The biology of cancers
Cancer research is progressing rapidly. For a large part, biology contributes to its most significant advances, which aim to renew the whole model of cancer care.
Therapy
Taking part in clinical trials is good for health
Patients with chronic heart failure who agree to take part in clinical trials have a better prognosis than those who do not, according to a study reported in the November European Journal of Heart Failure. The finding, say the authors, may even call into question the commonplace ethical requirement of most clinical trials that by choosing not to take part in the study a patient will not be…
A Scaffold to regenerate lost bones and tissue
Mother Nature has provided the lizard with a unique ability to regrow body tissue that is damaged or torn - if its tail is pulled off, it grows right back. She has not been quite so generous with human beings. But we might be able to come close, thanks to new research from Tel Aviv University.
New horizons in Nuclear Medicine therapy
Radionuclide therapy has been rapidly developing for the last 20 years, due to the availability of new carrier molecules and radionuclides. For some years the clinical efficacy has been modest with a low percentage of objective responses and no survival benefit because, most often, the patients had large tumor burden.
Gynaecological cancer treatment enters new era of patient-tailored care
Advances in cancer prevention and treatment reported at this week´s premier European congress for specialists in gynaecological cancers show that care is being more effectively tailored to the needs of individual women, so that survival can be improved without the cost of added complications and reduced quality of life.
Nobel scientist urges wider vaccination against HPV infection
A global vaccination programme against human papilloma virus (HPV), to include boys as well as girls, could lead to eradication of the virus and virtual disappearance of cervical cancer, predicted Nobel Prize winner, Professor Harald zur Hausen, after delivering the key-note lecture at the 16th International Meeting of the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) in Belgrade, Serbia,…
Conoxia - medizinischer Sauerstoff von PanGas
Auf der diesjährigen gemeinsamen Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Intensivmedizin (SGI), der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (SGN), der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Neuroradiologie (SGNR), der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Nephrologie (SGN) und der Schweizerischen Interessengesellschaft für Intensivpflege (IGIP) stellte der Healthcare-Bereich von…
Threat of communicable diseases to become worse
The threat of communicable diseases will become even worse in the near future. At the European Health Forum Gastein, the European Union's leading health policy congress for experts and decision-makers, experts stressed that there are a number of risk factors which contribute to a growing risk of the spread of communicable diseases into Europe, namely into the European Union.
ECCO 15 and 34th ESMO Multidisciplinary Congress unites European Oncology
The first joint congress ECCO 15 - ESMO 34 of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) is taking place this week in Berlin. It is the only congress in Europe that covers the entire spectrum of cancer from basic science and translational research, to prevention, treatment, nursing and supportive care for all types of tumours.
Colorectal cancer today and tomorrow
Colorectal cancer (CRC) jointly describes cancers of the colon and rectum. Worldwide, CRCs are among the most common cancers. In Europe and the USA the occurrence of CRCs are considerably higher than in Africa and Asia.
Colorectal cancers
Incidence data from cancer registries have drawn the attention to colorectal cancer. It is one of the most common cancers in developed countries. In 2006, the estimated number of new cases in the European Union of 25 member states was 297,000 for both genders.
Personalised cancer care
For many years we have heard about personalised cancer treatments, understood each cancer patient is different and that 'one size fits all' treatments are not appropriate. We have been told that early diagnosis is the key to successful treatment and that no two patients have the same genetic or biological profile.
Mitral regurgitation
A pioneering new treatment to repair leaking heart valves is being performed at a UK hospital as part of a clinical research trial. The minimally-invasive procedure to treat mitral regurgitation involves surgeons passing a device through a vein in the neck and into a patient's heart.
The 27th World Congress of Endourology
Munich, Germany 6 - 10 October
The crucial role of radiology in prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy
Emphasising the crucial partnership of radiologists and urologists in the treatment of prostate cancer, Professor Arnulf Stenzl, Medical Director of Urology at the Tübingen University Hospital, explained that, throughout the phases of prostate cancer diagnosis and therapy - from primary diagnosis onward - imaging is indispensable.
MINDACT
Researchers around the globe are studying whether a genomic test, developed with micro-array technology, is superior to traditional methods in assessing aggressive breast cancer, and therefore could spare a considerable percentage of women from the onslaught of chemotherapy The Breast International Group (BIG) in Brussels, Belgium, manages TRANSBIG, an international network created to avoid…
Synthetic lethality
Completion of a Phase I clinical trial has demonstrated the great promise of a completely new type of cancer treatment, according to results announced this June in The New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital in the United Kingdom, working with pharma firm AstraZeneca.
Russian endocrinology
The fact that child diabetics (type I) in Russia do not receive necessary and qualitative therapy was again highlighted during the 7th Russian conference 'The priority national project - Health - and the tasks of children's endocrinologists' held in Saint-Petersburg this June.
Russia's continuing laser medicine advances
For the past 30 years, in the former USSR and Russia, laser medicine has been actively developed and regular annual conferences have opened new avenues for its use by the country's doctors.
J&J acquires Cougar
Positive CB7630 (Abiraterone Acetate) Phase II Data was presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago this May/June, Cougar Biotechnology Inc, a development stage biopharmaceutical firm with a specific focus on oncology. In mid-July, Johnson & Johnson announced its acquisition of Cougar, which is now working with Ortho Biotech Oncology Research & Development, a division of the J&J firm Centocor…
The Children's Island
By Heidi Heinhold
New Skin Cancer Patch: Possible Alternative to Surgery
A new study shows that a radioactive skin patch can safely and successfully treat basal cell carcinoma, one of the most common types of skin cancers, according to researchers from India. The skin patch, which delivers the radioactive phosphorus-32, is nontoxic and could be an excellent alternative to surgery or radiotherapy in cases where carrying out these treatments is difficult.
Multiple Sclerosis: Benefactors in the Brain
The inflammatory process in the brain of multiple sclerosis patients is triggered by their own immune system. However, there is one type of immune cells that seems to fight against the destructive progress - and might be used for therapeutic purposes in future.
EFORT 2009
One of the key topics at the EFORT Congress, held recently in Vienna, was on opportunities offered by computer-aided surgery (CAS) to achieve better results for many orthopaedic interventions. Within the next decade CAS will lead to the routine use of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) for knee prosthetics, hip replacement and osteotomy.
Changing approaches to wound management
In recent years wound management has been primarily nurse-led, and not benefited from a multi-disciplinary approach. This must change, said Madeleine Flanagan, Principal Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire's school of Post Graduate Medicine in the faculty of health and human science, where she runs the MSc in Dermatology and an MSc in Skin Integrity; she is also Principal of the European…