Along with others, Germany has unanimously welcomed the revision of the EU directive on clinical trials. The change from mere guideline into a regulation valid in all member states, specifically aimed at making it easier to carry out multinational studies, is particularly welcomed, Bettina Döbereiner reports
In the country’s first scientific study to correlate the demographic changes and frequency of tumorous diseases, demographic changes have led scientists to forecast a significant increase in the number of cancerous diseases in coming years.
Cancer diagnostics - Nanotechnology is currently being used in oncology to improve early tumour detection, imaging procedures and targeting of cancer therapies. Cancer biomarkers, indicators that are being produced by the body in spreading tumour cells, play an important role in cancer detection, Dr. Jörg Raach reports
Scientists at Imperial College in London, United Kingdom, have developed an ‘intelligent knife’ that instantly informs surgeons whether the tissue they are operating on is cancerous.
At Bracco Suisse SA in Geneva all efforts are dedicated to contrast media for ultrasound scans. During their visit to the firm’s research centre and manufacturing site, Daniela Zimmermann and Ralf Mateblowski met with François Tranquart MD PhD, general manager of the Bracco Suisse research centre, to hear why SonoVue is now Europe’s most popular ultrasound contrast agent, with research…
Multidisciplinary tumour boards (MDTs) are widespread in the Netherlands, and ‘they tend to be proliferating lately,’ according to Professor Folkert van Kemenade, Chair of the Pathology department at the VU University Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
Like any other cancer – breast cancer is a highly individual disease, shaped by many factors such as age, health status or genetics. Due to the complex web of molecular pathological processes and resistance mechanisms it is very difficult to select the most effective therapy for each patient.
A 2012 study analysing the care of cancer patients in the USA in 138 Veterans’ Administration hospitals (pub: Journal of the National Cancer Institute) questions the effectiveness of tumour board review. The study measured effectiveness by comparing the presence of tumour review boards with stage-specific quality of care and patient outcomes.
Medicine is not immune to prejudices. In the past, the ‘fatty liver’ diagnosis was often accompanied by the hasty conclusion that the problem was surely caused by alcohol abuse.
Bladder cancer is highly challenging in terms of patient management and medical costs. As the fourth most frequent cancer in men and ninth in women in developed countries, although BC is a common disease it is still under-represented in public awareness and in cancer research .
Apart from tumour immunologists themselves, for a long time oncologists have underestimated the role of the immune system in cancer treatment. Nonetheless, in recent years increasing attention has been given to this aspect of cancer.
Research using an analytical health economics model has suggested the current system of screening within the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) is only moderately likely to be cost effective.
Ultrasound may be used during breast conservation surgery, to locate tumour lesions or to place localising wires; it can also guide a lumpectomy and perform a specimen exam to ensure a lesion has been excised and to evaluate surgical margins
Statistically speaking every fourth older German man suffers from prostate cancer with the mortality rate being 60,000 patients annually
Sanofi and the Curie Institute, through its Curie-Cancer partnership under the Institut Carnot label, today announce the establishment of a three-year research collaboration to identify new therapeutic targets for the development of treatments for ovarian cancer.
The German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is sending a promising duo into the race against cancer: A new PET/MR system that can combine high-resolution images with functional information to improve cancer diagnosis.
The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Bayer HealthCare (Bayer) will extend their successful strategic research alliance in search of novel cancer therapeutics by focusing their activities also on the field of immunotherapy.
EKF Diagnostics, worldwide manufacturer of point-of-care diagnostic tools, organ injury biomarkers and assays, has announced the launch of a new division to focus on molecular and companion diagnostics.
‘All human body cells contain the same DNA, but every type of cell – for example a muscle cell compared to that of a nerve – has a different gene expression pattern’, said Dr Sonja Stadler, speaking at the 2012 congress of DGKL (German Society for Clinical Chemistry).
The international research project ‘The Definition of new types of tumours containing potential mutations sensitivity to drugs’ has begun in Petrov Research Institute of Oncology in St Petersburg, the oldest Russian oncology institute.
Modern imaging techniques greatly enhance the treatment selection
In a Special Focus Session, experts addressed the necessity to perform palliative interventional techniques in cancer treatment and they insisted that interventional radiologists should become more than just technicians.
Hedvig Hricak, Chair of the Radiology Department at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, USA, describes emerging applications and potential trends in gynaecological cancer treatment described at the 15th International Symposium Crossing Barriers
The hepatocellular carcinoma is the sixth most frequent cause of cancer worldwide, explained Dr Bruno Sangro at ECR, and it is the third most frequent cause of death due to cancer.
CT scanners now nicely cover morphology. The challenge is moving to CT functional imaging without frying patients