century ago, and since its development is now known to deliver a radiation beam accurately into a tumour without damaging surrounding tissue, high equipment costs limit its general introduction. Mark Nicholls reports on a British hospital with two decades of experience in its use - and value

Post-menopause physical activity reduces breast cancer risk

The breast cancer risk of women who are regularly physically active in the postmenopausal phase is reduced by about one third compared to relatively inactive women, according to a study conducted by the German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the University Hospitals of Hamburg-Eppendorf.

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A new high-rise on New York´s horizon

Ten years ago, New York real estate entrepreneur Israel Green began a worldwide search for a cure for his wife´s lung cancer. A year later, the couple returned to New York empty handed. Just days before a risky surgery, they were happily stunned to be given a very different diagnosis: acid reflux.

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Breast screening in the Netherlands

The Dutch screening programme, which began in 1990, invites women aged 50-75 years for mammography screening every two years. Today, the national programme is undergoing considerable regional re-organisation. As one of a team of 12 radiologists at the Alkmaar Medical Centre, Dr Shirley Go is responsible for Mammography and Screening in a large Dutch region. Daniela Zimmermann, asked Dr Go about…

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Toshiba invits experts to discuss the advantages of state-of-the-art technology

Toshiba's pre-opening ECR event on Wednesday evening attracted around 120 radiological experts who wanted to learn more about the company's technology in daily practice. Toshiba invited several highly-regarded radiologists and cardiologists from Austria and Germany who not only presented the diagnostic possibilities of the firm's products offers, but answered critical questions asked by the…

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MR-guided radiotherapy

Real-time image guidance during radiation therapy could prove the ultimate means to ramp tumour targeting accuracy and enable real-time tracking of moving targets. MR imaging enables precise soft-tissue visualization with no additional ionizing radiation exposure. Unfortunately, MR systems and linear accelerators are inherently incompatible and some innovative design work is required for them to…

Article • Osteoarthritis

Arthroscopic surgery

Osteoarthritis of the knee is a degenerative disease that causes joint pain, stiffness and decreased function. Its frequency increases dramatically with ageing populations. Treatment is multidisciplinary; combinations of pharmacology, physiotherapy and/or surgery are used for most patients.

Hospitals cannot survive without IT

A study carried out this year by the VHitG e.V. (a German association of IT solutions providers for healthcare) produced the first complete market analysis of systems installed in hospitals, along with an evaluation of the use of IT through the subjective appraisals of the users. The objective of the standardised online questionnaire, in which 480 people participated, was to determine the trends,…

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Lifebridge B2T

Worldwide interest in portable systems for cardiopulmonary support has grown significantly. While some systems are at the brink of market introduction, German company Lifebridge Medizintechnik AG reports that it is 'at the top of this medical technology market', for its smallest, lightest (18kg) system, Lifebridge B2T ('Bridge to Therapy') has been in clinical use since the beginning of 2008.…

Sonoelastography makes hardened cancer tissue visible

Sonoelastography, a procedure that measures the elasticity of tissue and differentiates between healthy and hardened pathological tissue, will make cancer diagnosis safer in the future. For example, it has been shown to improve the accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis by 20%.

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Management prize for German hospitals

A long overdue prize finally recognises successful management teams and concepts in German hospitals: the RFH Hospital Innovation Prize, jointly sponsored by the College for Applied Sciences, Cologne, and the Institute for Healthcare Economics and Medical Care Research. With 12,500 EUR the purse is not (yet) particularly stellar, but it's the thought that counts.

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Sono-elastography

Martini Clinic, in the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) campus in Hamburg, is one of the world's major centres for nerve-sparing prostatectomy. The Martini physicians not only specialise in surgical intervention but are also at the cutting edge of diagnostics, being among the few in Germany to use sono-elastography, an innovative tool to detect prostate cancer. We asked Dr Georg Salomon (GS),…

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Even experts sometimes need good advice

Acting as a medical expert witness can have serious consequences for third persons. Although expert witnesses are doing their best, many problems arise from their medico-legal work. Now the GMC published guidelines for expert witnesses that are welcomed by physicians and organizations.

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German healthcare system: lack of transparency

The German healthcare system is designed for corruption, since the its organisation is delegated to statutory health insurers, physicians' associations, etc. which are all self-controlled, says Anke Martiny from Transparency Germany in an interview with EH online. In spite of a whistle blowing system that was established in 2004, it still needs more transparency.

Medi-Clinic steps into Europe

Last August, when the South African hospital group Medi-Clinic Corporation acquired Hirslanden, Switzerland's biggest private hospital group, the company not only took its first step into Europe, but progressed its strategy for the geographical expansion of its core business — acute medicine 'in conjunction with superior nursing care'.

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Re-inventing the hospital

Medical services About 90% of hospital income is generated in the 35 weekly working hours of regular day shifts. However, due to new work time regulations fewer and fewer physicians are available for these productive shifts and much of the work time is spent in the 133 working hours of the 'unproductive' night shifts.

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Trends in image-guided therapy

For the third in his series of articles for European Hospital, Professor Stefan Schönberg of the Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine (IKRN), University Hospital Mannheim, Medical Faculty of Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, invited colleagues at the Faculty's Cardiology and Radiology and Nuclear Medicine departments for a round-table discussion on:

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Restructuring in the hospital sector

The hospital sector has recently been facing increased competition law scrutiny, in particular in Germany. During the last few years the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has made it clear on a number of occasions that mergers between hospitals (private as well as public-law hospitals) are just as much subject to competition law provisions as any other merger cases.

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Re-inventing the hospital

Over the past few years, hospitals in Germany have been faced with ever new challenges. However, the solutions offered so far are not sufficient. On the contrary - rather than solving problems, they tend to create new ones. A change of paradigm in the organisation of hospitals is imminent and hospitals have to change radically, argues Holger Richter

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Importance of strategic partnerships

The healthcare system is in a phase of transition - from planned economy to free market economy. Establishing and maintaining strategic partnerships is a crucial component of any ciable strategy in future business, explained Harald W Bachleitner, Managing Director of Initiative Gesundheitswirtschaft in Berlin, Germany, at the Hospital Management Symposium.

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FUNDRAISING

When the Oxford Radclife Hospitals NHS Trust invested £109 million in its new Oxford Children's Hospital, funding for certain special embellishments could not be contemplated. Thus a £15 million Campaign was launched to enable the hospital to be built and equipped far beyond the NHS standard. £13.8 million of that target has so far been received. Who raised that astonishing sum? Its…

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Type 2 diabetes driving epidemic

Type 2 diabetes poses one of the greatest public health threats of the 21st century. The majority of the western world is in the grips of a diabetes epidemic driven by type 2 diabetes that goes hand in hand with the escalating incidence of obesity. Alarmingly, in some working class and poor communities, the disease is so prevalent that its victims almost take it as a matter of course.

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Merger Agreement between MEDRAD and Possis Medical

As announced today, MEDRAD, an affiliate of Bayer HealthCare and a leading provider of contrast injection systems used to diagnose cardiovascular disease, has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Possis Medical, leading provider of mechanical thrombectomy devices used to treat narrowed or blocked blood vessels. MEDRAD will acquire Possis Medical in a cash tender offer for US-Dollar…

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Early Health - Investment or Cost?

Early Health, i.e. the early detection of diseases, will have to move into the centre of attention - this is the result of a survey by Total Healthcare Solutions (THS). Dr Susanne Michel, Associate Director at THS, underlines that in the future prevention will have to be considered an investment in healthcare rather than a mere cost factor. Decision makers from politics and the healthcare system…

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Bern Inselspital relies on consulting expertise from Hamburg

In the Bern Inselspital, one of Switzerland's most renowned university hospitals with a tradition of more than 650 years, change is underway: within the next six years the university hospital grounds are to be wholly replanned and restructured. An enormous task, as the colleagues from the University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf (UKE) can certainly attest, since here they are already in the midst of…

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Magnetic Field Imaging improves cardiac diagnostics

Magnetic Field Imaging (MFI) provides cardiologists with an additional tool to detect arrythmia and irregular cardiac blood flow and thus contributes to a more precise diagnosis. While an ECG acquires electric signals produced by the activity of the cardiac muscle, MFI measures the electrophysical function of the heart by determining the magnetic field during a heartbeat.

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Magnetic Field Imaging improves cardiac diagnostics

Magnetic Field Imaging (MFI) provides cardiologists with an additional tool to detect arrythmia and irregular cardiac blood flow and thus contributes to a more precise diagnosis. While an ECG acquires electric signals produced by the activity of the cardiac muscle, MFI measures the electrophysical function of the heart by determining the magnetic field during a heartbeat.

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On show at RSNA 2007

Visage PACS/CS, a scalable PACS solution based on web and thin client technology with fully integrated clinical applications, is to be demonstrated at this year's RSNA in Chicago, along with a comprehensive portfolio of life sciences products and services from Visage Imaging, a subsidiary of Mercury Computer Systems Inc.

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Seeking biomarkers

The term 'molecular medicine' has quickly become synonymous with brilliantly revealing images produced by innovative imaging techniques, new biomarkers and contrast agents. At Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) a team of researchers led by Dr Andrew Plump, the firm's Executive Director and Cardiovascular Disease Franchise Integrator, are seeking biomarkers for CVDs, and co-operating with Philips…

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USP Hospitales de Marbella

USP Hospitales is a prominent Spanish hospital group with a network of 31 facilities in Spanish cities. The group also owns a 25% share in Hospitais Privados de Portugal, the hospital affiliate of the Portuguese bank Caixa Geral de Depositos. USP Hospitales acts as a consultant for the bank's six hospitals in Lisbon, Oporto, Sanghalos, Lagos and Faro. USP Hospitales recently founded the company…

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Molecular medicine

It has only recently been discovered that very often it is not the size of the plaque in the coronary vessels but its inflammation status that determines the occurrence of a cardiac infarction.

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Acquisition

Recently, as a result of the acquisition of Kodak's Health Group by Onex Corporation, Carestream Health Inc. began operations as one of the world's leading independent health imaging and IT solutions companies. We asked Kevin J Hobert, CEO of Carestream Health, about this and its effects on his company's operations

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AACC emphasises preventive diagnostics

San Diego, California - 20,000 international physicians, scientists and other visitors travelled to the Annual Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) in July, and 750 exhibitors emphasised the increasing importance of this gathering

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Siemens to acquire Dade Behring

With a merger agreement with the US-based Dade Behring, Inc., Siemens Medical Solutions again strengthens its in-vitro diagnostic division and becomes leader in the diagnostic market. Dade Behring, Inc. is a leading clinical laboratory diagnostics company covering the market of clinical laboratory equipment and integrated solutions for routine chemistry testing, immunodiagnostics, hemostasis…

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Synthesis of the Senses

For many Europeans the ideal garden is the romantic dream of that safe haven where man and nature, both unspoilt and benign, live in harmony, far away from the ugly and mundane of everyday life. There are red rose bushes and mallow; white rhododendrons and hydrangea nestle in the semi-shade underneath the apple tree; in the grass next to the small pond with the reeds large daisies have been…

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Tomorrow's imaging on today's horizon

"Tomosynthesis is a hot topic in all the companies involved in mammography", Professor Danielsson pointed out. "But whereas they are developing more or less the same thing, Sectra has a totally different concept - photon-counting - a unique technology that, for the first time, processes X-rays one by one."

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Guest patient boom is a fizzle

"The world at home in German hospitals" - that was the hope of many German hospitals which wanted to attract well-heeled foreign patients to bolster their budgets. The high expectations of the business model "guest patient", however, were disappointed as a sobering study of the Sozial- und Seniorenwirtschaftszentrums GmbH (swz/IHT) conducted in the framework Health Care Export Projects shows.

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Digital dashboard software for PACS admin

Eastman Kodak Company is selling its new Carestream Digital Dashboard software that enables system administrators to monitor equipment performance, storage utilisation and user volumes for the company's Carestream PACS and information management solutions. Kodak also reports that the next version of this software will support monitoring of the Carestream Radiology Information System (RIS).

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A 'World Health Insurance'

In a recently published article, a team from Médecines Sans Frontières have suggested a 'World Health Insurance' to help provide healthcare for people in poorer nations (see box). Over 50% of the 42 countries carrying that healthcare burden would be European.

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Estonia leads the way in Baltic eHealth links

Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, boasts the country's third-largest hospital. East-Tallinn Central Hospital (ETCH) has 587 beds, 26,000 inpatients and last year recorded 425,000 outpatient visits. It dates from 1785 when the former Tallinn Central began to operate as a town hospital. However, in 2001, four hospitals and two polyclinics were merged to form ETCH.

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The trauma surgeon is a decathlete

Fear for the quality of acute care for the injured and victims of accidents was expressed by Professor Vilmos Vécsei, traumatology and sports traumatology specialist and Head of the University Clinic for Trauma Surgery in Vienna (VV), as well as President and General Secretary of the European Trauma Society (ETS), and Professor Otmar Trentz, Director of the Trauma Surgery Clinic at University…

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The pulseless life

New pulsatile heart pumps (ventricular assist devices - VAD) can remain in the body as a permanent heart support.

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4 steps to successful staff planning

Most hospitals must now report on the origin, cost and usage of all equipment and supplies. However, far less is known about a hospital's most important and expensive* asset: employees. Despite financial pressures, DRGs, and the EuGH judgement, which aims to end stress (particularly for junior doctors) discussion of the economical and effective use of personnel is frequently avoided, or can evoke…

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PET scanning the heart cuts costs

USA - Using positron emission tomography (PET) scanning rather than other types of imaging as the first tool to diagnose heart-vessel blockages is more accurate, less invasive and saves money, according to researchers reporting at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session in March.

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Exposanita 2006

Bologna, Italy - With 670 exhibitors - 595 domestic and 78 international companies from 18 countries as well as 344 represented companies from 36 countries - and close to 28,000 visitors, the medical event Exposanita was, once again, a huge success.

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Regular intake of NSAIDs reduces breast cancer risk

USA - Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) could reduce the risk for breast cancer by 71%, according to recent studies published in the journal BMC Cancer. In colorectal cancer, these protective features of painkillers have already been known to exist for a while.

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Article • Company Profile

In the spotlight: Schiller AG

Alfred E Schiller, founder and managing director of Schiller AG, based in Baar, Switzerland, describes the rise of his company and its place in today’s highly competitive intensive care market. Alfred Schiller founded Schiller AG in 1971 and three years later introduced his first product – a pocket-sized electrocardioscope, which has been built on successively over the years. The…

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Sepsis research honoured

Germany - The third Hugo Schottmüller Prize, awarded by the German Sepsis Society (DSG), has been presented to Dr Marc W Merx, of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technical University (RWTH) Hospital, Aachen, for his paper 'HMG-CoA Reductase Inhibitor Simvastatin Profoundly Improves Survival in a Murine Model of Sepsis', published in the journal Circulation.

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Adverse drug reactions

Although most patients do not react badly to prescriptions, a new study has found that one in 16 hospital admissions (in two hospitals) were caused by adverse drug reactions, and these resulted in an average of 8-day inpatient stays, using 4% of the hospitals' bed capacity.

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