The Dutch screening programme, which began in 1990, invites women aged 50-75 years for mammography screening every two years. Today, the national programme is undergoing considerable regional re-organisation. As one of a team of 12 radiologists at the Alkmaar Medical Centre, Dr Shirley Go is responsible for Mammography and Screening in a large Dutch region. Daniela Zimmermann, asked Dr Go about…
To date, there is insufficient knowledge as to the cause of this disease, or how to prevent it. We asked some of our EH correspondents to report on measures taken in their countries to ensure that men are made more aware of this disease and whether screening services are provided for early prostate cancer detection.
Biomarkers are biochemical features or facets that can be used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment.
The Netherlands - People in developing countries run health risks from pharmaceutical companies testing drugs on them for the Western market.
GE Healthcare's first Discovery PET/CT 600-series scanners are being installed in a number of leading clinics around the world. "This first set of installations is a big step forward in the diagnosis and monitoring of disease", said Terri Bresenham, newly appointed vice- president and general manager of GE Healthcare's global Molecular Imaging business.
Cancer may well surpass cardiovascular diseases as the primary case of death in Europe by 2012. To prevent this from happening, cancer therapeutics have to shift in focus from the treatment of symptoms to offering a total cure, despite the complex, multifactorial nature of cancer indications.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and GE Healthcare plan to establish over 25 local cancer centres in various countries within the coming decade.
An estimated 6.7 million people in developed countries were diagnosed with cancer in 2007. Delivering their care is no easy matter. Tele-oncology, the remote provision of oncology services, could not only reduce the costs of consultations for cancer departments, but also for patients. Kerry Heacox, of i.t. Communications, reports on the success of remote consultations in Labrador and Newfoundland.…
When the first `diagnostics week´ was held 40 years ago the exhibition attracted just a handful of companies, all from the laboratory sector. At the time, no one could have known that this sedate event would eventually develop into the world's biggest medical exhibition, MEDICA.
A mastectomy is prudent when breast cancer returns after a lumpectomy, because survival rates are higher for those who have another lumpectomy, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Surgery in October.
Olwen Glynn Owen reports on MammaPrint, a test that pinpoints the risk of breast cancer recurrence from the primary tumour's genetic make-up. Women with breast cancer tumours under
The use of mammography to maintain breast health comes with a caveat: exposure of the breast to radiation, which can increase the susceptibility risk of breast cancer. Thus, using the lowest possible radiation dose for mammograms is of utmost importance.
Siemens Healthcare has opened a new research centre in Cologne, where around 40 employees are developing new diagnostic tests to describe the molecular characteristics of breast cancer cells, to help physicians to select individual therapy.
The fact that the female breast is one of the most radiation sensitive organs in the human body is a major driver for all those searching for low radiation alternatives - one of these routes lies in photon counting.
It is safe to take anticoagulants before core needle breast biopsies, according to a study performed at the Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic in Rochester, NY.
The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will fund a new project to develop four computer-based decision-tools that will help clinicians and patients answering questions like: When to use genetic tests? How to deal with the results? Or which treatment could be the best?
Fighting breast cancer is always a race against time - early detection of breast carcinoma an essential condition for cure. Now Scientists from Finland, Germany and France developed a promising new CT technique with high resolution and contrast that visualises tumours that are even diffusely growing or those in dense breasts.
“Molecular breast imaging” (MBI), a new scintigraphy method developed by US researchers, might improve early detection of breast cancer in women with dense breasts. The results of an initial clinical study were recently presented at the Breast Cancer Symposium of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Washington, DC, USA.
Tumour cells can migrate, sometimes also during a surgery to remove the tumour. US researchers recently found, that perioperative treatment with a drug known as colchicine might protect against recurrences at the site of the surgical wound.
More than 4,500 cancer and radiotherapy specialists will gather in Göteborg, Sweden, this September for the 27th annual congress of ESTRO. ESTRO 27 is to be held between the 14th and 18th September 2008 at the Göteborg Convention Centre in Göteborg.
Women who survive breast cancer for at least five years have a 89% chance that it will not recure. But those, who are still suffering and on endocrine treatment are likely to get arthralgia and arthritis.
More than 250,000 women under the age of forty are living with the disease in the US and 11,000 will be diagnosed in the next year. Even so, young women are underrepresented in many research studies and treatments, according to genomic expert Simon Chin.
The idea of measuring tissue stiffness using ultrasound is nothing new. But lately the field sets a rapid pace. “Real-time, hand-held elastography is now a commercial reality,” asserts Jonathan Ophir from the University of Texas Medical School.
Researchers compared the Norwegian organised population based mammogram screening every second year and a physician- or self-referrals annual test in the US. Both are equally sensitive, but the recall rate for abnormal results was lower in Norway.
It sounds impressively simple: An over-the-counter pain-relieving gel from the drugstore may reduce the uncomfortable and even dolorous feeling women experience during mammography exams, according to the a study published in the online edition of Radiology.