Oncology

Scientists develop an intelligent knife

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.

The complex science behind microbubbles

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…

Too many tumour boards?

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.

The 33rd German Society for Senology Congress

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.

Re-evaluating the multidisciplinary approach to cancer care

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.

Of echoes, triangles and quadrants

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.

Treating bladder cancer

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 .

The role of the immune system in cancer therapy

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.

Breast surgeons have endorsed ultrasound for decades

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

Healthcare economics

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.

A clever(t) fusion for prostate diagnosis

Statistically speaking every fourth older German man suffers from prostate cancer with the mortality rate being 60,000 patients annually

New cooperation in research on ovarian cancer

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.

A sharper image with combined PET/MR technology

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.

German Cancer Research Center to broaden strategic alliance with Bayer HealthCare

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 launches new molecular division

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.

Epigenetic drugs

‘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).

Russian cancer research team gains international funding

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.

The importance of MRI for gynaecological malignancies

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

Interventional procedures relieve pain in pleural effusion

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.

Article • Gynaecological radiology

MRI holds a key role in cervical cancer

Staging of cervical cancer is clinically based on a system developed by the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). The staging is clinical because the majority of cases occur in developing countries where access to MRI is limited, explains gynaecological radiologist Dr Evis Sala.