Breast cancer

Mammography in Russia

Breast cancer morbidity has been the leading oncology disease (21.8%) in Russia since 1996 - and since 1981 in St. Petersburg. In Moscow, the morbidity has increased 52.4% in last 14 years.

PET-CT for radiation therapy planning:

For individualised radiotherapy, high-precision delineation and characterisation of the tumour is critical. If highest radiation doses are delivered in a targeted fashion, the chance of tumour cell kill increases and tumour control probability is enhanced.

Breast tomosynthesis

A promising mammography screening technology By Andrew Smith PhD, principal scientist at Hologic, Inc. in Bedford, Mass, is involved in research and development of digital imaging systems.

New Optical Breast Imaging System

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…

Cancer will kill 7.6 million people this year

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.

Digital mammography and tomosynthesis

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.

United Kingdom

Brenda Marsh reports on the country's flourishing and expanding breast screening programme

New ways of working: innovation in cancer nursing practice

Change is occurring at a rapid rate in cancer care - in many European countries cancer services are now being provided primarily in an ambulatory or outpatient setting with subsequent change of resources. Karen Luker, Professor of Community Nursing at the Universtiy of Manchester, UK, thinks that specialist nurses should not only refresh their knowledge of existing and new therapies. As the face…

Ultrasound technology may reduce breast biopsies

eSie Touch Elasticity Imaging, a new method in ultrasound, demonstrated by Siemens Medical Solutions in March at the European Congress of Radiology, is an adjunct to regular breast ultrasound examinations, and may provide a clinically relevant differentiation of benign and malignant tissue. Several studies have shown promising results, and suggest the method could reduce the number of unnecessary…

RSNA 2007

About 27,000 healthcare professionals from over 100 countries attended RSNA 2006. These included over 5,000 European clinicians. In addition, over 28,000 people from non-US countries manned about 750 exhibition stands.

A website for breast cancer patients

For women (or friends and relatives of women with breast cancer),

The 5th World Conference on Breast Cancer

"Come and experience the great Canadian Prairie Hospitality!" say the organisers of the 5th World Conference on Breast Cancer (WCBC), to be held in June next year in Winnipeg, Manitoba - the "cultural cradle of the nation, gateway to the Canadian west, and a meeting place for over 6,000 years," the WCBC Foundation points out.

Mammography Screening in Germany

Despite efforts in recent years to reduce the number of deaths caused by breast cancer it is still the most common cancer occurring in women. Approx. 47,500 new cases of the disease appear in Germany per year, a situation comparable with other European countries and with the USA. In 2004 alone, 17,592 women died from the sequela of a breast carcinoma (Federal Statistics Office statistics on…

State governments unite to lower mortality

Australia - The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has reported a 26% decrease in the breast cancer mortality rate among women aged 50-69 years between 1990 and 2004.

Are New Techniques Needed in Modern Sonography?

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring malignant tumour worldwide. Of the more than one million newly diagnosed cases each year, the incidence among women in Germany alone is more than 50,000. That means that every tenth woman is stricken by breast cancer at some point in her life. It numbers among the most frequent causes of death by cancer 1,2,3 , with the average age of onset being…

In-vivo and in-vitro diagnostics in molecular medicine

In molecular medicine - and particularly in oncology - Siemens Medical Solutions is concentrating on further development of the FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) biomarker to improve identification of certain tumours.

Screening: Patients respond well to web-based reminders

USA - Web-based mail and phone reminder software significantly increased the percentage of patients who received preventive health services, according to a study led by Rajeev Chaudhry MBBS, at the Mayo Clinic, published in May in The Archives of Internal Medicine.

World's largest gathering of cancer specialists told: Mammography is still key to survival

Rapid diagnosis and treatment are the keys to breast cancer survival - and an elastogram mammography continues to play a central role in breast cancer detection according to research presented recently in Chicago, at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), writes Ian Mason.