What if every radiographer could help combat climate change while performing their daily work? Following the congress theme of ECR 2025, experts revealed how small changes – from education initiatives to simple workflow adjustments – can collectively transform the environmental impact of radiology.
Nuclear medicine specialist Daniela Oprea-Lager has been appointed Professor of Theranostics at Radboudumc / Radboud University. Her research focuses on the combination of diagnostics and treatment using radioactive substances, with particular interest for urological tumors, especially prostate cancer.
With the introduction of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), Helsinki University Hospital offers a new radiation therapy method that can destroy cancer cells while sparing the surrounding tissue.
From organ-preserving treatments to chemo-immunotherapy combinations: five studies presented at ESTRO 2025 showcase how radiotherapy is reshaping the treatment landscape for anal and rectal cancer.
Bringing diagnostics and therapy closer together - that is the basic concept behind theranostics. Through further development of its PET/MR scanners, Siemens Healthineers aims to advance this approach. Andreas Schneck, Head of the MRI Division at Siemens Healthineers, talks about the new system, which was also presented at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) in Vienna, and its advantages in…
Radiation therapy is an effective component of many cancer treatments, but some patients experience severe side effects. A new study shows that hyperbaric oxygen therapy can provide long-term relief.
Breast MRI has emerged as a powerful diagnostic tool, particularly for women with dense breast tissue where traditional mammography faces limitations. In her presentation at ECR 2025, radiographer Hanna Kalliomäki highlighted several technological advances transforming breast cancer detection and diagnosis. From time-saving abbreviated protocols and AI-assisted analysis to contrast-free…
Nuclear medicine (NM), one of the more mature technologies of diagnostic imaging, has been experiencing a rebirth in innovation and interest. The increasing prevalence of cancer,, an aging global population, and greater longevity, has created a robust demand for nuclear medicine. At ECR in Vienna, presenters explored market perspectives, but also safety and sustainability challenges.
Surgery may not be the best next course of treatment for patients with early-stage breast cancer who had a complete response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and standard radiotherapy, new research finds.
Japanese researchers have developed magnetic nanoparticles that can be directed to tumors using a magnet and then heated with a laser to destroy cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.
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The Diagnostica e Terapia Centro Aktis in Marano di Napoli, Italy, has expanded its diagnostic department with the addition of three imaging systems from United Imaging.
To improve breathing monitoring during radiotherapy, researchers have developed a millimeter-wave sensor capable of non-invasively visualizing respiratory movement during X-ray and CT examinations.
Late-stage breast cancer patients are more often affected by brain metastases than previously believed, a new study finds. The researchers suggest that MRI screening guidelines should reflect this.
Senescent cells, which may appear after chemotherapy or radiotherapy, can jeopardize patients' recovery. A study describes a new mechanism to eliminate these cells in cancer patients.
A new deep learning model shows promise in detecting and segmenting lung tumors. The findings of the study could have important implications for lung cancer treatment.
Steam eliminates wrinkles and germs, but can it destroy cancer cells too? A multisite clinical trial explores the potential of a water vapor system using steam to kill prostate cancer cells.
Why does radiation therapy kill cancer cells from the same tumour in different ways? This has long remained poorly understood. Now, new findings open up opportunities to improve treatment.
A premiere that brings hope for fertility restoration to men who underwent chemotherapy during childhood: Researchers reintroduced cryopreserved immature testicular tissue taken 16 years prior.
Precise segmentation of anatomical structures greatly benefits cancer diagnosis. Using AI and deep learning methods, researchers are developing a high-precision 3D viewer software for medical image data.
A research team has found wearable organic x-ray sensors could be the answer towards safer radiotherapy protocols for cancer patients, reducing the debilitating side-effects of the treatment.
Royal Philips announced a major advance in radiation oncology with 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its new detector-based spectral CT radiotherapy solution.
A ‘mini-protein’ can deliver radiation doses directly to tumours without harming healthy tissues. The approach shows promise for the treatment of metastatic bladder cancer and other tumours.
A new study found that measuring circulating tumor cells (CTCs), rare cancer cells shed from tumors into the blood, is a reliable way to predict later treatment response and survival prospects with metastatic prostate cancer.
A bit more mucus in the nose, a little less air in the gut: Even small changes can be important when planning proton therapy against cancer. A new workflow allows for an adapted irradiation every day.
Ultrasound plays a pivotal role in the assessment of organ transplant patients. It enables physicians to safely and easily assess progress, identify complications and resolve problems, as well as deliver long-term monitoring. The value of ultrasound in the transplant space was highlighted in a session at ECR 2024, covering liver, renal, pancreas, paediatric and multi-organ transplants with…
Researchers have identified fibrotic scarring as a key source of resurgence of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The new insights could lead to better prevention of this type of brain cancer.
When a person is diagnosed with rectal cancer, part of the bowel is often removed, often resulting in the need for a stoma or problems with bowel control. A new therapy could help avoid this surgery.
After breast cancer surgery, radiotherapy helps prevent the cancer from returning. However, this protection does not last forever. A long-term study shows the duration of the treatment's benefits.
Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) often develop into more invasive forms of breast cancer. To predict which DCIS patients are likely to be affected, researchers have developed an analytic AI-based tool.
The nuclear medicine global market is projected to see a significant increase in the coming years, with the lion's share being attributed to radiotherapeutics. So, how to set up a dedicated theranostics centre? At the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) in Toronto, Ontario, an entire session was dedicated to planning logistics, radiation safety, and…
Smaller kills faster – this is what was previously thought about gold nanoparticles used to fight cancer cells. However, new research reveals a more complex picture of these interactions.
What is an advanced clinical practitioner (ACP) and why should nuclear medicine technologists strive to become one? At the 2024 annual meeting of the SNMMI in Toronto, ACP Luisa Roldão Pereira outlined the position and its importance in the clinical context.
The concept of delivering radiation therapy to cancer patients seated in an upright position is undergoing a major resurgence. Evidence is already highlighting that patients feel more comfortable seated upright and enjoy better communication with radiotherapists during their care. In addition, there are indications of less internal organ movement, enabling more accurate treatment delivery.…
The IRCCS in Bologna has inaugurated a state-of-the-art integrated PET/CT system. This cutting-edge technology allows for the entire human body to be studied in a single scan, even detecting the smallest tumour cells.
In more than one in six patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the tumour is initially diagnosed at a non-metastatic primarily unresectable, locally advanced stage (LAPC). For these patients, a new internal radiation procedure, OncoSil™ brachytherapy, may become a treatment option – in Germany, around 858 patients could benefit from this innovation annually.
Diagnosing lung conditions such as pulmonary embolism is more challengenging when a patient cannot tolerate contrast agents. Now, a new software solution is addressing the issue.
Chemotherapy kills cancer cells – but how? New research suggests that the mechanisms are different than previously understood. The finding will have implications for future cancer treatments.
In some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), symptoms worsen during treatment, but MRI scans do not indicate any change. In such cases, positron emission tomography could help, a new study suggests.
Prostate radiotherapy techniques have been transformed over the past two decades. One promisting technique in this context is magnetic resonance-guided radiotherapy. The latest clinical results show a dramatic reduction in side effects, improving patient outcomes and quality of life.
A new trial could pave the way for more gentle surgery of breast cancer: The researchers explore the possibility of sparing the lymph nodes in the armpit - even if metastases are already present.
Dutch researchers use PSMA targeting to improve detection of prostate cancer, improving nodal staging and guiding more accurate surgery for this important patient population.
Cancer patients receiving radiotherapy run the risk of injuring their lungs. This can lead to conditions like pneumonitis and fibrosis. A new cell-by-cell model can help make treatments safer.
Using light instead of x-rays, a new imaging method from Philips is designed to advance navigation through a patient's blood vessels during minimally-ivasive procedures.
Neuroscientists recently discovered that low-dose ionizing radiation (LDIR) can reduce lesion size and reverse motor deficits in TBI and ischemic stroke mice, demonstrating its therapeutic potential.
Using a unique new technique, US researchers hope to offer a safer and more effective alternative to current cancer treatments, reporting promising first results in mice.
New research demonstrates how tiny nanomachines could greatly reduce bladder cancer by precisely targeting the tumour and attacking it with a radioisotope carried on their surface.
Long confined to surgery, robots are making their first steps in interventional radiology. Those devices could help improve accuracy in tumour targeting during needle insertion and help less experienced radiologists perform ablations, a leading French interventional radiologist showed at the Spectrum conference in Miami.
Using AI and optoacoustic imaging, researchers have developed a new method to assess microvascular changes in the skin – and thus the severity of diabetes in the patient.
New research suggests a new approach to precision radiotherapy can reduce the risk of swallowing problems for patients, without impacting the success of treatment.
Bone scans have been found to overstage prostate cancer at initial staging compared to prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET, according to new research.
New trial results suggest that a short course of induction chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation could reduce the rate of relapse and death among patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.
After pelvic radiotherapy, patients may live with low-grade chronic inflammation of the lower intestine 20 years after the treatment, a new study shows.
US researchers have discovered that radiation therapy combined with two types of immunotherapy can control tumors in preclinical models of triple negative breast cancer.
Experts from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have tasked ChatGPT to generate recommendations for cancer treatment – with some promise, but ultimately inadequate results.
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.
In a new editorial paper, researchers from the Army Hospital Hamburg discuss treatment strategies for common, but highly malignant types of head and neck tumors.
Treatment times for radiotherapy could be reduced for some early breast cancer patients, according to a trial led by University of Cambridge and The Institute of Cancer Research, London.
For proton radiation therapy against cancer, there is yet no direct method for mapping the beam range during dose delivery. A new method devised by Dresden scientists could help.
US researchers identified a potential breakthrough in glioblastoma treatment. Using a modified virus, they created a treatment that specifically attacks tumor cells, while leaving normal cells intact.
Researchers from the Organoid group (Hubrecht Institute) and UMC Utrecht have developed a biobank with organoids derived from patients with head and neck cancer (HNC).
Patients with early-stage breast cancer who have an elevated risk of having tumour recurrence now have the option to take a course of radiotherapy following breast conservation surgery that is only three weeks long, half the time of conventional radiotherapy treatment.
Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is increasingly used in early-stage lung cancer. However, experts caution that ditching surgical options in favour of "SBRT-only" has serious drawbacks.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) could identify patients at increased risk of side effects from radiation treatment for breast cancer, according to researchers at the University of Leicester.
A new online ‘European Cancer Pulse’ tool, created to compare cancer data across Europe, has highlighted that only 12 of the 27 EU Member States have an up-to-date national cancer control plan.
For patients with human papilloma virus associated oropharynx cancer, assessing the presence of cancer cells beyond the lymph nodes is critical in determining proper treatment.
For decades, researchers have marveled at the ability of glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive brain cancer, to turn off a patient's cancer-fighting immune cells, thereby allowing tumors to grow freely.
Dunlee unveiled its new oncology bundles onsite at ECR. The bundles combine components that have been tested and verified to work together so clinicians can offer state-of-the-art onboard Cone Beam CT (CBCT) in facilities.
A new clinical trial has shown that men diagnosed with prostate cancer can benefit from ‘radical radiotherapy’ that delivers treatment in five hospital visits instead of the typical 20.
Imaging researchers have taken a major step towards their ultimate goal of identifying cancers that are starved of oxygen so that altered treatment can be used to target them more effectively.
Radiotherapy does not improve survival rates in older patients with early breast cancer, new research suggests.
The newly founded UK Focused Ultrasound Foundation is dedicated to advancing the development and adoption of the technology, which can be used to non-invasively treat tissue deep in the body.
Evidence that radioembolization, a trans-arterial therapy, is safe and stops disease progression in metastatic breast cancer is increasing, a prominent American interventional radiologist showed at the Spectrum conference in Miami.
A new study from Spain has demonstrated the efficiency of an ultrasound radiation-based therapy on the inhibition of cancer cell motion in pancreas cancer models.
In men recently diagnosed with intermediate or high-grade prostate cancer, PSMA PET/MRI can successfully determine whether their cancer is likely to return within two years of a prostatectomy.
A promising new application for photon-counting CT: The new technology outperforms conventional CT in detecting subtle damage in the lungs of patients with persistent symptoms of Covid-19.
Canadian researchers have developed a new method of killing brain cancer cells while preserving the tissue around it. A remarkable side-benefit: chemotherapy of the cancer suddenly becomes possible.
Using fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) imaging may give insights into possible dose reductions in ongoing radiation therapy of head and neck cancer. A promising study to explore this option was presented at the 2022 ASTRO/ASCO Multidisciplinary Head and Cancer Symposium held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Radiographers could help design new artificial intelligence (AI) tools for radiation protection, Mark McEntee, professor of diagnostic radiography at University College Cork, Ireland, argued during the annual EuSoMII meeting in October.
An advanced radiotherapy technique can be used to safely treat prostate cancer patients in as little as one to two weeks, compared with the current standard, which takes one to two months.
A new randomized study confirms that men with high-risk prostate cancer can be treated with a moderately shortened course (5 vs. 8 weeks) of radiation therapy.
Bowel cancer patients could in future benefit from a new 3D bioprinting technology which would use their own cells to replicate the complex cellular environment of solid tumours in 3D models.
99mTc-Sestamibi SPECT/CT can aid in the diagnosis of solid renal lesions, especially in cases where contrast enhanced CT findings are inconclusive, according to researchers from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.
Focal treatment of prostate cancer involves treating only the tumor and not the entire gland, sparing surrounding tissue and nerves. The method is being evaluated in a research study.
Treatment of central nervous system diseases and tumors is often hindered by the blood-brain barrier. A new method aims to overcome this obstacle using focused ultrasound intranasal delivery (FUSIN).
At this year's Medica (Nov 14-17), the Health IT Forum offers a special focus on how health IT can contribute to more sustainability in healthcare, and on optimising treatment workflows.
US researchers have developed a test to detect loss of myelin - a key contributor to many neurological diseases including multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries, stroke, and dementia.
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.
New CT technology paired with artificial intelligence-based noise reduction offers superior detection of bone disease associated with multiple myeloma at lower radiation doses than conventional CT.
UK researchers developed and validated a deep learning algorithm that can identify and outline a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) tumor on a CT scan within seconds.
A surprising mechanism explains why high-grade gliomas, the deadliest form of brain cancer, returns: The tumours adapt to treatment by recruiting help from nearby healthy tissue.
Researchers have developed an ultrasound-guided cancer immunotherapy platform that generates systemic antitumor immunity and improves the therapeutic efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade.
Involving cancer patients more closely in the treatment pathway can modify care and deliver better outcomes. Carefully designed questionnaires and treatment response monitoring are helping clinicians take therapies to a new level.
In an online event to mark International Women’s Day, five women at various stages of their careers in cancer care discussed the hurdles they had to overcome – often because of their gender – and their determination to succeed.
A different way of treating people with prostate cancer will be investigated by researchers at the University of Leeds in a new clinical trial funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research.
A major advance demonstrates first multi-organ chip made of engineered human tissues linked by vascular flow for improved modeling of systemic diseases like cancer.
Modern medicine offers “peel and stick” solutions like nicotine or contraceptive patches to put right on the skin without needing to visit a doctor for an injection or procedure. Now, researchers have found that applying a topical ointment containing anti-tumor factor can increase the effectiveness of cancer treatment.
A new research venture pairs cutting-edge particle accelerator science and radiation therapy.
Researchers have succeeded in using metal oxide nanoparticles as "radiosensitizers" – and in producing them on an industrial scale.
Molecular radiotherapy shows great potential in becoming a more mainstream treatment for cancer, but the field is being hampered by a limited radionuclide supply.
GenesisCare announced the establishment of the Accuray CyberKnife S7 robotic accelerator that delivers radiosurgery treatment guided by AI and synchronized with real-time imaging.
In radiology, it is important to place patients safely and precisely. This works with the "GetUp®" holding system from Febromed.
Children's National Hospital successfully performed the first-ever high-intensity focused ultrasound surgery on a pediatric patient with neurofibromatosis. This is the youngest patient to undergo HIFU treatment in the world.
Light therapy may accelerate the healing of skin damage from radiation therapy by up to 50%, according to a recent University at Buffalo-led study.
One of the crucial future technologies in surgery is Augmented Reality (AR). Most experts agree that AR will increase safety and efficiency, improve surgical training and decrease costs.
Mammograms are a safe, effective way to detect the presence of breast cancer in women. But doctors recommend most females should start getting mammograms after the age of 40 in part because the procedure involves small doses of ionizing radiation. While the risk of getting breast cancer is higher for older people, it can strike at any age. Studies show that 5% to 7% of females with breast cancer…
PET/MRI is offering new imaging opportunities for cancer patients at various points along the care pathway with its ability to assess different biological processes and its increased specificity.
Focused ultrasound waves create microbubbles in a fluid – a phenomenon called cavitation. In a current study, this process is used to destroy liver tumors and metastases. In this Medica-tradefair.com interview, Prof. Maciej Pech talks about testing cavitation events generated during histotripsy, explains the process, and reveals its advantages.
For nuclear medicine specialists, 2021 may be heralded as a banner year validating the use of theranostic technology to treat cancer. Long-awaited results from the international phase 3 clinical VISION trial spark confidence in many experts.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first new major technological improvement for Computed Tomography (CT) imaging in nearly a decade. “Computed tomography is an important medical imaging tool that can aid in diagnosing disease, trauma or abnormality; planning and guiding interventional or therapeutic procedures; and monitoring the effectiveness of certain therapies,” said…
Contact shielding is one of the most divisive areas in radiography. Is it still essential in protecting patients from radiation, or has new technology made this precaution obsolete? Two experts debated the issue at the ISRRT congress in Dublin.
Combining imaging modalities is helping to achieve better diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes for heart patients. The topic, discussed in detail by experts at the ICNC-CT online International Conference on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT, examined hybrid/fusion imaging as the standard in cardiovascular imaging, and its value in clinical practice. Professor Terrence Ruddy spoke about the role of…
Prostate cancer specialists from the Radiotherapy Department at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust have become the first in the world to use an innovative technique to help patients receiving treatment for prostate cancer. Some patients receiving radiotherapy for prostate cancer will have their treatment split into two portions. The first stage of killing the cancerous…
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have 3D-printed a first-of-its-kind glioblastoma tumor that mimics a living cancer malignancy, powering new methods to improve treatment and accelerate the development of new drugs for the most lethal type of brain cancer. Glioblastoma is notoriously fatal as it accounts for the majority of brain tumors and is highly aggressive. The average survival time of…
A novel therapy engineered by Northwestern Medicine investigators improved progression-free and overall survival for patients with newly diagnosed malignant gliomas, according to results from a recent phase I clinical trial.
The Netherlands Cancer Institute, University of Amsterdam (UvA), and Elekta will collaborate on the development of new AI strategies for the further improvement of precision radiotherapy. This concerns the personalization of treatment by improving the quality of imaging used during treatment, predicting and accounting for changes in the patient’s anatomy over time, and automatically adapting…
A researcher at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has developed a mathematical model for use in automated image analysis of tissue samples. The model provides the possibility for better and more similar cancer prognosis and treatment.
Cécile Geneviève is one of the few women who lead research and development (R&D) at a major company and her increasingly female team reflects women’s growing interest in the field. But while gender balance is an important criterion, it takes a broad palette of skills to innovate to alleviate pain for millions of patients, she explained in an interview with Healthcare in Europe.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers in the world, and one of the most difficult to treat. In 2020, an estimated 495,000 individuals worldwide were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and an estimated 466,000 died, according to statistics from the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Most patients with advanced disease die within a year of…
Research from Cleveland Clinic in the U.S. and Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in the U.A.E. has found a decrease in patient survival rates when treatment options – surgery, chemotherapy and radiation – are completed more than 38 weeks from the time of diagnosis. The observational study, which included more than 28,000 breast cancer patients registered in the American National Cancer Database, is…
A breast cancer therapy that requires just one shot of radiotherapy is as effective as traditional radiotherapy, and avoids potential damage to nearby organs, according to a paper by UCL experts.
The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) have joined the International Contrast Ultrasound Society (ICUS) in recognizing the relatively low risk and important clinical benefits of ultrasound contrast agents (UCAs), which are used routinely around the world to help detect heart disease, stratify the risk of heart attack or stroke,…
For many patients with localized lung cancer (non-small-cell lung carcinoma and small cell lung carcinoma), high-dose radiation with concurrent chemotherapy is a potential cure. Yet this treatment can cause severe, acute inflammation of the esophagus (esophagitis) in about one in five patients, requiring hospitalization and placement of a feeding tube. A team of radiation oncologists at Mass…
Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) want to build the world’s first prototype that tracks moving tumors with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in real time during proton therapy. They are combining a rotating open MRI device, designed for the LINAC-MR system from Alberta Health Services, with an actively scanned clinical-akin proton beam at OncoRay, the Dresden-based…
Lung tumors are home to immune cells that affect their growth and resistance to treatment. Looking at neutrophils, scientists led by EPFL have discovered that the key might lie in the cells’ ability to metabolize glucose, opening an entirely new target for improving radiotherapy.
Tumour metabolism can be imaged with MRI as a technique to help determine cancer aggressiveness and response to therapy. The work by a UK-based group, on probing cancer metabolism non-invasively with clinical hyperpolarised carbon-13 MRI, can detect metabolic changes in the tumour. As metabolic changes occur much earlier than change in tumour size, this could have implications for quicker…
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…
A radiotherapy technique which ‘paints’ tumours by targeting them precisely, and avoiding healthy tissue, has been devised in research led by the University of Strathclyde. Researchers used a magnetic lens to focus a Very High Electron Energy (VHEE) beam to a zone of a few millimetres. Concentrating the radiation into a small volume of high dose will enable it to be rapidly scanned across a…
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…
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…
In a recent study, researchers at the Texas A&M University have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.
Hybrid PET/CT imaging can fully play to its strengths and steer treatment towards more effective procedures for diagnosing prostate cancer. The examination of the specific antigen PSMA with hybrid PET imaging enables treatment monitoring with significantly higher diagnostic accuracy than conventional imaging and therefore, Professor Clemens Cyran believes, will soon become the standard diagnostic…
Our biological or circadian clock synchronizes all our bodily processes to the natural rhythms of light and dark. It’s no wonder then that disrupting the clock can wreak havoc on our body. In fact, studies have shown that when circadian rhythms are disturbed through sleep deprivation, jet lag, or shift work, there is an increased incidence of some cancers including prostate cancer, which is the…
Researchers at the Center for Computational Imaging and Personalized Diagnostics (CCIPD) at Case Western Reserve University have preliminarily validated an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to predict how likely the disease is to recur following surgical treatment for prostate cancer. The tool, called RadClip, uses AI algorithms to examine a variety of data, from MRI scans to molecular…
A microbe found in the colon and commonly associated with the development of colitis and colon cancer also may play a role in the development of some breast cancers, according to new research from investigators with the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. Breast tissue cells exposed to this toxin retain a long-term memory, increasing the…
Hundreds of thousands of cervical cancer cases per year could be prevented through widespread vaccinations for human papillomavirus (HPV) and annual pap smear tests, says an expert at a top American hospital, Cleveland Clinic, marking Cervical Cancer Awareness Month in January. Dr. Robert DeBernardo, Section Head of Gynecologic Oncology and Vice Chair Subspecialty Care for Women’s Health at…
Doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge aim to drastically cut cancer waiting times by using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate lengthy radiotherapy preparations. The AI technology, known as InnerEye, is the result of an eight-year collaboration between researchers at Cambridge-based Microsoft Research, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge.
A promising approach to treating cancer—called targeted alpha-particle therapy or TAT—could better harness the curative power of radiation treatments and lessen the severity of their more debilitating side effects.
Researchers in Finland have developed a machine learning model that can help us treat cancer more effectively.
To target ionised radiation as precisely as possible, imaging a tumour is vital in radiotherapy planning. ‘Today, imaging is used increasingly during the therapy itself,’ explained Professor Mark Ladd during the 51st annual meeting of the German Society for Medical Physics (DGMP).
Rather than using techniques separately, researchers have determined that coupling image-based and serum-based biomarkers achieves a higher diagnostic accuracy in detecting stage two liver fibrosis, or above. The study team, from the NAFLD Research Center, University of California at San Diego (UCSD), and colleagues at Yokohama City University in Japan, used magnetic resonance elastography (MRE)…
Prostate cancer radiotherapy treatments guided by MRI are increasingly being explored to help improve patient outcomes and reduce toxicities after treatment. However, this development is being held back as the MRI approach is labour intensive and requires daily adaptive treatment planning, placing significant additional demands on clinician time and oncology services. To address this, a team of…
Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rate of any cancers, with immunotherapies currently offering negligible treatment benefits for patients. To help identify new therapeutic approaches, researchers from the University of Oxford have been focusing on leukocyte infiltration as a prognostic marker of the disease. Their study and findings were outlined by Dr Shivan Sivakumar during a session…
In order to analyze tumors, they have to be cut into thin slices. Now, a new technology has been developed that makes pieces of the tumor visible in 3D without cutting them.
In the first study of its kind in cancer, researchers have applied artificial intelligence to measure the amount of muscle in patients with brain tumours to help improve prognosis and treatment.
Dosimetry specialist PTW Freiburg GmbH signed a collaboration agreement with The Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL, Amsterdam) to jointly develop an advanced EPID-based dosimetry solution for automated patient-specific quality assurance in radiotherapy. The new software module RT EPID, which will become part of PTW’s patient QA platform Veriqa, builds on…
The dosimetry specialist PTW Freiburg GmbH has entered into a collaboration with the US-based bioinformatics company Radialogica LLC to integrate their advanced SciMoCa Monte Carlo dose calculation algorithm into PTW’s patient QA platform Veriqa. The new Veriqa module RT MonteCarlo 3D, which uses the SciMoCa dose engine for calculation-based radiotherapy plan verification, has received CE mark…
For most women with early breast cancer, a single dose of targeted radiotherapy during surgery is just as effective as conventional radiotherapy, which requires several visits to hospital after surgery. This combination of targeted radiotherapy (restricted to the area around the tumour) given immediately after surgery is called targeted intraoperative radiotherapy. Conventional radiotherapy…
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…
Using highly complex analytical techniques, a group of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to observe in detail how different metals are released from joint implants and accumulate in the surrounding bone tissue. Findings showed a steady release of metals from various implant components. In contrast to previous assumptions, this was not related to the degree of…
40 years ago, anticipating the huge impact of computers in radiology, a group of visionaries formed the Radiology Information System Consortium (RISC). In 1989, RISC created the Society for Computer Applications (SCAR) to promote computer applications in digital imaging. Those organisations became the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM). At SIIM 2020, a virtual meeting, experts…
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.
Imagine a dressing that releases antibiotics on demand and absorbs excessive wound exudate at the same time. Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) hope to achieve just that, by developing a smart coating that actively releases and absorbs multiple fluids, triggered by a radio signal. This material is not only beneficial for the healthcare industry, it is also very promising in…
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have been studying the evolution of tumors following chemical damage. They discovered that the DNA lesions caused by the chemical are not eliminated immediately, but are passed on unrepaired over several rounds of cell division. This "lesion segregation" can drive unexpectedly…
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected virtually every aspect of healthcare provision - cancer care is no exception. In fact, during the pandemic, patients with cancer represent a high-risk group. Recent studies estimate that delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment will increase the indirect death toll of COVID-19 by several thousands in the coming years.
A recent study conducted by the Faculty of Medicine at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CU Medicine) discovered a novel genetic biomarker which can predict the survival of head and neck cancer patients. There are over 0.7 million new head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cases globally each year. However, currently there is no clinical implementation of any genetic biomarker to…
Establishing whether a patient is suffering from severe lung disease, possibly COVID-19, within a few minutes: this is possible using fairly simple ultrasound machines that are enhanced with artificial intelligence. A research team at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the University of Trento in Italy has been able to translate the expertise of top lung specialists into a software…
Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most effective medical tests for analysing the effects of many illnesses, including COVID-19, on the lungs. An international team led by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has developed a new method that improves the quality of the images obtained from CT scans. The algorithm, which has been tested on simulated data, enables them to distinguish…
Whole body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW MRI) may aid in the assessment of cancer treatment response in children and youth at much lower levels of radiation than current approaches, suggests a small study funded by the National Institutes of Health. The results appear in Radiology. Researchers compared DW MRI, which measures the density of tumors by tracking the movement of…
Siemens Healthineers AG took a big step last October. To incorporate treatment along an entire clinical path, the firm acquired Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc., to combine image-guided diagnosis with robot-assisted surgery. A couple of months later, the Corindus endovascular robotic system CorPath GRX was used to implant a vascular stent into an obstructed coronary artery – the first use of…
The sense of fear is palpable in the images and videos of hospital intensive care units (ICUs) and emergency departments that are broadcast on television and posted on social media. Fear and heartbreak can be heard in the voices of physicians and nurses who describe what they are experiencing.
Glioblastomas are complex, fast-growing malignant brain tumors that are made up of various types of cells. Even with aggressive treatment — which often includes surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy — glioblastomas are difficult to treat, leading to an average survival of 11-15 months. In research published in Science Advances, Xavier Intes, a professor of biomedical engineering at Rensselaer,…
More than half of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy and the dose is critical. Too much and the surrounding tissue gets damaged, too little and the cancer cells survive. Subhadeep Dutta and Karthik Pushpavanam, graduate students working in the lab of Kaushal Rege, Professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, and collaborators at Banner-M.D. Anderson in Gilbert, Arizona, developed a…
A technique that enables patients suffering from heart conditions to hold their breath safely for over 5 minutes could have potential as part of a new treatment for cardiac arrhythmias, say researchers at the University of Birmingham. In a new study, published in Frontiers in Physiology, researchers initially proposed the technique as a new means for earlier diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease.…
Doctors have used focused ultrasound to destroy tumors in the body without invasive surgery for some time. However, the therapeutic ultrasound used in clinics today indiscriminately damages cancer and healthy cells alike. Most forms of ultrasound-based therapies either use high-intensity beams to heat and destroy cells or special contrast agents that are injected prior to ultrasound, which can…
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…
Unfortunately, cancers that occur in the back of the mouth and upper throat are often not diagnosed until they become advanced, partly because their location makes them difficult to see during routine clinical exams. A report in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes the use of acoustofluidics, a new non-invasive method that analyzes saliva for the presence of human papilloma virus…
MRI is now indispensable for diagnosing diseases and monitoring therapies. However, the ongoing discussion on gadolinium deposits in the brain has intensified the search for alternatives. Dr Daniel Paech of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, Germany, discussed potential solutions to acquire high-quality images without contrast agents.
Breast cancer screening is a well-designed and scientifically proven, evidence-based procedure, but has pitfalls such as under-detection and over-diagnosis. Surgery or radiotherapy may have serious consequences on health and must therefore be administered in carefully selected patients.
Medication prescribed for a certain type of epilepsy may offer a new method for treating malignant infantile brain tumours. A specific mTOR inhibitor has the ability to cross the blood–brain barrier to both reach and attack the tumour at source. This has been demonstrated by researchers from Uppsala University, in collaboration with US and UK colleagues, whose research has now been published in…
More than one in ten cancer patients do not die from their cancer but from heart and blood vessel problems instead, according to new research published in the European Heart Journal. For some cancers, like breast, prostate, endometrial, and thyroid cancer, around half will die from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Dr Nicholas Zaorsky, a radiation oncologist, and Dr Kathleen Sturgeon, an assistant…
With the right tools, physicians could transform the lives of patients and scientists. For Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA, artificial intelligence is such a tool, and could meet the increasing demand for personalised medicine and next-generation clinics. ‘AI is the biggest technological breakthrough of our lifetime.’
The first use of a robot-supported surgical intervention was reported in 1985, when the robot arm PUMA 560 placed a needle for a cerebral biopsy using CT guidance. Since then, strong growth in the market for robotic surgery has occurred, due to an increasing automation demand in the healthcare as a whole and greater concentration on minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for faster recovery.…
Interventional radiotherapy for tibial arteries has increased in recent years. Why? People are getting older and better techniques and materials now permit treatment even of very thin vessels. Professor Dierk Vorwerk, Director of the Institute for Radiology at Ingolstadt Hospital, where almost a third of all interventions in his department are performed on the lower leg, described the most…
Advances in antiretroviral therapy mean that today, people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can expect a healthy and long life. However, living with HIV does increase the risk of cancer. The reasons for this are multiple and include behavioural risk factors (smoking etc.) but many cancers can be attributed to the effects the virus has on the immune system, specifically its…
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.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer‑related deaths worldwide. Patients with pancreatic cancer often receive chemotherapy or radiation therapy, which are not always effective and can have toxic side effects. In a collaborative research between Osaka University and the University of Heidelberg, researchers are exploring a new method of treatment that brings powerful yet…
X-rays could be tuned to deliver a more effective punch that destroys cancer cells and not harm the body, researches from Kyoto University find. Gadolinium delivered into cancer cells releases killer electrons when hit by specially tuned X-rays. The approach, published in the journal Scientific Reports, could pave the way towards a new cancer radiation therapy. “Our method opens up the…
Breast cancer is rare for women under 40. So, a breast cancer diagnosis can be shocking news for a young woman to hear. “Breast cancer in young women can have its own risk factors and traits, and young women have their own considerations when deciding on a treatment,” says Nadine Tung, MD, head of breast medical oncology and cancer genetics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC).…
Immunotherapy is a promising cancer treatment that uses genetically modified immune cells to fight cancer. It can be used as a primary treatment or in combination with other treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy to slow down or stop the growth of cancer cells and prevent them from spreading to other parts of the body. Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy, for instance, is a…
On the centenary of his birth, Mark Nicholls reflects on the life and legacy of Nobel laureate Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield, the man who pioneered computed tomography. It was a discovery that came from a moment of inspiration during a country walking holiday; the idea that one could determine what was inside a box by taking X-ray readings at all angles around the object. From that, Sir Godfrey…
A drug developed by US physician-scientists and chemists speeds up the regeneration of mouse and human blood stem cells after exposure to radiation. If the results can be replicated in humans, the compound could help people recover quicker from chemotherapy, radiation and bone marrow transplants. The study, published in Nature Communications, also sheds light on the basic biology behind blood…
Researchers from Northwestern University are using Argonne supercomputers to advance the development of an optical microscopy technique that can predict and quantify cancer risks at extremely early stages. The basic principle driving Allen Taflove’s computational electrodynamics research — which bears the potential to transform how we diagnose, and possibly treat, various forms of cancer —…
A new way of concentrating radiotherapy dose in tumours, while minimising damage to healthy cells, has been proposed in research led by scientists at the University of Strathclyde. The study proposes that focusing high-energy particle beams on a small spot deep inside the body could potentially enable clinicians to target cancerous tumours precisely, while reducing the dose to surrounding tissue.…
Within a groaning 140-tonne particle accelerator a patient receives proton therapy, whilst down a few corridors, acupuncture needles are being placed and herbs mixed. Tradition and high tech walk hand in hand in Taiwanese healthcare. That’s what we learn during our visit to several facilities near Taipei.
Treating physicians need information about the molecular subtype of the tumor if they are to provide targeted therapy for colorectal carcinoma. A research team from University Hospital Zurich and the University of Oxford have now developed a method to predict the molecular classification of colorectal cancer from digital pathology slides.
Pathologists, radiologists, urologists and radiotherapy specialists sit at the core of the treatment pathway for the patient, working together as a cohesive unit. In an innovative 2019 ECR session in Vienna, the prostate unit from Ghent University Hospital in Belgium outlined how the team works to deliver the best clinical outcome for patients.
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) announces the launch of myQA iON at the 2019 PTCOG conference. myQA iON significantly reduces the time needed for patient QA: The use of PT machine log files, process automation, task-based workflows, and the latest web technologies significantly increase QA efficiency while ensuring patient treatment safety. Compared to conventional detector measurements (at…
A new targeted therapy using non-thermal radio waves has been shown to block the growth of liver cancer cells anywhere in the body without damaging healthy cells, according to a study conducted by scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine, part of Wake Forest Baptist Health.
A novel imaging technique that uses a synthesized form of scorpion venom to light up brain tumors has shown promise in a clinical trial. The imaging system enables neurosurgeons to better see malignant growths that often are difficult to fully eliminate.
A new vaccination for malignant astrocytoma brings such patients hope. However, research is still in its infancy. We spoke with Professor Michael Platten, Medical Director of the Neurological Clinic at Medical University Mannheim, about the present state of research and the serious opportunities this presents. During the interview, he also revealed how cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry…
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announced at the ESTRO 38 congress, that it has reached the milestone of 1,500 myQA customers worldwide. Since the first release of myQA in 2015, IBA has rapidly expanded its customer base across the global radiation…
A single high dose of radiation that can be delivered directly to the tumour within a few minutes is a safe and effective technique for treating men with low risk prostate cancer, according to a study presented at the ESTRO 38 conference. Radiotherapy traditionally involves a series of lower dose treatments that take place over several days or week. The new treatment is called high dose-rate…
Women with early, low risk, hormone-driven breast cancer are less likely to have a recurrence of their disease if they have radiotherapy after surgery, as well as anti-hormone treatment, according to results from a trial that has followed 869 women for ten years. New findings from the 8 A trial of the Austrian Breast and Colorectal Cancer Study Group (ABCSG), presented at the ESTRO 38 conference,…
Medical physicists at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden (Germany) announce the beginning of a new era in treatment planning: In a worldwide first, a new approach increases the accuracy, safety and probably also the tolerability of proton therapy.
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announces the successful commissioning of the Varian Halcyon at the Radiation Oncology Center at MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center, based on IBA Dosimetry independent beam scanning solution. IBA has designed myQA…
Researchers at the San Diego branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at University of California San Diego, with colleagues around the country, report that inhibiting activity of a specific protein in glioblastomas (GBM) boosts their sensitivity to radiation, thus improving treatment prospects for one of the most common and aggressive forms of brain cancer. The findings are published…
The first total-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) that can acquire a 3D image of the human body in a single position received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2019. Its forthcoming commercial availability for clinical use in the United States later this year is the milestone achievement of a multi-institutional consortium…
Cancer researchers at the University of Bonn have reported significant progress in the treatment of glioblastoma. About one third of all patients suffer from a particular variant of this most common and aggressive brain tumor. Survival of these patients treated with the new combination therapy increased on average by nearly half compared to patients who received the standard therapy.
The first report from a phase II, multi-center clinical trial indicates that a newer, more aggressive form of radiation therapy — stereotactic radiation — can extend long-term survival for some patients with stage-IV cancers while maintaining their quality of life. The study is published in the January issue of International Journal of Radiation Oncology • Biology • Physics (Red Journal),…
A significantly more effective, minimally invasive treatment for pancreatic tumors may be on the horizon, thanks to a new endoscopy tool created in the Penn State Department of Mechanical Engineering. On average, only about 20 percent of pancreatic cancer patients are eligible for a surgical removal of the tumor, which is currently the most-effective treatment option. The location of the pancreas…
A clinical-scientific team specializing in head-and-neck cancer has identified a way to manipulate metabolism to potentially curb skin fibrosis – a common side effect of radiotherapy affecting quality of life of cancer survivors. The study findings from the laboratory of principal investigator Dr. Fei-Fei Liu, Chief, Radiation Oncology, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, University Health…
New data reveals the life expectancy of patients with kidney cancer that’s traveled to the brain has now stretched from months to years. UT Southwestern Kidney Cancer Program investigators report survival rates beyond 2.5 years for some patients with specialized multidisciplinary care. Historically, patients whose kidney cancer had spread to the brain were believed to have only about six months…
New accelerator-based technology being developed by the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University aims to reduce the side effects of cancer radiation therapy by shrinking its duration from minutes to under a second. Built into future compact medical devices, technology developed for high-energy physics could also help make radiation therapy more…
New 7-Tesla MR methods could potentially shed light on cardiomyopathies’ principles, according to a leading French radiologist who also stresses the importance of teamwork between radiologists, cardiologists, surgeons and anaesthesiologists. Morphologic and dynamic information of the myocardium is achieved with millimetric resolution (0.9x0.9 square mm). Strong intensity variations…
MRI offers unequalled sensitivity and specificity in breast cancer detection. Yet, it is poorly accepted preoperatively. Recently, eminent radiologist Francesco Sardanelli, professor for radiology at Milan University and Chief of Radiology at the IRCCS Policlinico San Donato in Italy, unveiled preliminary results that could further MRI acceptance among multidisciplinary teams.
Built as the first commercially available scanner to deliver truly digital PET, the Vereos PET/CT, from Philips, offers revolutionary Digital Photon Counting technology. The science behind this scanner evolution is ‘quite complicated’, agrees Piotr Maniawski, Director of Clinical Science Nuclear Medicine at Philips Healthcare, yet the improved performance is significant, particularly when…
The complex structure of breast tumours makes treatment a medical challenge. A promising, novel selenium-based breast cancer nanoparticle therapy by the Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) together with other partners in the EU-project Neosetac could change that: It has proved to boost the active agent delivery and assure it's active only in the target tissue while also bringing…
A research team led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham is launching a study to find a better model for glioblastoma, a particularly devastating type of brain tumour, to help determine the most appropriate treatment modality. The $3.6 million, five-year U01 grant award is funded by the National Cancer Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health. The UAB team will join four other…
Nearly two-thirds of all cancer patients in the United States will undergo radiation therapy as part of their treatment, and as many as 90 percent of those patients will experience radiation dermatitis – a rash or burn on the skin. Topical treatments commonly such as silver sulfadiazine cream contain heavy metals. Therefore, patients have historically been advised to avoid using these…
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announces that it has entered into an agreement with Varian with the goal of validating the Dolphin transmission detector for online monitoring of patient treatment. With the health, security and safety of patients in…
A pathology test that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to characterize tissue samples can accurately predict clinically significant prostate cancer disease progression following surgery, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
A new method predicts the course of HPV-negative head and neck cancer after radiation chemotherapy. According to a recent article in the journal ‘Clinical Cancer Research’, five microRNAs (miRNAs) can provide the decisive data.
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…
Experts outlined approaches to ischaemia imaging during the recent British Cardiovascular Society conference. In a ‘Detection of ischaemia by cardiac imaging in 2018’ session, comparisons were made between solid state SPECT cameras, whether spatial resolution or visual assessment was of the greater importance, if CT-FFR offered advantages over CT perfusion, and the challenges in defining a…
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.
Glioblastoma brain tumors can have an unusual effect on the body's immune system, often causing a dramatic drop in the number of circulating T-cells that help drive the body's defenses. Where the T-cells go has been unclear, even as immunotherapies are increasingly employed to stimulate the body's natural ability to fight invasive tumors. Now researchers have tracked the missing T-cells in…
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.
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.) announces the launch of SciMoCa, a new Monte Carlo-powered secondary dose check and plan verification software, at the 60th annual AAPM meeting. Monte Carlo is generally accepted as the gold standard for dose calculation accuracy in treatment planning. With SciMoCa, Monte Carlo accuracy is now available for secondary independent dose calculation and verification,…
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,’…
Researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix are cross-utilizing plant biology, medicine and engineering to create a novel platform. They have developed a revolutionary "lung on a leaf" to study pulmonary diseases.
SLAC and Stanford researchers are developing a device that combines electrical brain stimulation with EEG recording, opening potential new paths for treating neurological disorders. It could help bring back lost brain function by measuring how the brain responds to therapies that stimulate it with electric current.
Blood is the juice of life, as while circulating through the body it delivers vital substances such as oxygen and nutrients to cells and tissues. Chemotherapy, radiotherapy and blood loss in general impoverish the system. A special kind of cells in the bone marrow, called hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is able to replenish the impoverished system by giving rise not only to red blood cells, but…
Weak, easily broken bones are an epidemic in the United States. They’re often tied to osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to degenerate over time. This makes them less flexible, more brittle, and easier to break. According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, more than 44 million Americans aged 50 and older either have or face the threat of developing osteoporosis due to low bone…
New products and technologies in medical practice expect the specialists of the leading international exhibition Bulmedica/Buldental from 16 to 18 May at Inter Expo Center. This year, the medical profile of the exhibition will focus on the progress in imaging, physiotherapy, aesthetic medicine. Once again Bulmedica/Buldental will be a platform to keep an eye on the tendencies, a meeting point of…
Taking a biopsy of a brain tumor is a complicated and invasive surgical process, but a team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis is developing a way that allows them to detect tumor biomarkers through a simple blood test. Hong Chen, a biomedical engineer, and Eric C. Leuthardt, MD, a neurosurgeon, led a team of engineers, physicians and researchers who have developed a…
Jan Walker, a retired administrative assistant to the superintendent of Boaz City Schools, was getting ready for her regular doctor visit and noticed a lump on her neck. Her primary care physician examined it and determined it was a simple swollen lymph node. Two months later, she began to lose feeling on the right side of her throat and noticed the lump had increased in size. After seeing other…
Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers diagnosed nationally among men. The National Cancer Institute estimates 161,000 were diagnosed in 2017. While there are many treatment options for men with prostate cancer, a recent national study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared the effectiveness of treatments for high-risk prostate cancer. Said Daniel Krauss,…
Immunotherapy is taking center stage in imaging, but patient follow-up with CT is no cookie and may fall short in the peripheral limbs, brain and bone marrow. MRI offers specific benefits in these situations, and, combined with PET, it may bring even more results. Research must be carried out on quantitative techniques and tracers developed to fully exploit that potential, Prof. Dow-Mu Koh…
What effect does a particular cancer medicine or radiation therapy have on patients? To find out, physicians use CT images to determine whether a tumor’s size changes during the course of treatment. In the PANTHER project, a joint team of experts aims at gaining further valuable information from these images. In the future, doctors will be able to find out at an early stage whether a cancer…
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.…
A new optical imaging system developed at Columbia University uses red and near-infrared light to identify breast cancer patients who will respond to chemotherapy. The imaging system may be able to predict response to chemotherapy as early as two weeks after beginning treatment. Findings from a first pilot study of the new imaging system—a noninvasive method of measuring blood flow dynamics in…
Tumor imaging technique has potential as anti-cancer weapon, mouse study shows.
Radiographers are increasingly central to patient care, but the heterogeneous education and skills across Europe remain challenging. Dr Jonathan McNulty and Håkon Hjemly, of the European Federation of Radiographers Societies (EFRS), explained how they plan to improve radiographers’ visibility and work towards homogenising training across Europe, notably by launching a European Diploma in…
Bracco Imaging S.p.A., a global leader in diagnostic imaging, announced that it has initiated new experimental activities in its R&D Center in Geneva, Switzerland, to explore a new application for gas-filled microbubbles in the development of personalized gene therapy for treatment of chronic dysfunctional diseases related to lipid metabolism. Microbubbles have already revolutionized medical…
Radiation therapy is a popular and effective treatment for many men with prostate cancer, and now a temporary gel offers greater protection for organs at risk during treatments. “Treating prostate cancer with radiation therapy can cause unintended injury to adjacent, healthy tissue, which can lead to bowel and urinary problems, as well as erectile dysfunction,” said Daniel Krauss, M.D., a…
Although targeted therapies have produced dramatic advances in our ability to control some types of advanced lung cancer, growth of the disease in the brain remains a major problem. Radiation is often used to treat deposits in the brain, but the best technique to deliver radiation can be controversial. Whole-brain radiation therapy, as its name suggest, treats the entire brain but can be…
Radiation therapy often is used to treat cancer patients. Now, doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that radiation therapy — aimed directly at the heart — can be used to treat patients with a life-threatening heart rhythm. They treated five patients who had irregular heart rhythms, called ventricular tachycardia, at the School of Medicine. The patients…
UV radiation has been known for a long time to be a risk factor for the development of skin cancer. Simultaneous infection with human papillomaviruses (HPV) has also been suspected to promote skin cancer, particularly in organ transplant recipients. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now been able to show for the first time in a natural system that papillomaviruses…
IBA (Ion Beam Applications S.A.), the world’s leading provider of proton therapy solutions and radiation therapy integrated quality assurance (QA) for the treatment of cancer, announces the acceptance and beam model validation of the first Varian Halcyon machine in Europe to go clinical, at the hospital UZ Leuven in Belgium, using IBA Dosimetry’s Blue Phantom water phantom system.
Cancer therapies including radiation and chemotherapy seek to treat the disease by killing tumor cells. Now a team including researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have shown that the dead and dying cancer cells generated by chemotherapy and targeted cancer therapy paradoxically trigger inflammation that promotes aggressive tumor growth. In a study published today in the…
Selective internal radiotherapy (SIRT) is often only looked at from a palliative perspective. However, the procedure is now also increasingly moving into the curative field, as Prof. Dr. Jens Ricke, Chair of Radiology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University Munich and Director of the Clinic and Polyclinic for Radiology at the University Hospital of the LMU reports. “As a locoregionally used…
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…
Stopping abdominal wall bleeding with contrast-enhanced ultrasound was just one of the exciting developments in CEUS presented at the Bubble Conference 2017 in Chicago. When you cut your finger you apply pressure to the wound until the bleeding stops. Professor Dirk-André Clevert from the Institute for Clinical Radiology at the Ludwig Maximilian University Hospital, Munich, Germany, remembered…
With cancer care costs projected to increase 32% from 2010 to 2020, researchers are working to determine the main drivers of costs for treating breast cancer. Breast cancer accounted for the highest proportion (13%) of the $124.6 billion in Medicare money spent on cancer care in 2010. In a study led by Ami Vyas, PhD, MS, MBA (currently at the University of Rhode Island) and published in the…
‘Ultrasound imaging is an attractive non-ionising medical imaging tool. It’s safe, free of side effects and offers an unmatched real-time imaging capability,’ interventional radiologist Professor Giancarlo Bizzarri underlines during our EH interview.
The movement to Value-Based Healthcare gives no value to diagnostic processes, including Radiology. ESR aims to establish a more holistic approach to help Europe’s single-payer systems shift to a new economic model. The organisers behind Value-Based Healthcare (VBH) are gaining ground in an effort to transition public and private payers toward value-based reimbursement.To date, the…
A new EC-funded project will bring together medical and radiation scientists, physicists and clinicians to enhance the radiation protection of patients and medical professionals. The four-year MEDIRAD project, which kicked off in June 2017, is led by the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research – EIBIR (AT) and comprises a consortium of 33 partners from 14 European countries.
A team under the direction of chemist Prof. Dr Peter Comba is investigating radioactive metal complexes for use in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors.