Prevention

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.

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…

Text messaging beats missed appointments

UK - Patients who miss medical appointments cost the country's National Health Service (NHS) around £575 million annually.

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).

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

Weighing up the way to go

Austria is the only 'old' EU Member State that has not implemented a national breast cancer screening programme.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.