News • Predicting obstetric complications
New method to reduce risk of severe birth injury
A new method for predicting the risks of severe injuries during childbirth could improve care and reduce long-term complications for women.
Patient management
News • Appeal for tailored care approaches
Breast cancer: Study reveals ethnic differences in development and outcomes
When it comes to breast cancer, ethnic differences matter, putting some women at a significantly higher risk, a new study finds. Genetic ancestry should therefore be considered as a risk factor.
News • From RRMS to SPMS
Multiple sclerosis: AI detects crucial transition point
Multiple sclerosis often transitions from a relapsing-remitting to secondary progressive form, which requires different treatment. Now, an AI model can determine this change with 90% certainty.
Prof. Dr. Agnes Kant
‘Side effects are not a side issue’
Discovering knowledge about side effects needs to be faster and better. In her oration, Prof. Dr. Agnes Kant, Professor by special appointment of Innovation of Pharmacovigilance, calls for more research on side effects. She also pleads for a fund for independent research on side effects.
News • Healthcare communication
Don't call it diabetes: Campaign for life-saving name change
Arginine vasopressin deficiency (AVP-D) is a rare condition affecting the body's water management. However, it is also known under a different name – this can lead to fatal mix-ups.
News • Struggle with health information
Health literacy continues to decline
A majority of the people in Germany face problems regarding health-related information. This is the key finding from a representative study conducted by the Technical University of Munich. The results show a sharp decline in health literacy, particularly noticeable among younger people. Interestingly, factors like education, income, or immigration history do not appear to influence the results.
News • Cardiac event marker
Coronary artery calcium score: useful regardless of age
A large new study of more than 40,000 patients finds that a zero coronary artery calcium score continues to be an accurate indicator of a low risk for a coronary heart event even as a person ages.
News • Behavioural intervention study
Want to boost bowel cancer screening response? Add a deadline
Screening for colorectal cancer has proven effective for reducing mortality, but response rates are lacking. A new study finds that putting on the pressure can provide the necessary encouragement.
News • Uncovering human prejudice
How AI can help detect and reduce bias in emergency medicine
Generative AI can detect and quantify cognitive biases of human caregivers during medical emergency situations. This way, LLMs could help reduce the impact of bias based on gender, age, or ethnicity.
Article • A hard farewell from the lead apron
Radiation protection: Were we wrong all along?
For more than a year now, patients in Austria are no longer required to wear a lead apron during radiological imaging procedures such as X-ray and CT scans. However, the new recommendation, issued by the country's five specialist societies for radiation protection and imaging, has sparked mixed reactions among radiology technologists. At the annual congress of the specialist society…
News • Appeal for clearer patient communication
Do CAT scans really involve cats? (and other ways children misunderstand medical jargon)
"Negative" results are good, and CAT scans are taken without felines: Medical jargon can be confusing for children, so pediatrics experts call for clearer language to avoid invoking fear.
News • Human papillomavirus infection
Cervical cancer: improved screening through HPV risk groups
Analyses of self-tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) can be used to divide HPV-positive women into three risk groups, according to a new study. This could enhance cervical cancer screening.
News • LLM-based mental health detection
AI model could help prevent suicide in hospital patients
Large language models (LLM) show promise in detecting hospital patients at risk of committing suicide. This could help warn medical staff in time while maintaining the patients' privacy.
Sponsored • Patient positioning
Relief for radiographers: The Get Up holding system for back-friendly repositioning
Discover in only one minute, how the Get Up holding system sustainably assists both patients and medical staff.
News • Analytics of patient outcomes
Hospital uses AI platform to achieve ‘extreme transparency’
Karolinska University Hospital is among the most transparent hospitals worldwide. Using AI, the hospital can accurately demonstrate where lives have been saved, and harm avoided for patients.
News • Finnish approach
Epilepsy care pathway as potential model for healthcare systems
Finland introduces a new care pathway for epilepsy. This could serve to model how integrated healthcare systems can effectively manage complex conditions, the coordinators hope.
News • Do no harm
“Never words” in doctor-patient communication (and what to say instead)
“There’s nothing else we can do”, “Why did you wait so long to come?” – doctors should avoid using such phrases. A new study points out the destructive potential of “never words”.
News • Double-edged sword
Remote medical interpreting might impede healthcare communication
Remote medical interpreting saw a huge boost during the Covid-19 pandemic – but despite its benefits, the technology could also have a negative impact on healthcare communication, experts argue.
News • Know thy patients' symptoms
Questionnaire + spine MRI = better diagnosis
Not every spine abnormality shown in an MRI scan causes pain for a patient. To diagnose correctly, researchers advocate the use of questionnaires to match the images with reported symptoms.
News • Discussion on nomenclature
“Prostate cancer” or “incidentaloma”: What should early findings be called?
Certain early-stage changes to the prostate very rarely develop into aggressive cancer, but are still called that. Would it create a false sense of security to not call these “cancer” at all?
News • Checkpoint inhibitor research
Five key factors predict response to cancer immunotherapy
Only 20-40% of patients respond positively to immunotherapy, and these rates vary across different types of cancer. Researchers now identified five key factors that determine response and survival.
News • Circadian-based therapeutic strategies
Cancer drugs more effective when the time-of-day is right, study finds
The time of day can be an important aspect to consider for cancer therapy. Researchers from Charité are developing new methods to use the internal clock inside tumor cells to optimize treatments.
News • Cholecystectomy
Gallstones and abdominal pain: Surgery not always the best option
Even years after the removal of the gallbladder (cholecystectomy), one-third of patients still experience persisting abdominal pain. Better selection criteria for surgery are needed, say researchers.
News • Time loss vs. life expectancy gains
Dialysis: Is the tradeoff always worth it?
New research sheds light on the tradeoffs between survival and time spent in inpatient care that dialysis might entail. This could help patients with kidney failure make more informed decisions.
News • Patient-written symptom descriptions
ChatGPT struggles when medical questions are put in layman's terms
Enter symptoms into ChatGPT, receive an accurate diagnosis? Research reveals that LLM AI models are not quite there yet, struggling to identify genetic conditions from patient-written descriptions.
