Following the proposal of the European Union to all member states, Finland established a national screening programme for colorectal cancer in 2004. The programme is the first of its kind, aiming to screen a target group of women and men between the ages of 60 and 69 by the use of faecal occult blood test (FOBT).
According to a survey published in the journal Clinical Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians, there seems to be a serious under provision of out-of-hours emergency endoscopy services for patients with gastrointestinal bleeding in the UK. The electronic survery was carried out by the British Society of Gastroenterology, which sent two questionnaires to the endoscopy leads of 188 acute NHS…
Minimally invasive endoscopic stent procedures can reduce the hospital stay of patients suffering from colorectal cancer. Stenting may also reduce the future risk of surgery, reports colorectal surgeon Eric M. Haas MD, of Colorectal Surgery Associates in Houston, USA.
In bronchoscopy and gastroenterology, reprocessors are commonly used to provide a quick availability of endoscopes. However, ENT departments do not dispose of dedicated material, according to the French company Soluscope Group, which manufactures endoscope reprocessors and the detergents used to wash and disinfect them.
There are 12 categories for endoscopes or endoscopy products at MEDICA, as hundreds of firms exhibit the necessary materials or equipment for this expanding surgical field.
Growing interest in sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection has led to its use in many clinical centres. The most successful protocols for localisation of SLNs are those that include preliminary lymphoscintigraphy performed with a conventional gamma-camera. In the absence of a nuclear medicine department, SLN protocols using only an intra-operative counting probe are generally less efficient. To…
UK - Optical imaging company Michelson Diagnostics Ltd (MDL) has announced successful initial results from clinical testing of its novel optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technology. The tests, performed on cancerous and precancerous human oesophagus and lymph node tissue, were designed to establish the potential value of MDL's optical imaging technology used during cancer surgery.
Opening up new dimensions in ergonomics and mobility — in close cooperation with leading neurosurgeons, Leica designed a new swivel arm for its M525 OH4 surgical microscope that offers 36% more reach than comparable instruments.
In 1996, NDS Surgical Imaging developed and launched the first Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technologies for Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) viewing applications.
Sony is showcasing its highly innovative high definition (HD) solutions for diagnostic imaging and display, through to HD surgery and post-operation analysis and training (featured in several issues of our flagship publication EUROPEAN HOSPITAL (www.european-hospital.com)).
With the launch of its new LMD-2450MD monitor for use by medical professionals, Sony offers a its first high definition monitor that convinces with high image clarity and colour accuracy and therefore is ideal for endoscopic applications.
By Paolo Montuschi MD, of the Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.
Endoscopic Ultrasound with Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNAB) capability is relatively new for Toshiba. Recently the company has introduced a transducer enabling gastroenterologists to perform these kinds of examinations. Dr. Paul Fockens (PhD), Director of Endoscopy at the Academic Medical Centre (AMC) of the University of Amsterdam, is an expert in this field. He has been Director of…
Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) is the combination of ultrasound and endoscopy, which allows placement of high-frequency transducers close to the intestinal wall and adjacent structures. As EUS enters its third decade, it is used for locoregional staging of many upper gastrointestinal malignancies, including cancers of the oesophagus, stomach, duodenum, ampulla of Vater, extrahepatic bile ducts and…
Increasingly more importance is being ascribed to early detection of colon carcinoma and of its precursor stages, since there has been a practically twofold increase in the incidence of this disease in Germany over the past 20 years. With a combination of 1. case history, 2. rectal palpation result, 3.'blood in stools' test (haemoccult) and 4. coloscopy, many conspicuous changes to the intestinal…
Professor Martin Raithel MD* works alongside medical devices manufacturer Bowa on the use of argon plasma coagulation in endoscopy. "The argon unit, in conjunction with the generators of the Bowa ARC range, is working very reliably in different disciplines", he says. "It is opening up new methods in flexible endoscopy with argon-assisted electrosurgery due to its outstanding…
The well-known Whipple procedure, or pancreaticduodenectomy, recently underwent a transformation due to the skills of Nerijus Kaselis MD, Head of Abdominal and Endoscopic Surgery at Klaipeda District Hospital.
Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES - a technique that could revolutionize minimally invasive surgery (MIS) by eliminating abdominal incisions - is slowly shifting from research on animal models to human patients.
About a year ago, gastroenterologist Professor Horst Neuhaus began to use a high definition TV (HDTV) system as an aid in the endoscopic procedures carried out at Dusseldorf's Evangelisches Krankenhaus, in the Medical Clinic and Reference Centre for Endoscopy, of which he is head.
Despite thorough cleansing, endoscopy tools can be re-contaminated because non-sterile water is used for the final rinse.
The compact, medically tested Leica Medical Digital Recording System MDRS3 from Leica Microsystems allows video and uncompressed still images recording from multiple cameras without interruption of the video recording.
The épug portable endoscopy device was demonstrated at this year's MEDICA fair in Germany. Currently, this is the only battery operated, digital integrated camera, monitor and digital capture device that has been designed to give surgeons more flexibility to work in various departments.
Brandon Medical has launched a new range of video camera systems for the operating theatre using Sony Professional technology.
It's a new colour — but not a quality change for new products BOWA-electronic GmbH reports.
The French firm Sopro, a subsidiary of the Acteon Group, has acquired the German company Comeg.