Search for: "lung biopsies" - 119 articles found

Article • Pros and cons of diagnostic techniques

Liquid biopsy vs. tissue biopsy: Getting the best of both worlds

Tissue biopsy and liquid biopsy can increasingly be used as complementary or alternative approaches, with advantages and limitations to each. While speakers at the recent 35th European Congress of Pathology in Dublin were quick to highlight that liquid biopsy was not about to replace tissue biopsy, the focus looked at the benefits and challenges of each through the lens of four expert speakers.

News • Machine learning assessment

Heart transplantation: AI can provide decision-making support

Matching the right donor heart to the right recipient at the right time is a complex task. Now, experts point out how AI can provide unbiased decision-support for transplantation process.

Article • Addressing an unmet need

MCED: a simple test for widespread early detection of cancer

Academic labs and biotech firms pioneer multi-cancer early detection with emerging technologies. Screening for multiple cancers with a simple blood or urinary draw could be a game-changer. Two research teams in particular have advanced the field.

News • Point-of-care diagnostic platform

Inhalable sensors for early lung cancer detection

Using a new technology developed at MIT, diagnosing lung cancer could become as easy as inhaling nanoparticle sensors and then taking a urine test that reveals whether a tumor is present.

News • SCN tumor development

How prostate cancer grows aggressive to evade treatment

In a new study, UCLA researchers demonstrated how small cell neuroendocrine prostate cancer tumor cells can arise from less aggressive prostate tumors.

News • Lab model to find treatments for stroke, dementia

Finding (and fixing) vascular leaks in the brain

Using small blood vessels grown in the lab, researchers discover how vascular leaks leading to dementia and stroke emerge – and how this damage might be fixed.

News • Autonomous medical needle steering

A tiny robot to maneuver through living lung tissue

A team from UNC has developed a steerable lung robot that can autonomously maneuver the intricacies of the lung, while avoiding important lung structures.

Article • RFA, MWA, CRYO and IRE under scrutiny

Thoracic interventions: new tools in the arsenal

Experts presented state-of-the-art and emerging techniques to treat chest tumours and discussed common issues in the management of pneumothorax at RSNA 2022. Current ablation methods in the thorax include radiofrequency ablation (RFA), microwave ablation (MWA), cryoablation (CRYO), irreversible electroporation (IRE) and pulsed electric field.

Article • Oncology imaging

The expanding role of CT in lung cancer management

While screening programs for several of the commonest cancers are now well established, lung cancer screening has yet to reach anywhere near the same proportion of at-risk patients.

News • Magnet-controlled tentacle

Tiny surgical robot could transform cancer detection, treatment

A tiny robot which can travel deep into the lungs to detect and treat the first signs of cancer has been developed by researchers at the University of Leeds.

News • Extracorporeal photopheresis

Study on ECP in heart transplant patients presents promising results

Results from a large European study reinforce the use of Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) in heart transplant patients as a treatment for heart transplant rejection and prevention of rejection.

Article • Alternative to lumpectomy

Breast cryoablation for surgically inoperative patients

Breast cryoablation is an emerging treatment for early-stage, localized breast cancer that destroys malignant tumours by freezing them. During the past decade, it has been increasingly utilized as an alternative to lumpectomy, but its long-term benefits compared to other breast cancer treatments are still unproven.

Article • Don't miss:

Talks and panel discussion at the Labmed forum

At this year's Medica tradefair, laboratory medicine, medical technology and life sciences give new impulses to the entire healthcare market - especially in times of the corona pandemic. An overview.

Article • Alternative to open surgical procedures gains traction

The future of minimally invasive interventions

In the future, many types of open surgeries will be replaced with minimally invasive interventions, predicts Kevin Cleary, PhD, engineering lead at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics and Radiology at George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. Surgeons and interventional radiologists will be able…

News • New therapy

Drug turns cancer gene into "eat me" flag for immune system

UC San Francisco researchers have developed a drug marking cancer cells for destruction by the immune system.

Article • Interpreter of maladies

Will AI help realize the promise of precision medicine?

Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to transform cancer treatment management worldwide. Their ability to rapidly analyse and integrate routinely acquired diverse data will improve the accuracy and effectiveness of precision medical treatments.

News • Precision oncology

What's new in cancer therapy?

Researchers from the University of Bern and Inselspital provide an overview of the latest technologies in precision oncology. Translating these into clinical application is still a major challenge.

News • Cardiomyopathy research

Genetic defects can cause heart failure

Cardiomyopathy is not a uniform disease. Rather, individual genetic defects lead to heart failure in different ways, an international consortium reports.

News • Machine learning analysis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

IDF diagnosis: AI on par with medical specialists

Researchers developed an AI that accurately and quickly diagnoses idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, based only on information from lung images and medical information collected during daily medical care.

News • Biomarker from blood test

Lung cancer: Liquid biopsy accurately predicts immunotherapy response

A simple blood test could be a better predictor of whether cancer immunotherapy will be successful for a patient with lung cancer than an invasive tumor biopsy procedure.

News • Macrophages

Hunting for immune cells that predispose people to severe Covid-19

When a virus makes its way into the body, one of the immune system’s first responders is a set of pathogen-removal cells called macrophages. But they don’t all target viruses in the same way.

News • Lung cancer

A novel AI for digital pathology analysis

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine have developed a novel artificial intelligence algorithm to assess digital pathology data.

Article • Detection and diagnosis of cancer

The ‘smart’ future of cytology

A combination of digital pathology and quantitative biomarker analysis in the emerging concept of ‘smart’ cytology has a potential role in the detection and diagnosis of cancer.

News • Machine learning vs. NSCLC

AI to improve post-treatment surveillance of lung cancer patients

Artificial intelligence (AI) could help guide the post-treatment surveillance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and improve outcomes as a result, according to a new study.

Article • Cancer diagnostics

Bringing liquid profiling to the clinic

Liquid profiling is offering clear benefits in terms of cancer diagnostics and targeted therapy, but challenges remain in bringing it into the clinic.

Article • Precision medicine

Liquid biopsy: the ‘next frontier’ for cancer detection?

Mark Nicholls reports from the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) virtual Festival, with four expert speakers discussing the role of liquid biopsy in cancer detection.

News • Coronavirus imaging

Brightest ever X-ray shows lung damage from Covid-19

The damage caused by Covid-19 to the lungs’ smallest blood vessels has been intricately captured using high-energy X-rays emitted by a special type of particle accelerator. Scientists used a new imaging technology called Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography (HiP-CT), to scan donated human organs, including lungs from a Covid-19 donor.

Article • Disaster victim identification

Will CT scanning in post-mortem examinations mark the end of the scalpel?

Post-mortem CT (PMCT) increasingly supports pathologists, radiologists and forensic investigators particularly in cases of gunshot fatalities, mass casualties, decomposed and concealed bodies, fire deaths, diving deaths, non-accidental injury cases, and road traffic deaths, in which CT can indicate a pattern of injuries. In Dublin this August, the post-mortem (autopsy) technique was discussed…

News • Classifying subtypes

Breast cancer ‘ecotypes’ could lead to more personalised treatment

A team led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has revealed a new approach for classifying breast cancer subtypes based on their cell profile, which could help personalise treatments for patients. By analysing breast cancer biopsies from patients at Sydney hospitals, the researchers revealed more than 50 distinct cancer, immune and connective cell types and states, which could assign…

Article • Omics in cancer care

Personalizing laboratory medicine

To avoid adverse reactions, personalised laboratory medicine can help to predict a patient’s drug response. Investigations based on DNA and other omics technologies – e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics – along with microarray technologies, is making a particularly valuable contribution to cancer care, in which personalised approaches are becoming possible through…

News • Functional diagnostics

New assay could advance personalized cancer treatment

A new study from the University of Helsinki shows that cells that are freshly isolated from lung cancers can be used to create robust drug response data. This approach can identify actionable or non-responsive treatments, illustrated by a case study in which the assay was used to guide the compassionate treatment of a patient.

News • Neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Breast cancer: New test predicts therapy success

In a collaboration with the Faculty of Statistics at TU Dortmund and the University Medical Center in Mainz, a research team at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors in Dortmund (IfADo) has developed a test that can be used to predict the success of therapy for breast cancer. Breast cancer is one of the most common tumour diseases worldwide. One in eight women will…

News • Oncology early detection tool

Blood test for 50+ types of cancer promising for screening

Final results from a study of a blood test that can detect more than 50 types of cancer have shown that it is accurate enough to be rolled out as a multi-cancer screening test among people at higher risk of the disease, including patients aged 50 years or older, without symptoms. In a paper published in the cancer journal Annals of Oncology, researchers report that the test accurately detected…

Article • Innovation in intervention

The promise and reality about AI for interventional oncology

Is artificial intelligence (AI) technology ready to be utilized as a clinical tool by interventional oncologists? Not yet, but when it is, AI technology’s clinical impact may be as profound as advanced imaging is today, two leading experts agree.

News • Detect lingering disease

Liquid biopsy for colorectal cancer could guide therapy for tumors

A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrates that a liquid biopsy examining blood or urine can help gauge the effectiveness of therapy for colorectal cancer that has just begun to spread beyond the original tumor. Such a biopsy can detect lingering disease and could serve as a guide for deciding whether a patient should undergo further treatments due to some…

Article • Machine learning advances diagnostics and prognostics

Computerized image analysis can predict cancer outcomes

The advent of digital pathology is offering a unique opportunity to develop computerized image analysis methods to diagnose disease and predict outcomes for cancer patients from histopathology tissue sections. Such advances can help predict risk of recurrence, disease aggressiveness and long-term survival, according to a leading expert in the field, Professor Anant Madabhushi from Case Western…

Article • Clinical decision support

AI deep learning of PET/CT images to support NSCLC treatment

A software tool to predict the most effective therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) developed by applying deep learning artificial intelligence (AI) to positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images has been developed by researchers at H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida. The tool is designed to provide a noninvasive, accurate method to…

Article • The ‘new normal’ after Covid-19

Lung cancer screening: The slow return of mobile units

The coronavirus pandemic has had a severe impact on healthcare services but one area where that has been felt particularly deeply is with lung cancer screening. With sessions cancelled, treatment delays and social-distancing and safety requirements, many patients have been affected. However, as services begin to pick up again and lung cancer screening returns, three experts closely associated…

News • Immunotherapy side effect

Hope for kidney cancer patients

An autoimmune side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) drugs could signal improved control of kidney cancer, according to a new study by researchers in UT Southwestern's Kidney Cancer Program (KCP).

News • MEDICA 2020

virtual.MEDICA presents specialist topics in laboratory medicine

This year, the MEDICA LABMED FORUM will offer a high-profile programme with top speakers which is free for registered online visitors.

Article • Improving the role of radiology

Value-based healthcare: AI reveals the bigger picture

Value-based healthcare is gaining momentum and radiologists must increasingly show their contribution in improving patient care. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help them to do so and brings a series of new opportunities, according to Charles E Kahn, Professor and Vice Chairman of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking at a meeting in Madrid in January. AI can do a lot to improve…

News • Cervical cancer

3D imaging system accelerates cancer diagnosis

Researchers have developed a novel three-dimensional imaging system to diagnose cervical cancer faster, non-invasively and more efficiently than conventional methods.

News • Rad Companion

Siemens expands AI portfolio in clinical decision-making

The AI-Rad Companion family supports radiologists, radiation oncologists, radiotherapists and medical physicists through automated post processing of MRI, CT and X-ray datasets. It saves the clinicians' time and helps them to increase their diagnostic precision.

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.

Article • More than the sum of their parts

The benefits offered by hybrid imaging

Former ESR President Katrine Riklund will explore the clinical applications of hybrid imaging in a virtual session for the European Congress of Radiology 2020. She will discuss a number of common indications of hybrid imaging in areas of oncological diagnosis, the indications and limitations of hybrid imaging in common diseases, and the added value of hybrid imaging. “The major benefit of…

Article • Spreading quality pathology in Canada

Building a telepathology network

Following success of telepathology in the eastern region of Quebec, the service is set to be further expanded across its remote areas. There are also moves towards a fully digital service at some sites, to introduce tele-autopsy into remote regions and extend the geographical coverage further across the region. The latest developments were outlined at the Digital Pathology and AI Congress in…

News • New sensor tech

A more reliable way to early detect lung tumours

People who are at high risk of developing lung cancer, such as heavy smokers, are routinely screened with computed tomography (CT), which can detect tumors in the lungs. However, this test has an extremely high rate of false positives, as it also picks up benign nodules in the lungs. Researchers at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have now developed a new approach to early…

News • Surprising discovery

Fatty liver disease can also affect lean people

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is mostly diagnosed in overweight and obese people. However, severe forms of NAFLD can also be detected in rare genetic diseases such as lipodystrophy or in patients with HIV, putting them at a high risk for developing liver failure, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Norbert Stefan and colleagues have now detected a yet unknown cause of NAFLD in lean…

Article • On the way to diagnostic mainstream

Liquid biopsy to advance cancer diagnosis

Liquid biopsy offers a new dimension to detection and stratification of cancer – yet the technique also faces hurdles in becoming a mainstream diagnostic approach for more personalised treatments. A critical challenge lies in identifying the extremely low concentrations of the bio-analytes of CTC (circulating tumour cells), ctDNA (circulating tumour DNA) and exosomes in the blood.

News • Tumour Matrisome Index (TMI)

Big data breakthrough in cancer diagnosis

A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has discovered a new personalised tool to detect cancer, predict patient survivability and how well a cancer patient would respond to immunotherapy. This tool is a specially-designed cancer 'scorecard' to be used with the standard blood test for cancer (also known as liquid biopsy). This 'scorecard', which the team termed as…

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…

News • Minimally invasive

Improved biopsies with MRI-compatible ultrasound system

Biopsies are standard procedures in interventional radiology, not least for patients with a suspected tumor. In this instance, MRI is increasingly the method of choice for guiding minimally invasive tissue sampling. Yet this involves having to undergo repeated MRI scans, which patients find uncomfortable. In an ongoing R&D project, Fraunhofer researchers have now developed a system that…

Article • Transferring research into daily routine

AI possibilities and probabilities

Although some people foresee artificial intelligence (AI) easing medical workloads, many challenges arise before that dream can begin. Dr Felix Nensa and Dr Bram Stieltjes described such hurdles in a session held during a SITEM School Symposium in Bern, Switzerland. Whilst AI has potential, actually delivering that asset in to routine medical practice remains a major challenge.

Article • Lung cancer early diagnosis

Can we afford not to offer lung screening?

For lung cancer patients, life expectancy has hardly improved since 1970. A ten-year survival is 5%, making this the leading cause of death among all cancers. One reason is that, in most cases, the disease is diagnosed far too late. Professor Mathias Prokop is among leading advocates of low-dose CT screening for lung cancer for high risk patients.

News • A STAMP with high value

New tech makes biopsies less invasive, more informative

A team of researchers has developed a novel technology that could sensitively and accurately detect and classify cancer cells, as well as determine the disease aggressiveness from the least invasive biopsies. With this new technology called STAMP (Sequence-Topology Assembly for Multiplexed Profiling), comprehensive disease information can be obtained faster, at a much earlier stage of the…

Article • Cardiology & radiology

AI opens up boundaries between medical disciplines

Uwe Joseph Schoepf, Professor for Radiology, Cardiology and Paediatrics and Director of the Department of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Medical University of South Carolina, discusses areas of application for AI-based radiology. The cardiothoracic imaging expert and his team were largely involved in the development and early clinical trials of the Siemens AI-Rad Companion Chest CT, a software…

Article • Multiscale integrative cross-disciplinary imaging

Linking pathology and radiology workflows

Pathologic-radiologic correlation is already utilised in various settings as a tool to assess the interpretive performance of imaging studies and identify radiologic features corresponding to histologic findings. However, correlative assessment is currently limited mainly to the fields of research and quality assurance, and is generally not a routine element of the radiologist or pathologist…

Article • Travel medicine

Parasites & company – the radiologists' view

Sunburn and happy memories are not the only things we can bring home from a holiday. Sometimes parasites, fungi, viruses or bacteria from distant countries accompany our return, later to become noticeable in unpleasant ways, often to pose a real health threat. At the German Radiology Congress in Leipzig, Dr André Lollert and colleagues ventured into the world of tropical and travel medicine.

News • Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Protein linked to cancer growth drives deadly lung disease IPF

A protein associated with cancer growth appears to drive the deadly lung disease known as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), according to new research from Cedars-Sinai. The discovery, made in laboratory mice and human tissue samples, may have implications for treating the disease using existing anti-cancer therapies that inhibit the protein PD-L1. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic,…

News • NSCLC

Liquid biopsy as effective as tissue biopsy for non-small cell lung cancer

Test more accurately identifies four mutations for which FDA-approved drugs exist and offers faster turn-around time between initial testing and commencement of therapy.

Article • Radiomics

A boost for thoracic radiology

A new radiomics study could help unlock one of the more challenging issues facing thoracic radiologists. Distinguishing non-small cell lung cancer from benign nodules is a major challenge due to their similar appearance on CT images. Now, however, researchers from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, have used radiomic features extracted from CT images to differentiate between…

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…

News • Precancerous lesions

Lung cancer: early detection with molecular profiling

Before lung cancer develops, precancerous lesions are found in the airway, but only half of these will actually become lung cancer, while others will disappear or remain benign without becoming harmful. Under the microscope, the lesions look the same, making it difficult to know which lesions to treat. In this study, published in Nature Medicine, researchers have for the first time, discovered…

Sponsored • Equipment for Iraq

Fulfilling a promise to Mosul with point-of-care ultrasound

Mosul, Iraq’s second city, is slowly rebuilding its healthcare infrastructure after years of war and destruction. Dr Henryk Pich, a consultant anaesthetist and intensive care physician at the University of Dresden, Germany, visited the region soon after the fighting had ended, supported by the independent aid organisation CADUS. Moved by the makeshift treatment centres he witnessed in the…

Article • A challenger arrives

AI – just a tool or the future of healthcare?

Neuroscientist Lynda Chin MD, Founder and CEO of Real-world Education Detection and Intervention, has little doubt: ‘Artificial intelligence to the rescue,’ she proclaimed in her keynote address at the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Summit, held in Las Vegas this spring. ‘We need a system and analytics to interpret data!’ she urged, despite being well aware that building a…

News • Cancer

'Liquid biopsy' predicts lymphoma therapy success within days

Changes in circulating tumor DNA levels quickly predict how patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma are responding to therapy, according to a Stanford-led study. Currently, patients wait months for the results.

News • Analyzing free-floating DNA

Blood test shows potential for early detection of lung cancer

A test that analyzes free-floating DNA in the blood may be able to detect early-stage lung cancer, a preliminary report from the ongoing Circulating Cell-Free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study suggests. Lead study author Geoffrey R. Oxnard, MD, of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: “There is an unmet need globally for early-detection tests for lung cancer that can be easily implemented by health-care…

News • PET-scan

Imaging agent helps predicting lung cancer therapy success

With the help of a new radioactive tracer, doctors can predict with more than 80 percent accuracy how well a widely-used lung cancer drug will combat tumors, according to researchers at Stanford. The researchers developed a PET scan-compatible imaging agent engineered to seek out a specific mutation found in nonsmall cell lung cancer (which accounts for about 80 percent of lung cancers), bind to…

News • Meyenburg Award

A high distinction for a pioneer in liquid biopsy

Nitzan Rosenfeld from Cancer Research UK in Cambridge is being honored with the 2017 Meyenburg Award, which carries a €50,000 monetary prize. He receives the award for his excellent work on the detection of tumor DNA in the blood. Rosenfeld has made seminal contributions to advancing a method for detecting cancer DNA in the blood to applicability in cancer medicine. The Meyenburg-Award will be…

News • Oncology

Blood test spots tumor-derived DNA in early-stage cancers

In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood.

Article • Teleradiology

Integrate technologies to upgrade reports

As the demand for imaging studies booms and digital pathology takes off, it is becoming necessary to look at the interactions between radiology and pathology in telemedicine, an expert explained during the Radiology Triangle Madrid meeting early this year.

Article • Mutated DNA in blood

Liquid biopsy detects tumour changes in real time

New findings from a scientific collaboration between the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), the National Centre for Tumour Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and the Thoraxklinik Heidelberg suggest liquid biopsy as a promising tool to monitor lung cancer patient tumours early. Scientists associated liquid biopsy readouts with clinical data and could track tumour responses to cancer drugs in real-time.

News • Breath Biopsy platform

Owlstone Medical CEO Billy Boyle wins Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal

Billy Boyle, Founder and CEO of Owlstone Medical, a diagnostics company developing a breathalyzer for disease, is to be awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious Silver Medal. The award recognizes engineer Billy’s work in spearheading the development of the company’s Breath Biopsy platform and driving a vision to save 100,000 lives and $1.5 billion in healthcare costs.

News • Clinical trial

A simple breath test could evolve breast cancer diagnostics

The University of Southern California (USC) Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center is actively recruiting for a clinical trial that is researching the effectiveness of a breath test for breast cancer diagnostics. The BreathLink device, manufactured by Menssana Research, Inc., captures a two-minute sample of a patient’s breath and provides immediate results on whether there are indications of breast…

Article • Mass Spectrometry

Circulating biomarkers – the great white hope of liquid biopsy

About six years ago, liquid biopsy appeared on the diagnostic lab stage. Last December, a seminar offered by Agena Bioscience in Frankfurt, Germany, was set to explore the enormous potential of this new technique for oncology.

News • Oncology

One more piece in the puzzle of liver cancer identified

Researchers at University of Vienna discover unexpected role of signalling protein in hepatocellular carcinoma.

News • Single-Cell Isolation Technology

Predicting a response to treatment in patients with lung cancer

Menarini-Silicon Biosystems announced the company’s DEPArray single-cell isolation technology played a key role in a study conducted by researchers from The University of Manchester to develop a model for predicting whether small-cell lung cancer patients will be sensitive or resistant to initial chemo­therapy treatment.

News • Oncology

Nanotechnology supports treatment of malignant melanoma

Changes in the genetic make-up of tissue samples can be detected quickly and easily using a new method based on nanotechnology. This report researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel in first clinical tests with genetic mutations in patients with malignant melanoma.

Interview • Fighting cancer

The first Spanish oncology forum

When two Spanish oncologists launched the first independent Spanish oncology forum this May in Madrid, European Hospital’s correspondent spoke with Dr Javier Cortés, co-organiser of the event, to find out more about its expected impact in their field.

Article • Transplants

Cell-free DNA offers several advantages

As part of a national, joint research project in cooperation with Chronix Biomedical (San Jose, CA/USA/Göttingen/Germany), Professor Michael Oellerich MD is on new biomarkers in organ transplantation, aiming to develop personalised immunosuppression for patients. This also entails the development of molecular test procedures, among others for the early detection of rejection. The keyword here is…

Article • Hybrid

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

‘The combination of nuclear medicine and modern imaging procedures such as CT and MRI is becoming increasingly important in the diagnosis, treatment planning and aftercare of cancerous diseases,’ explains Professor Katrine Åhlström Riklund, who presides over the newly established European Society for Hybrid Medical Imaging, ESHI.

News • Politics

Liquid biopsy test from Roche gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2, a blood-based companion diagnostic for the cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib). This is the first FDA-approved, blood-based genetic test that can detect epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Such mutations are present in approximately 10-20 percent of non-small cell…

News • Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis

IPF: 3D imaging technique applied for first time

Doctors and scientists at the University of Southampton have used advanced 3D X-ray imaging technology to give new insight into the way an aggressive form of lung disease develops in the body.

News • Lung cancer

“Liquid biopsy” blood test detects genetic mutations

A simple blood test can rapidly and accurately detect mutations in two key genes in non-small cell lung tumors, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions report in a new study – demonstrating the test’s potential as a clinical tool for identifying patients who can benefit from drugs targeting those mutations.

News • Drug delivery vehicles

Soap bubbles for treating stenosed blood vessels

Liposomes are currently used as drug delivery vehicles but recognized by the immune system. Scientists from the universities of Basel and Fribourg have shown that special artificial liposomes do not elicit any reaction in human and porcine sera as well as pigs. The study was published in the Journal Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology, and Medicine.

News • PointMan DNA

Enrichment technology for highly sensitive lung cancer mutation detection

EKF Diagnostics, the global in vitro diagnostics company, announces that two research posters supporting the application of its PointMan DNA enrichment technology, for rapid and sensitive detection of lung cancer mutations, have been delivered at key conferences.

News • Study

Spheroid stem cell production sows hope for IPF treatment

In a small pilot study, researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a rapid, simple way to generate large numbers of lung stem cells for use in disease treatment. This method of harvesting and growing a patient’s own lung stem cells shows promise in mice for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and could one day provide human IPF sufferers with an effective, less…

Article • Infection control

From alcohol to cancer detection

Clinical trials are under way at two NHS hospitals in England to assess breathalyser technology to detect lung cancer. Phase I clinical trials of a diagnostic breathalyser developed by Cambridge-based Owlstone Ltd have shown accurate identification of 12 lung cancer biomarkers in breath specimens. A Phase II trial is now targeting development of a small, handheld device that can be used in GP…

New test to predict the effectiveness of cancer vaccines

Many therapeutic cancer vaccines that are currently being developed are designed to direct the immune system against altered cancer-cell proteins.

Liquid biopsy

It sounds amazingly simple: a structured medical Seldinger guidewire is inserted via a peripheral venous catheter to ‘fish’ for circulating tumour cells (CTC) in the blood of cancer patients. Report: Bettina Döbereiner

The PointMan cometh

Founded in Germany 25 years ago, EKF Diagnostics’ PLC HQ is currently in Cardiff, Wales, where the firm is pursuing the development of a molecular assay for specific cancer types.

A challenge for oncologists

‘The disease “cancer” is increasingly classified into sub-groups. Today, we are already dealing with a number of orphan diseases,’ says Professor Richard Greil MD, head of LIMCR at University Hospital Salzburg.

The complex science behind microbubbles

At Bracco Suisse SA in Geneva all efforts are dedicated to contrast media for ultrasound scans. During their visit to the firm’s research centre and manufacturing site, Daniela Zimmermann and Ralf Mateblowski met with François Tranquart MD PhD, general manager of the Bracco Suisse research centre, to hear why SonoVue is now Europe’s most popular ultrasound contrast agent, with research…

Cancer has a smell and breathprint

Israel - Researchers are using breath-test technology to detect volatile organic compounds to tell whether a patient has stomach cancer.

PET/MR: The opportunities are almost unlimited

MRI has become the gold standard for many indications in cardiac imaging, apart from imaging the coronary arteries. For function and morphology assessment, MRI is the leading technology. A further advance into as yet unknown territory is myocardial imaging aided by one of the first integrated 3-Tesla PET/MR systems currently used at the Institute of Radiology, Essen University Hospital,…

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.

Tumour heterogeneity - A challenge for oncologists

‘The disease “cancer” is increasingly classified into sub-groups. Today, we are already dealing with a number of orphan diseases,’ says Professor Richard Greil MD, head of LIMCR at University Hospital Salzburg.

ESTI previews updated ATS / ERS classification for IIPs

“This is breaking news, which just happens to coincide with the ESTI meeting,” said David Hansell MD, who will present a preview of the as-yet unpublished update to the ATS/ERS classification for idiopathic interstitial pneumonias (IIP).

Optimised imaging challenges biopsy, but remains ‚ silver´ standard

“The powerful capabilities for thoracic imaging can often be sufficient to make a diagnosis to treat the patient,” notes Philippe Grenier, MD. If CT findings, for example, are typical for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, there should no longer a need for a biopsy, which is good for the patient.

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.

Hybrid imaging: PET-CT and MR-PET

A series of papers presented at the European Congress of Radiology on Friday have highlighted how hybrid imaging is helping radiologists achieve better results in the diagnosis of patients’ conditions. In a session focussing on molecular imaging and entitled “Hybrid imaging: PET-CT and MR-PET”, findings from ten different research papers were detailed by radiologists from Italy,…

Three questions for WFUMB Honorary Lecturers …

World of Ultrasound met Prof. Ioan Sporea, Prof. Gebhard Mathis and Prof. Byung Ihn Choi to ask them three questions.

Staying on the right side of the law

High flexibility and live conditions contribute towards the high popularity of image-guided interventions, now performed under ultrasound control in 80-90% of cases. However, although minimally-invasive examinations are based on high standards of medical safety, complications can arise that could ultimately lead to litigation. Thus, experienced ultrasound operators would be wise to know the…

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…

Article • PSA

A two-step biomarker approach for prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in males in developed countries and the sixth leading cause of cancer death worldwide. One reason for the increase in diagnosis is the widespread uptake of the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, capable of detecting slow growing cancers that might otherwise go undetected.

Novel diagnostic strategies and the future of breast cancer care

During his Honorary Lecture at the 8th Düsseldorf Breast Cancer Conference in Germany world renowned surgeon and oncologist Prof. Veronesi reflected about the prevention and treatment of breast cancer.

Rethink breast cancer surgery

Italian surgeon and oncologist Prof. Dr. Umberto Veronesi, Founder and Scientific Director of the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and former National Health Minister (2000 – 2001), is considered to be one of the biggest authorities on breast cancer research of our time. Many breakthrough changings in cancer medicine sustainably go back on his researches, which once earned him also a…

Why low dose really matters in mammography screening

Although breast cancer, the most common disease affecting women, accounts for over 30% of all the cancers they suffer (far ahead of colon, ovary or lung cancer), breast cancer is responsible for only 1% of cancer related deaths.

Prostate Cancer Screening

To date, there is insufficient knowledge as to the cause of this disease, or how to prevent it. We asked some of our EH correspondents to report on measures taken in their countries to ensure that men are made more aware of this disease and whether screening services are provided for early prostate cancer detection.

Prostate Cancer Screening

We asked some of our EH correspondents to report on measures taken in their countries to ensure that men are made more aware of this disease and whether screening services are provided for early prostate cancer detection.

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%.

In vivo biopsy for histological analysis

Early suspicions of cancer, either from clinical evidence or medical imaging, are often followed up on biopsy. However, the removal of tissue for histological analysis can be uncomfortable for patients.

Diagnostic accuracy of PET and CT in early stage lung cancer

A multi-institutional study recently compared whether positron emission tomography (PET) or computed tomography (CT) performs more efficient in the characterization of solitary lung nodules (SPNs). Previously performed studies were either limited by small sample sizes or carried out more than a decade ago with outdated technology and methods.

Non-invasive monitoring of airway inflammation in asthma and COPD

By Paolo Montuschi MD, of the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.

Long term research project of young children with asthma

Multiple-breath washout (MBW) is a new and sensitive lung function test qualified for use on very young children. In their study Asthma UK and the Institute of Child Health at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London use MBW among other tests to investigate how asthma affects the growing airways of babies and infants.

Oncology

In recent years new imaging procedures have delivered many answers and solutions for oncological diagnostics and therapy. However, one question could not be answered: Is a tumour developing?

2007 Congress will welcome radiologists to Vienna

The European Congress of Radiology (ECR) is a never-ending story of surprises, excitement, and success. Year after year, more scientists, radiologists eager to learn, and partners from industrial companies flock to this excellent meeting.

Visualising the breathing lung

After previous meetings in the USA (2002) and Japan (2004), this October the 3rd International Workshop of Pulmonary Functional Imaging (IWPFI) took place in the German Cancer Research Centre, based in Heidelberg University, Germany. " 'The clinicians' need for earlier and more detailed diagnosis in pulmonary disease demands a joint interdisciplinary effort to push the limits in pulmonary…

Into the breast's depths

USA - Radiologists at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, Massachusetts have released findings from a breast cancer research study designed to evaluate the use of software from Advanced Image Enhancement, Inc (AIE) for examining regions of interest (ROI) with Hologic's Lorad Selenia digital mammography system.