RSNA 2007
About 27,000 healthcare professionals from over 100 countries attended RSNA 2006. These included over 5,000 European clinicians. In addition, over 28,000 people from non-US countries manned about 750 exhibition stands.
Paediatrics
Paediatric surgery: a major challenge
UK — A report on the care of young surgical patients has been launched by The Children's Surgical Forum, a body of representatives from the medical royal colleges, surgical specialist associations, Department of Health, Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Surgeons Patient Liaison Group.
Sonographic Indications of Fetal Chromosome Abnormalities
"Genetic ultrasound" is a refined technique in prenatal diagnostics. It aims to estimate as accurately as possible and non-invasively, the individual risk of a fetal chromosome abnormality. In conventional prenatal sonography (malformation screening) conspicuous fetal malformations are searched for selectively; naturally chromosomal anomalies of the fetus cannot be detected in this…
Long term research project of young children with asthma
Multiple-breath washout (MBW) is a new and sensitive lung function test qualified for use on very young children. In their study Asthma UK and the Institute of Child Health at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London use MBW among other tests to investigate how asthma affects the growing airways of babies and infants.
Looking at a New Generation
Most babies are born healthy, but there is still a small risk for all women to give birth to a baby with some type of anomaly. Ultrasound has proven to be one of the most reliable procedures to prenatally diagnose some of these conditions. Ultrasound can be used during the entire pregnancy, but in the first trimester ultrasound examinations are, as a rule, used to exactly calculate the pregnancy,…
New Image Guided Therapy Suites at Sick Kids
In May 2001, the world's first CT-XR hybrid suite for image guided therapy in paediatrics was put into operation. The new Centre for Image Guided Therapy (IGT) at The Hospital for Sick Children allows surgeons and interventional radiologists to do something that's never been done before - work side-by-side when diagnosing and treating children. A total of 4 interventional suites were equipped…
Advancing Pediatric Imaging with 16-Slice CT
Pediatric imaging presents many unique and difficult challenges to the radiologist. Correct and rapid diagnosis is extremely important in pediatric imaging and to that end we constantly strive for tests that offer more information, accuracy and versatility. However, it is also our duty to provide tests that are safe and minimise exposure to ionizing radiation. In recent months there has been…
Screening for Chromosomal Defects
Chromosomal abnormalities are major causes of perinatal death and childhood handicap. Consequently, the detection of chromosomal disorders constitutes the most frequent indication for invasive prenatal diagnosis. However, invasive testing, by amniocentesis, chorionicvillus sampling (CVS) or cordocentesis, is associated with a risk of miscarriage of about 1% and therefore these tests are carried…
High-Frequency Eyeball Sonography in the Differential Diagnosis of Papillae Changes
Since the beginning of the 90s, sonography has been a solid diagnostic pillar in ophthalmology centers, but it is also used by related medical disciplines, such as pediatrics, whose patients require ophthalmological treatment. For all age groups, the fundus of the eye, and especially the optic disk, is well-suited for high-frequency sonography with linear transducers. This type of examination…
The Non-Surgical Closure of Congenital Heart Defects
What is an “open foramen ovale”? The open foramen ovale medical abbreviation PFO for “patent foramen ovale”) is a usually small, only a few millimeter thick, membrane-covered slit in the septum between the atria of the heart. It is a remnant from human embryonic development that usually closes during the newborn period; however, in 10-25% of newborns a small opening remains that generally…
Experiences With the Aplio Ultrasound System in Pediatric Sonography
For the last six months we have been using the Aplio system in sonography for children and adolescents. The following report describes our experiences with this system using a wide range of probe and special applications.
Tissue Doppler Imaging of the Fetal Heart
In the last 25 years, fetal echocardiography has become established as an integral component of prenatal medicine. Structural heart defects are found in approx. 0.8% of all foetuses. They are consequently comparatively frequent and head the list of isolated fetal organ malformations. Routine screening of the four-chamber view and the outflow tract allows the experienced investigator to detect…
Robust CT Protocols for Pediatric Cardiovascular Examinations
Pediatric cardiovascular disorders are extremely complex in nature and present with a widely variable array of abnormal anatomy. Imaging these disorders presents a unique set of challenges for the cardiovascular team. Complex anatomical variations require detailed volumetric image interpretation with high spatial and temporal resolution. In addition, the patients are invariably young. They may…
Lab on the tip of the world
Smiths Medical, part of the Smiths Group, has organised and is maintaining one of four main laboratories for Caudwell Xtreme Everest - the biggest human biology study ever performed at high altitude.
Nutrition and health
According to figures released in 2006 by the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF), around 14 million children, aged 7-11 years, are overweight - and three million of these are obese.
Guess the best
Basic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), particularly when performed immediately by those witnessing a cardiac or respiratory arrest, definitively saves lives - especially in witnessed cases of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and childhood drowning events. Nevertheless, the frequency of bystander CPR still remains mostly low. In turn, survival chances for potentially salvageable patients remain…
US$ 1.5 billion for pneumococcal vaccines development
Canada, Italy, Norway, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today committed US$1.5 billion to launch a pilot Advance Market Commitment (AMC) to help speed the development and availability of a new vaccine which is expected to save the lives of 5.4 million children by 2030. The new initiative will target pneumococcal disease, a major cause of pneumonia and meningitis…
Underage Alcohol Poisoning Increases In UK
Apparently, 20 children are diagnosed each day in the UK with alcohol poisoning.
The dual-use stethoscope
Emergency care doctors can now use just one stethoscope to tend either paediatric or adult patients.
Verdict 'soon' in Libya
The five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, accused of intentional mass HIV infection, face their final court sitting on 31 October. A verdict is expected soon afterwards.
The 9th European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG)
The EHFG has developed into the leading health policy platform in the EU since its beginnings in 1998, attracting close to 600 high-level participants annually.
Article • Freezing cardiology
Cryoablation – a safer therapy for children with arrhythmias
Freezing abnormal electrical pathways in the hearts of young patients may be a safer alternative to zapping them with powerful radiofrequency probes to treat tachycardias and other arrhythmias, according to Dr Fabrizio Drago, of the Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome. ‘If you have a child with a supraventricular tachycardia due to a re-entry circuit, or a target very close to the atrioventricular…
Perinatal medicine
Interview with Prof. Klaus Vetter MD, director of the Obestetrics Clinic at the Perinatal Centre, Vivantes Hospital Neukölln, Berlin, Germany.
The Netherlands and Belgium
Healthcare authorities have advised university hospitals to slowdown surgical training, because, after years of study, qualified Dutch surgeons can find no employment.
EU regulation aims to improve research on medicines for children
The use of unlicensed and off-label medicines for children is widespread, yet over 50% of all pharmaceutical products have no scientific data for young people. With its Regulation on Medicinal Products for Paediatric Use the EU aims to promote the development of more medicines specifically for children.