Fatal blood clots claim 500,000 EU lives annually
Experts call for screening of surgical and medical patients, and thromboprophylaxis for those at risk.
Prevention
Perinatal medicine
Interview with Prof. Klaus Vetter MD, director of the Obestetrics Clinic at the Perinatal Centre, Vivantes Hospital Neukölln, Berlin, Germany.
Pandemic panic sends feathers flying
AIDS, SARS and now H5NI; just a brief beginning or the end? As the virus moves towards Europe, and millions of birds are slaughtered, interest has risen in a Chinese herb, a patent-sharing controversy and drug stockpiling
The 1st International High Tech in Medicine congress
Prevention is better than cure - use the technology! A report from the 1st International High Tech in Medicine congress.
Global healthcare report identifies best practices
Health organisations and governments should seek solutions beyond their own borders.
Carotid stenting: "a feeding frenzy"
Vascular experts urge caution over stent lacement to prevent stroke.
Text messaging beats missed appointments
UK - Patients who miss medical appointments cost the country's National Health Service (NHS) around £575 million annually.
Bird flu vaccine production to be based in CR
Czech Republic - The US firm Baxter International Inc. is to establish a production facility to produce a quite unique vaccine in CR. First discussed in December 2005, the plan appears to have made a significant step forward. Baxter specialises in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology, and globally employs around 48,000 people in 64 manufacturing facilities, which include those in…
Sleep apnoea study may alter stroke management
Spain - New research suggests that sleep apnoea is a new risk factor for death from stroke.
Food threat to health congress
Globally, about two million people die each year after consuming spoilt food, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Worldwide about 600,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed annually
Mammography plays a critical part in diagnosing breast cancer. Although this does not prevent the disease, diagnosing breast cancer as early as possible can save lives.
No reimbursement for digital screening
Interviewed by Daniela Zimmermann, Executive Director of EH, Jean Hooks, General Manager, Global Mammography at GE Healthcare, examined reasons behind the slow uptake of digital technology in some European countries, comparing this with its early adoption in the USA
PET and recurrent cancer
More sensitive dissemination tests are needed for patients with locoregionally recurrent (LRR) breast cancer, according to a paper by Dutch researchers published online by the European Journal of Cancer (Volume 40, Issue 10 , 7/2004).
Ploughing vigorously forward
The UK - In the 1990s, the nationally co-ordinated NHS Breast Screening Programme was already saving lives - a 21% fall in breast cancer mortality over the last decade and, with the cervical screening programme, this was viewed as among the best cancer screening programmes in the world. However, in that period, the country's cancer services, as a whole did not match up to those of other European…
Tuberculosis blood test gains EU approval
TB causes three million deaths annually, ranking it higher than any other infectious disease. And TB has resurged in Europe. In August, the British Thoracic Society, British Lung Foundation and TB Alert highlighted its increase in over the last 15 years in the UK alone.
Weighing up the way to go
Austria is the only 'old' EU Member State that has not implemented a national breast cancer screening programme.
Why screen?
Mammography as a diagnostic procedure to evaluate detected tumours is not an issue. But because the technique is performed, in screening programmes, on apparently healthy people, for ethical reasons it becomes an issue.
BP: A poor indicator for cardiac disease
Blood pressure (BP) screening, either alone or in combination with other cardiovascular risk factors such as cholesterol levels, does not determine a person's chance of having a heart attack or stroke, reports Professor Malcolm Law and colleagues at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in the Journal of Medical Screening.
Mobile mammography goes digital
Financed by the Ministry of Health, nine regional screening organisations arrange and implement the Dutch national breast cancer screening programme, in which, every two years, all women from 50-75 years of age are invited for a free mammogram at one of the 62 screening points, of which 56 are mobile vans.
CHF: A major healthcare burden
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a major healthcare problem with 1-2% of the population affected in Western countries. Because it increases with age, the prevalence of CHF is escalating with our aged populations.
Quality assurance first
Germany's Federal Committee of Physicians and Statutory Health Insurance Funds set up three model projects, based in Bremen, Wiesbaden and Weser-Ems, to trial the third edition of the European guidelines on healthcare within the German system and to develop the necessary organisational structures to make these work.
Obesity
The disturbing international comparative study on health behaviour in school children (HBSC), conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), European regional offices, have been presented by the research director for Germany, Professor Hurrelmann, Dean of the School of Public Health at the University of Bielefeld, at the 3rd German Congress for Health Services Research.
Ultrasound CT for early diagnosis
Karlsruhe, Germany - A new type of ultrasound computed tomography (CT) system promising to improve diagnosis significantly is currently being developed at the Research Centre Karlsruhe.
Alga may help
A European study involving 500,000+ people aged between 25-70 years, in 20 European countries, has confirmed a connection between dietary fibre consumption and colon cancer protection.