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Search for: "radiotherapy" - 250 articles found

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Sponsored • Product presentation at radiology congress

United Imaging showcases sustainable, AI-driven innovations at ECR 2025

United Imaging, a global leader in manufacturing advanced medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment, showcases a range of cutting-edge technologies aligned with sustainable values. Notably, the company achieves an A rating in the MSCI ESG ratings, highlighting its unwavering commitment to transforming medical diagnostics and patient care worldwide through a holistic, sustainable approach.

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Diagnost

HighlightsUniversal PACS Viewer, Independent of modalityCT, MR, CR, DR, PET, PET-CT, US, XA, …MammographyRadiotherapyPowerful hanging protocolsIndependent of operating systemIntegrated teleradiologyExtensible by other applicationsHIS / RIS integrationConsultation functionalitiesTeleconferencing

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RIS

MC³ Radiology | RadCentre Cockpit & Speech Integration

HighlightsRadCentre is a comprehensive process and data management solution for radiology, nuclear medicine and radiotherapy. Based on latest technologies it offers high usability with an innovative user interface (Cockpit) and most efficient reporting with integrated speech recognition.Integration of received reports (specification depends on cooperating system) Fast and efficient creation…

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Oncology

RT Pro Edition for MAGNETOM Sola and Vida

HighlightsSupport precision in radiotherapy with Magnetom Sola, or Vida and trendsetting applicationsScan patients consistently in treatment position with dedicated RT positioning equipment (CIVCO, Orfit, Qfix, Medibord), an MR compatible laser bridge (LAP), and a large variety of flexible coilsRely on intuitive and dedicated RT workflows with myExam RT Assist¹ and syngo.via RT Image…

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Sponsored • Diagnostic solutions for Jossigny

Entering the French market with advanced PET/CT imaging

United Imaging, a company specializing in advanced imaging solutions, is proud to announce the first installment of their cutting-edge technology in France. The increasing number of healthcare facilities deciding to leverage the company's diagnostic solutions stands as a testament to their effort toward engineering imaging solutions that hold the potential to transform patients’ lives worldwide.

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Sponsored • Diagnostic imaging in Rome

Brand-new nuclear medicine department equipped with advanced Total-Body PET/CT system

The new Nuclear Medicine Department of the San Pietro Fatebenefratelli Hospital was inaugurated in Rome. The Department was inaugurated with the online intervention of Health Minister Orazio Schillaci and in the presence of Maria Tripodi (Undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation), Antonello Aurigemma (President of Lazio Regional Council).

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Article • Benefits of seated placement

Patient positioning during cancer radiotherapy: Upright is alright

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.…

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Sponsored • Brachytherapy in LAPC patients

Innovative Avenue of Treatment – Internal Radiotherapy for Locally Advanced Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer

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.

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Sponsored • Magnetic resonance imaging

State-of-the-art MRI introduced in southern Italy

Medical imaging and radiotherapy equipment company United Imaging are delighted to extend a warm welcome to Cobellis Clinic, the latest treatment centre to join their global family of clients. With an unwavering commitment to providing the highest level of healthcare services, the clinic has made a strategic decision to rely on the manufacturer's state-of-the-art imaging technology.

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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.

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Article • Existing solutions need to mature, experts find

Interactive mobile cancer apps: promising, but formative

Interactive mobile apps have become ubiquitous in daily life. The Covid-19 pandemic has escalated the use of disease-specific monitoring apps. Mobile apps enabling cancer patients to self-manage their physical condition and symptoms can help them to evaluate toxic side effects of their treatments, offer artificial intelligence (AI)-generated recommendations to minimize them, and alert them to…

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Interview • Interview with President Adrian Brady

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

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

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Article • Mid-treatment scans can reduce treatment sessions

De-escalating radiation therapy for oropharynx cancer with FDG-PET

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.

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Article • Sex differences in heart failure

Why a closer look at a woman’s heart matters

The hearts of men and women are different – while this insight has been established for quite some time now, it might even surprise cardiologists just how deep these differences really run. In her presentation at this year’s ESC, Diana Bonderman, MD, gave a comprehensive roundup on sex differences in risk factors and subtypes of heart failure.

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News • Combined chemotherapy

Pancreatic cancer: New treatment promising for older patients

Pancreatic cancer is a disease of the elderly: the average age of patients is 72. In Austria, about 1,600 people are diagnosed each year. Since pancreatic cancer has no specific symptoms, it is not usually diagnosed until the tumor is locally advanced or has already metastasized. Once the tumor has metastasized, it is usually no longer treatable by surgery or radiotherapy. In addition, the drug…

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News • Patient response testing

New method predicts which cancer therapies work (and which don't)

A new technology that can study which therapies will work on patients with solid cancerous tumours has been developed by scientists at University College London (UCL). Researchers say the tool, which can rapidly test tumorous tissue against different treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiotherapy, could be used by clinicians to pinpoint the best therapy for a particular patient.

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News • Reducing collateral damage

A shield to protect patients during prostate cancer radiotherapy

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…

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Article • Precision oncology

Personalized health and genomics: Minimizing collateral damage

A solid diagnosis has always been the first step on any patient’s journey to health. However, diagnostic categories are necessarily oversimplifications. In the last decades, medical professionals and scientists have begun to uncover the true variability in patients’ physiological and biochemical make-up that is the principal cause for individual variations in the way diseases present…

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News • Personalizing treatment

AI can help improve precision radiotherapy

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…

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Article • Screening, early detection, treatment optimisation

AI techniques advancing oncology care

Cancer care and the treatment clinicians can offer patients is being increasingly enhanced by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The technology has a role in diagnosis, with algorithms trained to design and deliver patient care, can match patients to clinical trials they may benefit from, and even help predict outcomes and those at greatest risk.

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Article • Oncology

Pancreatic cancer - current challenges and future direction

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…

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Article • Fighting cancer together

New interdisciplinary approaches to intervention & immuno-oncology

Over recent years interventional oncology (IO), as a subspecialty of interventional radiology, has become a standard component of many cancer therapies. The broad range of minimally invasive methods – and their results – are often comparable to those of traditional approaches, such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiotherapy, e.g. with regard to hepatocellular cancer (HCC), oligometastatic…

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Video • Uprooting cancer

New hydrogel 'reprograms' cancer cells back to cancer stem cells

An innovative hydrogel – called a double network (DN) gel – can rapidly reprogram differentiated cancer cells into cancer stem cells, researchers at Hokkaido University and the National Cancer Center Research Institute have reported in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. The hydrogel can be used to help develop new cancer therapies and personalized medicines targeting cancer stem cells.

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News • Malignant brain tumor

Successful test for mutation-specific vaccine against diffuse gliomas

Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. Mutations in the tumor genome often lead to protein changes that are typical of cancer. A vaccine can alert the patients' immune system to these mutated proteins. For the first time, physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now carried out a clinical trial to test a mutation-specific vaccine against malignant brain tumors.…

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News • Digital health company

Brainlab acquires Mint Medical

Brainlab, a digital medical technology company, announced today the acquisition of Mint Medical GmbH, a Heidelberg-based company that develops image reading and reporting software for clinical routine and research. The acquisition underscores the Brainlab commitment to digital health and aims to improve the structured diagnosis, analysis and treatment of cancer and other diseases to address the…

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Article • The QuADRANT project

Clinical audits in radiology to promote high quality medical care

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

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News • Curbing collaterals

High energy radiotherapy ‘paints’ tumours, avoids healthy tissue

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…

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Article • Advancing diagnostic accuracy

PSMA PET/CT in prostate cancer evaluation

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…

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Video • "InnerEye" Artificial Intelligence

AI could help cut waiting times for cancer radiotherapy

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.

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News • Philips and InSightec partnership

Expanding access to MR-guided focused ultrasound for incisionless neurosurgery

Royal Philips and InSightec, a global healthcare company focused on the therapeutic power of acoustic energy, announced a collaboration to expand access to MR-guided focused ultrasound for incisionless neurosurgery. By developing compatibility between Philips’ advanced MR systems and the Exablate Neuro platform from InSightec, the two companies will support expanded access to MR-guided focused…

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Article • Sonography challenges

Abdominal ultrasound: promising for imaging of obese patients

Imagers need special scenarios, skills and tools to examine larger patients, who present more challenges when it comes to radiological procedures. New ultrasound devices could help reduce dose exposure in these patients, who are more likely to undergo x-ray based examinations and receive a higher dose during those, experts explained in a dedicated session during ECR 2020.

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Article • AI-assisted MRI segmentation

Deep learning boost for prostate cancer workflow

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…

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Article • Anatomy meets astronomy

French radiologists set their eyes on the stars

About 2,200 satellites are currently orbiting the Earth and soon space stations may be equipped with the latest medical imaging technology, including interventional radiology devices. In France, radiologists and astronauts are putting their heads together to make this vision materialise in a unique partnership between the French Society of Radiology (SFR) and the French Space Agency (CNES).

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Article • Immunotherapy, iRecist and complications

Lung cancer imaging (in a post-Covid world)

The evolving area of immunotherapies in lung cancer and the role of iRecist treatment assessment protocols were investigated during a virtual session organised by the British Institute of Radiology (BIR). Consultant radiologist Dr Charlie Sayer, specialist in lung cancer imaging at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, South of England, focused on immunotherapies, the limitations of…

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News • Dosimetry solution for radiotherapy

Automating patient QA with advanced 3D EPID dosimetry

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…

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News • Distant metastasis-free interval explored

High-risk breast cancers: Mode of detection is linked to patient prognosis

Breast cancers that are detected in the interval between national screening programme mammograms have a worse prognosis than those detected at the time of a screening, even if they have the same biology, according to research presented at the 12th European Breast Cancer Conference. Analysis of results from over eight years’ follow-up of the international MINDACT randomised phase III clinical…

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News • Dose calculation

Cooperation to improve patient-specific QA in radiotherapy

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…

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Article • Corona demographics

Why Covid-19 registries for cancer patients are so important

Due to compromised immune systems cancer patients are at higher risk of contracting infections. How does cancer impact on patients who also contract Covid-19? To collect this data, four cancer registries, one in the EU, one in the UK, two in the USA, have been established. The first large, multi-institution study of the impact of Covid-19 was conducted in Wuhan, China, and presented at the…

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News • TARGIT-IORT vs. EBRT

Breast cancer radiotherapy: A single dose is often enough

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…

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Article • Neuro-oncology

Challenges in brain tumour segmentation

Neuroradiologist Dr Sofie Van Cauter described the challenges to brain tumour image segmentation during the European Society of Medical Imaging Informatics (EuSoMII) annual meeting in Valencia. She also outlined how, when clinically validated, AI could help tackle such problems. The WHO classification of brain tumours has come a long way since first introduced in 1979. The 2016 classification was…

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News • Better diagnosis, better treatment

Prostate cancer deaths to decline (almost) everywhere in the EU

Death rates from prostate cancer are predicted to fall in 2020 in the EU, largely due to better diagnosis and treatment, according to new research published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology. In the latest predictions for cancer deaths in the EU for 2020, researchers led by Carlo La Vecchia (MD), Professor at the School of Medicine, University of Milan (Italy), show that since 2015…

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News • Medulloblastoma

New insights into deadly brain tumours in children

The causes of 40 percent of all cases of certain medulloblastoma – dangerous brain tumors affecting children – are hereditary. A genetic defect that occurs in 15 percent of these children plays a key role by destabilizing the production and breakdown of proteins. The researchers suspect that protein metabolism defects could be a previously underestimated cause of other types of cancer.

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Article • Professor questions essential artificial intelligence safety

Facing facts: AI in clinical practice

Examining the safety of AI integration into clinical workflow during at the British Institute of Radiology (BIR) annual congress in London, this November, Professor Nicola Strickland focused on issues of data quantity and quality, regulation, validation and testing of algorithms. She also urged radiologists and computer scientists to work more closely together to develop safe, effective and…

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News • Zooming in

Breast cancer map reveals how mutations shape the tumour landscape

Scientists have created one of the most detailed maps of breast cancer ever achieved, revealing how genetic changes shape the physical tumour landscape. An international team of scientists, brought together by a £20 million Grand Challenge award from Cancer Research UK, has developed intricate maps of breast tumour samples, with a resolution smaller than a single cell. These maps show how the…

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News • Cancer radiotherapy monitoring

Novel hydrogel turns pink to indicate radiation dose sweet spot

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…

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News • Hyperventilation vs cardiac arrhythmia

Hold your breath – save your heart?

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.…

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Article • WB-MRI vs. prostate cancer

Whole-body MRI improves disease evaluation

Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) is championed as offering significant benefits, such as improving disease evaluation for prostate cancer patients. During an intense session in genito-urinary cancer at ECR 2019, three key speakers focused on the advantages over conventional imaging modalities as well as discussing new PET (Positron Emission Tomography) tracers.

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Article • The future has begun

Cancer care 2035: multi-disciplinarity is key

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

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Article • Mammacarcinoma screening

Breast cancer: Simply monitoring might be best

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.

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News • Surgical planning, medical training, patient education

Mixed reality anatomy viewer released

Digital medical technology company Brainlab announced the launch of Mixed Reality Viewer, which brings spatial computing into daily clinical practice for surgical plan review, medical student training and patient consultation. Brainlab Mixed Reality (MR) Viewer uses the head-mounted display Magic Leap One from Brainlab strategic development partner Magic Leap to add a new dimension to patient…

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Article • Today’s improved lower leg treatments

Peripheral vascular therapies

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…

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News • Targeted therapy for pancreatic carcinoma

Hitting cancer with 'homing' radioactive molecules

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…

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News • Therapy-resistant cells

Von Hippel-Lindau: How to kill hereditary cancer

Researchers identified how to kill therapy-resistant cells in hypoxic tumors and in cells arising in the von Hippel-Lindau hereditary cancer. In a recent publication in PNAS, the research group identified how to kill therapy-resistant cells in hypoxic tumors and in cells arising in the von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) hereditary cancer.

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News • Dose reduction

Increasing precision for radiotherapy

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.…

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News • COCIR and EFOMP partner up

Training initiative on angiographic equipment

Earlier this July, 75 Medical Physics Experts gathered in Prague to attend the EFOMP and COCIR Summer School “State of the art & new trends of angiographic equipment: Image quality, Patient and Staff dosimetry”, endorsed by the European Society of Radiology (ESR). The Summer School was organised in collaboration with the Czech Association of Medical Physicists and the Department of…

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Article • Prostate cancer data

Mapping the inflammatory landscape

Image analysis of prostate cancer is a challenging area for clinicians. The disease shows a low mutation burden compared to melanoma and stomach cancer, for example, making morpho-molecular correlation more difficult, and there is often very low inflammation. With the role of tumour infiltrating lymphocytes in prostate cancer currently unclear – and with the advent of new approaches to prostate…

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News • Brachytherapy

Single dose of targeted radiotherapy: safe and effective for prostate cancer

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…

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News • Ten-year trial results

Radiotherapy reduces recurrence of early, hormone-driven breast cancer

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,…

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News • Post-cancer impairment

'Chemobrain': New biomarkers found

Cognitive impairment associated with cancer, also known as “chemobrain”, has gained recognition as a complication of the disease and its treatment, as it can negatively affect the daily lives of cancer patients and survivors. Chemobrain can be subtle yet persistent, with some cancer patients reporting difficulties related to memory and attention even months after completing their treatment.…

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News • Rare bone cancer

Targeted approach to therapy for chordomas

Chordomas are rare bone tumors for which only few options of treatment exist. Scientists and doctors from the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) have discovered a particular genetic trait of chordomas in advanced stages after conducting gene analysis. Their findings, published in the journal Nature…

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News • Too old

Imaging equipment: installed base needs to be replaced

Despite COCIR raising the alarm as early as 2014, the age of the installed base of medical imaging equipment in Europe continues to increase. To draw attention to this worrying trend, COCIR is presenting new data on the current situation in four modalities of medical imaging, graphically demonstrating the extent of the issue. These were launched tday at the European Congress of Radiology 2019 in…

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News • Cancer stem-like cells

Important signaling pathway in breast cancer revealed

In breast cancer, one of the most common cancers in women, tumors contain a small amount of so-called cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). Being able to eliminate breast-cancer stem-like cells in a targeted way is essential for developing successful therapies — conventional treatments, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy followed by drug intake, do not target CSCs. A better understanding of the…

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News • Radiotherapy side-effects

Skin fibrosis: new treatment for cancer patients

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…

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Article • New Italian study results

Pre-operative MRI endorsed for breast cancer

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.

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News • Radiation protection

Using skin creams during radiation therapy: Is it safe?

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…

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News • Reinforced learning

AI masters tightrope walk of cancer treatment dosage

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

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News • MedTech

Concerning fall in UK radiology equipment spend

The overall UK radiology equipment market spend for the six months to the end of March 2018 is down by around 30% compared to the same period in the previous year. This is according to latest figures from AXREM (the Association of Healthcare Technology Providers for Imaging, Radiotherapy and Care), which represents all the major medical imaging manufacturers active in the UK. Commenting on the…

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News • Hematopoietic Stem Cells

What keeps our blood in balance

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…

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Article • Profession

Swiss radiographers face many challenges

The radiographer in Switzerland faces many issues, from having the right education to positioning themselves both professionally and legally in the healthcare continuum. Before a large audience at ECR 2018, Yves Jaermann, head of the radiographers service Riviera-Chablais Hospital in Vaud Valay, reviewed the situation in his country. The profession of radiographer was born in 1896, when the first…

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News • External and brachytherapy

Prostate cancer: Combination of radiation therapies key to success

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,…

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News • Counting the cost

New model to calculate breast cancer survivors’ risk of death

As early detection and treatment of breast cancer improves, more and more women are surviving the disease. However, they still face challenges, which include determining the moment when it might be reasonable to state they are “cured” of the disease, and obtaining life insurance. “In the Netherlands, most applications for life insurance are accepted, but not for cancer survivors. A lot of…

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Article • The InnerEye Project

AI drives analysis of medical images

Some time in the distant future artificial intelligence (AI) systems may displace radiologists and many other medical specialists. However, in a far more realistic future AI tools will assist radiologists by performing very complex functions with medical imaging data that are impossible or unfeasible today, according to a presentation at the RSNA/AAPM Symposium during the Radiological Society of…

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Article • Therapy monitoring

Liquid biopsy versus radiomics – the race is on

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

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News • Radiation therapy

New gel reduces side effects of prostate cancer treatment

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…

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News • Delivery options

Radiosurgery vs. whole-brain radiation in lung cancer patients with multiple brain metastases

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…

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News • Cooperation

Hitachi to install new proton beam therapy system in Spain

Hitachi, Ltd. announced that it has entered into an agreement to provide Clinica Universidad de Navarra (CUN) with its proton beam therapy (PBT) system. The agreement includes PBT system maintenance following completion of the systems' installation. The PBT System will be installed at CUN's facility in Madrid, Spain and is equipped with state of the art technology including spot scanning…

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Article • CyberKnife technology training

Stereotactic radiotherapy spreads

In Rennes, France, more than 850 patients have already been treated with a top accelerator equipped with a multileaf collimator, the first of its kind in the country. Brittany’s capital Rennes is leading stereotactic radiotherapy practice as Eugène Marquis Cancer Centre gears up to welcome worldwide technicians to train on the latest CyberKnife system, Accuray’s powerful robotic radiosurgery…

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Article • Beyond palliative care

Perspectives of SIRT – who benefits and why?

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…

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Article • Multimodality

Risk profiling in breast diagnostics

Breast diagnostics are undergoing considerable change, with new technology facilitating alternative procedures. Genetics and nuclear medicine also enhance diagnostic possibilities. During our EH interview, Professor Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland described current changes in breast diagnostics. ‘To date, complementary breast diagnostics has comprised clinical, sonographic and mammographic…

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News • Dose management

Enhancing radiation protection

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.

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News • Combination approach

Radiation treatment extends life expectancy for patients with inoperable lung cancer

Patients with unresectable, or inoperable, lung cancer are often given a dismal prognosis, with low rates of survival beyond a few years. Researchers exploring combination therapies have recently discovered improved survival rates by up to one year when patients treated with a newly formulated chemotherapy regimen are also given radiation therapy.

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Article • WannaCry

NHS remains vulnerable to cyberattack

The global WannaCry ransomware cyberattack had a particularly acute impact on health services across the UK. Mark Nicholls looks at how the NHS was left vulnerable to the WannaCry cyberattack. While affecting computers across the world – from Russia to the US – NHS hospitals were forced to cancel routine surgery and GP appointments as systems were affected by the cyberattack or were…

News • Treatment availability

Project GIRO aims to save one million lives in under twenty years

Although radiation therapy is an essential part of modern cancer treatment, and is indicated for about half of all new cancer patients, facilities for its provision are sadly lacking in many countries worldwide. Indeed, 29 out of 52 African nations have no radiotherapy facilities whatsoever. At the ESTRO 36 conference leaders of the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) will…

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Article • On the move

The role of a radiographer

‘Breathe in. Hold your breath. Then we press the button’ – the times when this brief summation could be made about a radiographer work are long gone. As an imaging support worker, the radiology assistant helps radiologists with procedures such as biopsies, and also performs clerical tasks, such as handling appointments.

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Imaging community to celebrate International Day of Radiology

Radiologists and radiographers all over the world will once again celebrate the International Day of Radiology (IDoR) on November 8, which this year takes breast imaging as its main theme. The IDoR is an initiative of the European Society of Radiology (ESR), the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

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Interview • Education

e-learning could help and certify radiologists

Dr Angel Gayete Cara took over the reins of the Spanish Society of Radiology (SERAM) in May, immediately after the society’s meeting in Bilbao. In an exclusive interview with European Hospital he revealed his vision for the next two years and how he means to help radiologists in their increasingly clinical role.

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News • Prostate Cancer

Combined radical treatment and examination can halve mortality

Men with very high-risk prostate cancer, who are treated at hospitals with a high proportion of administered radical local treatment (radiotherapy or prostatectomy), only have half of the mortality risk of men who are treated at hospitals with the lowest proportion. This is according to a new study conducted by researchers at Umeå University in Sweden.

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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.

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More light on cancer

The group of Russian and French researchers, with the participation of scientists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, has succeeded to synthesize nanoparticles of ultrapure silicon, which exhibited the property of efficient photoluminescence, i.e., secondary light emission after photoexcitation. These particles were able to easily penetrate into cancer cells and it allowed to use them as…

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News • Targeted treatments

Gene therapy against brain cancer

A team from the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste has obtained very promising results by applying gene therapy to glioblastoma. Tests in vitro and in vivo on mice provided very clear-cut results, and modelling demonstrates that the treatment targets at least six different points of tumour metabolism. Gene therapy, a technique that selectively attacks a tumour, might…

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News • Breakthrough

Gut bacteria drive growth of stem cells in colon cancer

Colon cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in Germany. Prof. Dr. med. Sebastian Zeißig, group leader at the DFG Research Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden (CRTD) - Cluster of Excellence at the TU Dresden and physician at the Department of Medicine I, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, has now shown a decisive role of gut bacteria in the regulation of intestinal…

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News • Small cell lung cancer

Clues to the cause of chemoresistance discovered

Small cell lung cancer is not usually detected until it is at an advanced stage, when metastases have already formed. Chemotherapy is very effective initially but, within a year, cancer recurs and this time does not respond to a course of chemotherapy. The research group headed by Gerhard Hamilton, University Department of Surgery at MedUni Vienna, has now managed to identify the reason for this…

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News • Skin Cancer

The Netherlands' first user of Elekta's Esteya Electronic Brachytherapy

On March 3, Radiotherapy Group clinicians at Ziekenhuis Gelderse Vallei (Ede, the Netherlands) used their Esteya electronic brachytherapy system for the first time to treat a 73-year-old male patient with a nodular basal cell carcinoma on his nose. Esteya is a form of high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy that applies high-precision radiotherapy directly to the cancer site, minimizing radiation to…

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News • Accuray

First radiation therapy systems installed in Latvia and Bulgaria

Accuray Incorporated announced today that the first centers in Qatar, Latvia, and Bulgaria are now equipped with its radiation therapy technology, demonstrating continued momentum in adoption of its devices in Europe, India, the Middle East and Africa (EIMEA). The CyberKnife® and TomoTherapy® Systems are now used in more than 40 countries to treat patients across the full spectrum of radiation…

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Article • Breast cancer screening

Spanish experts clash over benefits and harms

Breast cancer screening has helped to detect cancer in its early stages, but it is unclear how important this contribution is to mortality reduction because treatment has greatly improved. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment remain associated risks that need to be fully assessed for screening to be of real benefit. Leading experts in this field passionately discussed these controversies in a…

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News • Oncology

Scientists use dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer

Led by Professor Teoh Swee Hin, scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have successfully used dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer cells. Harvesting the Clostridium sporogenes bacteria found commonly in soil, the NTU team was able to harness the bacteria in its dead form, and its secretions, to destroy colon tumours cells effectively.

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Research breakthrough in fight against muscle wasting diseases

It is estimated that half of all cancer patients suffer from a muscle wasting syndrome called cachexia. Cancer cachexia impairs quality of life and response to therapy, which increases morbidity and mortality of cancer patients. Currently, there is no approved treatment for muscle wasting but a new study from the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (RI-MUHC) and University…

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News • Screening

Mammography benefits overestimated

An in-depth review of randomised trials on screening for breast, colorectal, cervical, prostate and lung cancers, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, shows that the benefits of mammographic screening are likely to have been overestimated.

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Article • Prostate pathological

A pathologist’s view of prostate diagnostics

Pathology is the gold standard of prostate diagnostics. Whilst the radiologist makes interpretations based on shadows and grey scale values visible on an image, the pathologist has the ‘fait accompli’ under the microscope. Professor Glen Kristiansen, Director at the Institute for Pathology at the University Hospital Bonn, explains why image-guided biopsies also make sense from the…

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Article • Radiotherapy

Prostate: Free of cancer after five years

Results from a randomised controlled trial to compare the use of permanent radioactive implants (brachytherapy) with dose-escalated external beam radiotherapy in patients with prostate cancer show that the men who received brachytherapy were twice as likely to be cancer-free five years later. These results presented Professor James Morris, from the Department of Radiation Oncology, Vancouver…

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Article • Tackling mobile tumours

Precision radiotherapy with 4D imaging

Radiotherapy always encounters particular challenges when a tumour is ‘mobile’. This is when radiotherapy must be carried out over several weeks. Within that period the tumour position, shape and expansion typically will keep changing. Thus radiotherapy needs continuous adaptation to maintain continuously precise radiation. Report: Chrissanthi Nikolakudi

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Superior image quality meets intuitive operating concept

Visiorad is an association of radiology, radiotherapy and nuclear medicine practices which serve the northwestern part of Hamburg and the adjacent suburban areas. Dr Timo Gomille, partner of Visiorad, and his team focus on breast diagnostics. A mainstay of their daily work is the RS80A – the Samsung ultrasound system which impresses with superior image quality and an innovative operating concept

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News • Event

International Day of Radiology

Radiology will be in the spotlight on November 8, as radiologists celebrate the International Day of Radiology (IDoR) through a series of events and information campaigns to help the public better understand the role of medical imaging in healthcare.

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Virtual anatomy

In 2007, Sara Doll (Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Heidelberg University) and Dr Frederik Giesel (Managing Senior Physician, Radiology Clinic, Department of Nuclear Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital) initiated the development of virtual anatomy for a seminar aimed at students in the pre-clinical phase of their medical degree course.

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New cancer research targets

‘We aim to develop an understanding of which novel research activities could bring benefits for patients,’ explained Professor Christof von Kalle, Director of the Department of Translational Oncology, NCT (German National Centre for Tumour Diseases) and the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), speaking on translational activities during the New Cancer Targets gathering in Heidelberg this…

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Complementary mamma diagnostics

Much, if not even everything, may have been said already about the multimodal approach in breast diagnostics. However, Professor Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland at the Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, says there is still surprising news from this field – innovations in multimodal breast diagnostics, for example.

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Targeting several tumours simultaneously

]‘We are very pleased to be able to offer our patients top quality and, most importantly, very precise radiotherapy,’ said Professor Wolfgang Mohnike, Medical Director of the Diagnostic and Therapeutic Centre (DTZ) in Berlin – one of the leading outpatient cancer centres in the city. The newly equipped Radiotherapy Centre at the DTZ was inaugurated at the beginning of June and the new…

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Hypofractionation

Making prostate cancer therapy more effective, more comfortable for patients and less expensive for society? Dose escalation, up to 80 Gy and above, may be necessary to successfully treat localised prostate cancer with radiotherapy (RT).

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The 129th Congress of the German Society of Surgery

Meeting with EH editor Brigitte Dinkloh, Congress Secretary Professor Alexis Ulrich MD (left), Assistant Medical Director at the Clinic for General, Visceral and Transplant Surgery at the University of Heidelberg, outlined the scientific programme, discussed some impressive advances in surgical procedures, and explained why the gathering bears the slogan Surgery in Partnership.

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The Hitachi Aloka ProSound F75

Three radiologists, who focused on different clinical applications using different diagnostic techniques, have reached the same conclusion: the next-generation of ultrasound brings new capabilities for detection, differentiation and advanced diagnosis of disease, John Brosky reports.

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Multi-disciplinary efforts for rectal cancer patients

Speaking at the ESR meets Radiation Oncologists session, Dr Gina Brown (Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London) emphasised that radiologists’ input is critical in treatment and surgical decisions and that radiologists, oncologists and surgeons should work more closely in the planning and delivery of treatment and surgery for the overall benefit and long-term well-being of rectal cancer…

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ECR 2013: Cardiac imaging is picking up speed

They examine the structure of the heart muscle with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or evaluate the status of the coronary vessels with computed tomography (CT): radiologists increasingly use imaging methods to prevent or to assess cardiac diseases.

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Here we go… It’s ECR 2012

20,000 participants attended ECR 2011 – a record its organising body, the European Society of Radiology (ESR), which represents more than 56,000 radiologists worldwide, is keen to surpass. Thus, for 2012, it set out to create an even more attractive, versatile programme, which is led by Congress President Lorenzo Bonomo, Professor of Radiology and Chairman of the Department of Radiological…

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Europe’s first Positron Emission Mammography

Early this year the radiology and nuclear medicine practice of Doctors Andreas Blynow, Frank Muller, Jorg Kowalski in Ludwigshafen, Germany, began to offer breast examinations using Europe’s first Positron Emission Mammography (PEM) scanner. With 15 years experience with Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Dr Muller introduced the new PEM scanner to the partners’ practice to detect and assess…

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Ultrasound guided liver surgery makes tumour removal safer

ALOKA Holding Europe AG, the innovator in ultrasound, is working with the world renowned liver surgeon, Professor Guido Torzilli to explore the clinical benefits of intra-operative ultrasound in hepatic cancer cases. Ultrasound has one enormous advantage over traditional techniques, such as MRI and CT, since it can be used intra-operatively. The success of this alternative technique for…

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31st German Senology Congress - More opportunities in breast diagnostics

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

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The latest MRgFUS generation

As one of the first in Europe, the FUS Centre at the Klinikum Dachau in Germany introduced MRgFUS in 2008 as a gentle alternative for the treatment of fibroids. The success that has since been achieved in this encouraged Dr Matthias Matzko, head of radiology and of the FUS Centre, to take on a leading role with the introduction to the market of the second product generation, the ExAblate One.…

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PET-MRI - The right system at the right time

Thinking of the future of imaging, inevitably PET-MRI springs to mind. The fascination of this novel hybrid technology is great, seeing how it combines the best from three imaging areas: anatomy, function and metabolism. The further development of functional procedures in oncology is raising particularly high expectations. However, how extensive the use of this potentiated image information will…

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Proton therapy

As one of the most advanced forms of precision radiotherapy, proton therapy enables the irradiation of tumours located deep within the body, in the proximity of critical organs, such as the optic nerve or some brain areas. The Institut Curie has renovated its proton therapy centre in Orsay near Paris. Since 1991, when the original centre opened, it has treated over 5,000 patients (4,000 for eye…

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RSNA 2010

A double-edged sword would be a good analogy for diagnostic imaging in 2010. New ways to utilise imaging technologies are being developed, imaging equipment is doing more, faster than ever, and image processing software is increasingly innovative. Today's radiology exams are ‘slicing’ through the body to reveal anatomy with increasing clarity for better diagnoses and therapeutic treatment…

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CT and PET - Improving radiation therapy planning

When planning radiotherapy the combination of positron emission tomography (PET) and Computed tomography (CT) can provide a better outcome than CT alone. Michael Krassnitzer asked Terri Bresenham MSc BSc, Vice President for Molecular Imaging at GE Healthcare, for her views on the value of PET/CT, the new EANM guidelines, novel tracers and the future of other hybrid imaging technologies.

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Radiology services: In or out?

How does a hospital decide what to do about in-house radiology if, for example, its consultant retires? Select a ‘new broom’ to brush out earlier practices, or make this an opportunity to redefine its radiology department’s services and objectives? In the latter case, outsourcing to receive diagnoses from an external radiologist might be potentially interesting. However, Dr Winfried…

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