In the course of the `Interreg III´ Italian-Albanian collaborative project, which is financed by the European Union and the Italian Apulia region, an Albanian screening programme for breast and cervical tumours will be established. The initiative aims at improving the public health system of Albania, regarding the training and the technical equipment needed for such screening projects.
Advanced Research Technologies Inc. ("ART") announced the first sale of SoftScan® optical breast imaging system to the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre ('Sunnybrook") in Toronto, Canada. Sunnybrook is the first health centre to purchase a SoftScan imaging system since the Canadian company received regulatory approval for commercialization in Europe and Canada for its optical breast imaging…
The upper gastrointestinal (UGI) team at Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has developed a rapid access service for upper gastrointestinal cancers. The new system means that patients are referred directly from their GP to the hospital for an endoscopy.
Evolving from an award-winning project carried out by undergraduates of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel's leading University for science and technology, a new non-invasive device for detecting early stage respiratory irregularities is momentarily in development. The novel respiration monitor is intended to immediately detect deterioration in lung ventilation of ICU patients.
GE Healthcare recently acquired Image Diagnost International GmbH, an IT provider specialised on developing integrated software solutions for mammography workflow and image processing. With this acquisition GE Healthcare expands its capabilities in offering clinicians and national screening services an even more expanded portfolio for the detection of breast cancer.
An innovative method to produce dark-field X-ray images was recently presented by researchers from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the EPFL in Switzerland. Dark-field images offer more details than ordinary X-ray radiographs, allowing to diagnose early stage breast cancer, osteoporosis or Alzheimer's disease.
Lifebridge is the first portable heart-lung machine which promises a great success for the clinlical use.
A new American Cancer Society report estimates that there will be over 12 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million cancer deaths (about 20,000 cancer deaths a day) worldwide in 2007. The estimate comes from the first-ever Global Cancer Facts & Figures, the latest addition to the American Cancer Society's family of Facts & Figures publications.
As reported in the January issue of Hepatology, MRI imagery is emerging as a non-invasive way to determine the existence and extent of hepatic fibrosis. It could eventually help the development of pharmacologic strategies to combat the condition.
Patients with severe COPD may benefit more from therapy that combines salmeterol and fluticasone [SFC] than treatment with tiotropium, according to results from a long-term, multi-center study, “Investigating New Standards for Prophylaxis in Reducing Exacerbations” (INSPIRE) that directly compared the two therapies.
Thanks to a new software, MR images from a five-minute scan may generate the images for a complete and comprehensive examination and therefore eliminating the need to perform multiple scans. The advanced software developed by Synthetic MR AB will be offered as a clinical application in Sectra´s PACS system.
Sweden — Sectra, which develops IT systems and products for radiology, mammography and orthopaedic surgery, has announced an agreement with Swedish research firm Synthetic MR AB, developer of analysis and imaging methods for synthetic magnetic resonance, for its new software-based technology to be offered as a clinical application in Sectra's PACS for radiology.
USA - MRI is playing an increasingly important role in breast cancer screening in the US, especially in the screening of high risk patients. It has proven to be more sensitive than mammography examinations, but is less accurate in the differentiation between benign and malignant lesions.
Stereoscopic digital mammography, a new diagnostic technique capable of producing three-dimensional (3-D) in-depth views of breast tissue, could significantly reduce the number of women who are recalled for additional tests following routine screening mammography.
Brenda Marsh reports on the country's flourishing and expanding breast screening programme
Dr Eduardo de la Sota reports
EH correspondent H-C Pruszinsky reports
It is hoped that a new technology, digital breast tomosynthesis or 3-D mammography, will overcome three drawbacks of traditional screening mammography: discomfort with breast compression, cancer concealed within overlapping tissue and the limited number of views.
Radiologists frequently have limited time when examining mammography images, especially under screening conditions. In addition to their training and experience, the computer can offer beneficial support in the detection of breast cancer, due to special Computer Aided Detection (CAD) software solutions
The first 15 megapixels display, which enables radiologists to monitor two mammograms on one screen, was launched at RSNA 2007 by the Japanese firm Totoku.
Siemens Medical Solutions, which launched Ysio wi-D - its first digital X-ray unit equipped with a wireless detector - at Medica, said it combines all the advantages of digital X-ray imaging with the flexibility of an X-ray film cassette.
Germany - Once again MEDICA 2007 drew healthcare professionals- this year around 137,000 — to attend the congress and view the enormous number of medical products demonstrated by over 4,300 exhibitors.
by Dr Feldkamp, Duisburg, Germany. Russian article
In 2008, the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) will include a Special Focus Session titled "Women in Radiology". During an EH interview, Professor Dr Maximilian Reiser, President of ECR 2008 (Vienna, Austria) discussed this and other aspects of the new programme. Russian article