Diagnostics

Article • Cancer Diagnostics

Liquid biopsies challenge imaging

Novel blood or urine tests can now detect a tumour and but might in future be able to say what type of cancer is developing in which organ.

Article • MRI

New technology adapts automatically to individual characteristics

Just in time for the ECR, Siemens Healthineers is coming up with an innovation. Magnetom Vida, the new high-end 3 Tesla MRI scanner with BioMatrix technology from Siemens Healthineers, was launched to the public at University Hospital Tübingen yesterday, where the first system is installed. The new BioMatrix technology adapts automatically to individual anatomical and physiological…

News • Gene Mutation

Researchers identify cause of hereditary skeletal muscle disorder

An international research team from the University Hospital of Munich (LMU), Newcastle University and the University of Liverpool has identified a gene mutation that causes a hereditary skeletal muscle disorder. The study is published in the "American Journal of Human Genetics".

Sponsored • POC-System

Point-of-care ultrasound shows promise for Osgood-Schlatter diagnosis

Dr Ralf Doyscher, from the Department of Sports Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has a close association with soccer at both professional and amateur levels. He recently participated in a scientific project focusing on preventative check-ups for the general health of elite young soccer players, and took the opportunity to simultaneously investigate the potential of…

Article • Innovation

A swift new lab automation system

‘Every single hour, more than 200,000 people worldwide are being diagnosed or treated with our devices,’ Michael Reitermann, COO of Siemens Healthineers, proudly reports. No reason, however, for Siemens to rest on its laurels. Quite the contrary: the company continues to drive innovation.

News • PSP test

Most rapid sepsis point of care diagnostics

Abionic SA announced the receipt of CE Mark (Conformité Européenne) for two novel tests using its easy to use testing platform, abioSCOPE. The CE Mark allows Abionic to commercialize its tests for sepsis risk assessment and management (PSP Test) and iron deficiency throughout the European Union.

News • Investment

Curetis expands its diagnostic platform

Curetis N.V. and the European Investment Bank (EIB) today announced that the EIB granted Curetis a EUR 25 million senior, unsecured loan. The financing is the first growth capital loan under the European Growth Finance Facility (EGFF). It is backed by a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).

News • Doc Versus Machine

Human physicians vastly outperform virtual ones

Increasingly powerful computers using ever-more sophisticated programs are challenging human supremacy in areas as diverse as playing chess and making emotionally compelling music. But can digital diagnosticians match, or even outperform, human physicians? The answer, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, is “not quite.”

News • Tissue Infection

Curetis launches next generation CE-IVD Unyvero Implant

Curetis N.V. announced the successful completion of the CE Performance Evaluation study of the next generation of its Unyvero ITI Implant and Tissue Infection Application Cartridge (Unyvero ITI).

News • Infection

Siemens Zika test receives FDA emergency use authorization

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Inc. (Siemens) an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its real-time PCR Zika Virus assay, the VERSANT® Zika RNA 1.0 Assay (kPCR) Kit. With respect to Zika in vitro diagnostic tests, FDA has been authorized to issue EUAs to allow for use of unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical…

Sponsored • Pediatric laboratory medicine

The Orphan

Pediatric laboratory medicine plays a minor role in the large field of laboratory medicine. This may be due to the low incidence of rare diseases, which are a major task of pediatric medicine, but also to the small number of pediatric samples in routine laboratory medicine overall. Since most diagnostic laboratories do receive pediatric samples now and then, it is essential that there are primary…

Article • Plaques

Identifying a likely heart attack

UK researchers have identified a new approach, which could make it easier to identify fatty plaques that could cause heart attacks or a stroke.

Article • Early warning

Blood test detects early Alzheimer’s

The cause of Alzheimer’s disease remains unknown. Early diagnosis is currently not possible as clinical symptoms only occur once a large number of neurones in the brain have already been destroyed. There is no treatment available either.

Article • Automated tasks

Fast, efficient, cheaper microbiology diagnostics

A fully automated clinical microbiology laboratory system went into service at Heidelberg University Hospital this April. Produced by medical technology firm BD Life Science, this first installation at a German university hospital will play a major role in a study exploring the potential benefits of lab automation in containing the spread of pathogens in a hospital.

News • BRIM

Technology helps ID aggressive early breast cancer

When a woman is diagnosed with the earliest stage of breast cancer, how aggressive should her treatment be? Will the non-invasive cancer become invasive? Or is it a slow-growing variety that will likely never be harmful? Researchers at the University of Michigan developed a new technology that can identify aggressive forms of ductal carcinoma in situ, or stage 0 breast cancer, from non-aggressive…

News • Breast cancer

Artificial intelligence diagnoses with high accuracy

Pathologists have been largely diagnosing disease the same way for the past 100 years, by manually reviewing images under a microscope. But new work suggests that computers can help doctors improve accuracy and significantly change the way cancer and other diseases are diagnosed. A research team from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) recently developed…

Article • 4K Technology

Bringing a sharper image to surgery

Sony Medical offers an end-to-end video processing chain for medical-grade 4K surgical visualisation. The conversion will not happen overnight, but 4K is a natural next step for improving visualisation during surgery, according to John Herman, the European Marketing Manager for Surgical Solutions at Sony Medical.

Article • Disaster areas

Winners on the firing line

Jens Hahn MD is an Internal Medicine and Intensive Care Specialist who works with the international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF in English: Doctors Without Borders). Here he describes his work in Afghanistan and South Sudan, and the use of rapid diagnostic tests in the field.

News • Dividing T cells

Target for improving cancer immunotherapy

When an immune T cell divides into two daughter cells, the activity of an enzyme called mTORC1, which controls protein production, splits unevenly between the progeny, producing two cells with different properties. Such "asymmetric division," uncovered by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers using lab-grown cells and specially bred mice, could offer new ways to enhance cancer…

News • Individual treatment

Molecular sub-groups in early stages of bladder cancer

Bladder cancer is a frequent disease affecting approximately 1,900 persons in Denmark annually. A high number of these patients only have superficial tumours in the bladder when the disease is diagnosed. For many years, this patient group will be examined frequently and during this time many get new tumours; some cases develop aggressively making it necessary to remove the bladder or receive…

News • Politics

Liquid biopsy test from Roche gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the cobas EGFR Mutation Test v2, a blood-based companion diagnostic for the cancer drug Tarceva (erlotinib). This is the first FDA-approved, blood-based genetic test that can detect epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations in non-small cell lung cancer patients. Such mutations are present in approximately 10-20 percent of non-small cell…

More light on cancer

The group of Russian and French researchers, with the participation of scientists from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, has succeeded to synthesize nanoparticles of ultrapure silicon, which exhibited the property of efficient photoluminescence, i.e., secondary light emission after photoexcitation. These particles were able to easily penetrate into cancer cells and it allowed to use them as…

News • Handheld

Multiphoton microscope and endoscope could speed up diagnosis

Two new optical devices could reduce the need to take tissue samples during medical examinations and operations and to then send them for testing – potentially speeding up diagnosis and treatment and cutting healthcare costs.

News • Musculoskeletal ultrasound

POC ultrasound indispensable for elite sport in Wales

Point-of-care ultrasound is an essential tool for Dr Mark Ridgewell, an early pioneer for sports and exercise medicine (SEM) and, for the past 13 years, consultant sports physician at the Sport Wales Institute.

News • GLINT project

Using sugar to detect cancer: a game changer for cancer screening

Cancer accounts for 13 percent of all deaths worldwide and despite recent medical improvements remains one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Early detection, usually through advanced medical imaging, is crucial as it increases the chances of survival and the potential for full recovery. The EU-funded project GlucoCEST Imaging of Neoplastic Tumours (GLINT) will develop an innovative…