The Image project
Michael Hall outlines the work and aims of IMAGE - the Development and Implementation of a European Guideline and Training Standards for Diabetes Prevention
Prevention
Embracing Excellence in Prostate and Kidney Cancer
The first European Multidisciplinary Meeting on Urological Cancers will take place in Barcelona, Spain, November 2nd to 4th, 2007. The meeting is co-organized by the European Association of Urology (EAU), the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO).
The therapeutic potential of adult stem cells in cardiovascular diseases
By Bodo E. Strauer (Düsseldorf, Germany) Russian summary and complete article in English.
For and against - Absorbable metal stents
Coronary stents provide wall wrapping of dissection, prevent elastic recoil, and reduce restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. In addition, drug eluting stents loaded with antiproliferative agents inhibit intimal hyperplasia and offer a further reduction of restenosis.
Trial to raise awareness of gender and CVD
More women than men die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) every year, yet females receive only 33% of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries; 28% of implantable defibrillators, and 36% of open heart surgeries.
Could a virtual game help pandemic studies?
USA - Online game worlds might prove useful for the study of a spread of human infectious diseases, according to scientists Eric Lofgren and Nina Fefferman, of Rutgers University (Piscataway, NJ, USA) and Tufts University (Boston, MA, USA).
Carotid Plaque Imaging
Ischaemic stroke accounts for 80-85% of all cerebrovascular accidents and causes considerable morbidity and mortality, thereby placing a significant burden on western societies. In the UK alone, stroke costs amount to 10.4 billion EUR annually. These events commonly are a consequence of systemic atherosclerotic disease and with the internal carotid arteries supplying 75% of cerebral blood flow,…
Selenium-Based Flat Panel X-ray Detector for Digital Fluoroscopy and Radiography
We have succeeded in developing the first selenium-based flat panel X-ray detector for digital fluoroscopy and radiography. This flat panel X-ray detector efficiently captures X-rays that have passed through the patient's body and converts them directly to digital dynamic and static images. It has been confirmed that images with high spatial resolution and contrast can be obtained. The detector…
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,…
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…
Virtual Coloscopy
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…
Optimization and Reduction of CT Radiation Exposure
The exposure of patients to radiation by computed tomography has been widely discussed in recent years, both by professionals and by the public. The essential reason for optimizing patient exposure is the basic desire to keep radiation dose at the lowest possible level. This requires above all organ-specific and patient-specific adjustment of the radiation exposure in order to achieve uniform…
Tumour Characterization Using Micro Flow Imaging
Due to echogenicity differences in comparison with the surrounding liver tissue conventional B-mode-imaging sonography permits the unambiguous classification of the frequently occurring typical liver cysts (criteria: round, echo-free, smoothly demarcated, with edge shadows and sound through transmission) and calcifications (highly reflective, acoustic shadows). The detection and characterization…
Multislice CT Angiography for Advanced Diagnostics and Therapy Control of Aortic Diseases
Modern imaging modalities are increasingly playing a role in planning therapy for aortic diseases and in follow-up exams after surgery or endovascular intervention. The methods employed for minimally invasive endovascular therapy have been continually improved in recent years and are now being used by vascular surgeons or radiologists to treat thoracic, thoracoabdominal and abdominal aortic…
State governments unite to lower mortality
Australia - The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has reported a 26% decrease in the breast cancer mortality rate among women aged 50-69 years between 1990 and 2004.
Three-Dimensional Angiographic Imaging of Intracranial Aneurysms
In the Caucasian population, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to a ruptured intracranial aneurysm is seen with an incidence of 6 to 8 per 100,000. In some specific countries such as Finland and Japan these numbers rise to 20 per 100,000. 60% of patients presenting with an aneurysmal SAH are female. The presenting symptoms are: thunderclap headache in combination with (temporary) loss of…
Ultra Low Dose CT of the Lungs
Excluding pulmonary coin lesions potentially caused by metastasis of extrathoracic malignant tumours or as the principal indication of early lung carcinomas is one of the most frequent tasks in plain film imaging and computed tomography examination of the thorax.
The 27th Annual Convention of the German Society for Senology
Congress President Professor Juergen Dunst MD praises major advances and multidisciplinary efforts, and outlines future hopes for breast cancer patients
Screening: Patients respond well to web-based reminders
USA - Web-based mail and phone reminder software significantly increased the percentage of patients who received preventive health services, according to a study led by Rajeev Chaudhry MBBS, at the Mayo Clinic, published in May in The Archives of Internal Medicine.
World's largest gathering of cancer specialists told: Mammography is still key to survival
Rapid diagnosis and treatment are the keys to breast cancer survival - and an elastogram mammography continues to play a central role in breast cancer detection according to research presented recently in Chicago, at the 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), writes Ian Mason.
Transrectal Ultrasound in Prostate Cancer: State of the Art
The current prostate cancer disease burden is considerable due to the high prevalence of the disease, widespread early detection, and the relatively long survival time since many men will die with rather than due to prostate cancer. In the United States, one in every three new cases of cancer in men is prostate cancer. Worldwide, in 2002, it was predicted that 679,023 men received the diagnosis…
Nutrition and health
In Europe today, obesity is assuming epidemic proportions.
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.
Where abortion isn't illegal, it should be safe and accessible
Each year about 46 million women in the world decide to have an abortion because of unwanted pregnancy. Half of them have no other choice but to access unsafe abortions, leading to the death of worldwide 70,000 women every year - including Europe. At least in areas where abortion is not illegal, this disgrace can be abolished by the access to safe abortions.
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…