New campaign for fair drugs testing aims to combat exploitation worldwide
The Netherlands - People in developing countries run health risks from pharmaceutical companies testing drugs on them for the Western market.
Breast cancer
Biomarkers: What can they tell us?
Biomarkers are biochemical features or facets that can be used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment.
Prostate Cancer Screening
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.
The European Cancer Therapy Market
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.
US oncology expertise to spread globally
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and GE Healthcare plan to establish over 25 local cancer centres in various countries within the coming decade.
Tele-oncology proves successful in Canada
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.…
EPPENDORF and MEDICA
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.
Lumpectomy is not advised if breast cancer returns
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.
Breast cancer
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
Radiation dose and digital mammography
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 opens Cologne research centre
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.
Mammography: What really counts?
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.
Core needle beast biopsies safe for patients taking blood thinners
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.
Better treatment by computer-based decisions?
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?
Better images for X-ray mammography with new tool
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.
Breast cancer: new method is more effective than mammography in women with 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.
Drug might protect against tumour recurrence
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.
Welcome to ESTRO 27
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.
Breast cancer: Good news, bad news
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.
Young woman underrepresented in breast cancer studies
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.
Elastography - ready to go
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.
Every or every second year doesn't make a difference
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.
OTC-gel for painless mammograms
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.
What hips tell about breast cancer
As rocks keep the secrets of the earth, bones might keep those of the body. A new study that will be publish in the September 1, 2008 issue of CANCER suggests, that factors responsible for higher bone mineral density might also lead to higher risk of breast cancer.
Herceptin destroys breast cancer stem cells
The HER2 gene causes a very aggressive kind of breast cancer. It influences the number of cancer stem cells and therefore as well the spreading of metastases. The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center now made the discovery that the drug Herceptin can drastically reduce the amount of the stem cell population in HER2 positive-breast cancer.
