BRAF is a protein that plays an important part in the transmission of growth signals. In a mutated state it can lead to uncontrolled cell growth. Around every second malignant melanoma – the deadliest and most aggressive form of skin cancer – has a certain mutation of the BRAF gene.
Individually customised drug therapies have been used for the last two years, particularly for cancer patients
Patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham are already seeing the benefits of hourly nurse rounds, which are expected to be rolled out nationwide, under plans announced by the Government on January, 4. to improve standards of care.
Over the last few decades healthcare costs have been skyrocketing, something often discussed on this blog as it has become a considerable problem for many different countries.
NHSScotland has selected the international IT services company Atos, in partnership with IMAGE Information Systems, to support the roll-out of a new national screening program’s IT system for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms (AAA). Currently, there is no existing vascular screening system worldwide.
A new genre of medical tests - which determine whether a medicine is right for a patient's genes - are paving the way for increased use of personalized medicine, according to the cover story in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
Only individualised pharmacotherapy can maintain the quality of life for patients suffering from severe pain – and the benefit for the healthcare system is a resulting reduction in costs. A report by Anja Behringer.
Enormous technical developments over recent decades, along with greater understanding of tumour biology, have made imaging, pathology and laboratory medicine indispensable tools in personalised cancer treatments.
For some, ‘life’s a bitch’ with unfairness and suffering an integral part of it. Many more people actually do not expect any better than the barrenness and misery in which they live, EH Malta Correspondent Moira Mizzi reflects.
Molecular diagnostics is one of the most important technological advances in clinical diagnostics, seeing the €3.6 billion market grow 10% in constant currency (CC) in 2010 and predicted continual growth well above the diagnostic industry rates. The recipe for success in this field lies in three critical components: core technology, automation and menu. During our interview with Marc Meyer, the…
Swiss surgical patients can check on and correct their treatment data and thereby facilitate reliable hospital benchmarking. In 1995, surgeons in the Biel, Burgdorf and Zurich Limmattal hospitals founded the Working Group for Quality Assurance in Surgery (AQC) to collect and compare reatment data.
With his clinical and experimental research on the acute care of critically ill patients through round-the-clock monitoring of the vital functions Max Harry Weil revolutionised intensive care medicine and became known as its founding father. He died in 2011 in California, aged 84. Thus the first Max Harry Weil Lecture will be held in his honour at this ISICEM.
In breast imaging, advances are constant. Dr Peter Brader, at the Department of Radiology, Division for Molecular and Gender Imaging, Medical University Vienna, believes a paradigm shift will take place in this and by 2025.
Current staff crises are leading Europe`s hospitals to show strong interest in talent management, according to human resources management software provider unmantis.
Comprehensive additional training is necessary in Germany, to specialise in paediatric radiology, and only seven among the country’s 35 university hospitals provide paediatric radiology professorships. Thus, there are only about 80 specialists in this field and very few work in private practice
Participants at European Health Forum Gastein 2011 (EHFG) agreed: the tendency in Germany and Austria is to operate far too soon (particularly for hip, knee and disc surgery), and many surgical interventions are unnecessary, posing a particular and increasingly urgent problem especially in industrialised countries. Hans-Christian Pruszinsky reports
On 21 September 2011, in a lunch debate held at the European Parliament in Brussels EPF, CPME, PGEU and EFPIA brought together the perspectives of patients, doctors, community pharmacists and the research-based pharmaceutical industry presenting examples of best practices on adherence to therapies, and demonstrating how a coordinated, multi-stakeholder and patient-centred approach – involving…
Improving the quality of healthcare, increasing the efficiency of the systems and ensuring patient empowerment - these are the common goals worldwide when discussing the necessary transformation of the systems in order to guarantee a sustainable healthcare delivery in the future. The Global E-Health Forum - Hamburg 2011 will represent major stakeholders involved in designing personalized…
Debuting at the AACC meeting was the first free mobile application to help consumers decipher their own medical tests. Created for use on an iPhone, iPad and Android smartphone, the Lab Tests Online app connects to a site promising to provide reliable, unbiased information that enables them to have more informed conversations with their doctors.
Founded in 1998, the European Health Forum Gastein (5-8 October, Salzburg, Austria) is Europe’s leading health political conference, attracting 600 participants from around 60 countries. Beyond the EU, its leading role is underlined by the participation of active members from the GUS states, south-eastern European countries and Taiwan, Christian Pruszinsky reports.
The 1st European Hospital Conference (EHC) will see three important organisations face up to their differences in what promises to be a great debate: During our interview with Dr João de Deus, President of the European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians (AEMH), he pointed out that AEMH, the European Hospital and Healthcare Federation (HOPE) and the European Association of Hospital…
Visiting European healthcare professionals will be able to enter a strong debate on hospital-related politics as well as medical and economic issues at MEDICA this year when the 1st European Hospital Conference (EHC) will take place at 18th November alongside the 34th Congress of German Hospitals.
Yes, it’s in beautiful Dresden again and -- as in 2006 when the city last hosted the Congress of the German Society for Senology -- this year’s Congress President is Professor Rüdiger Schulz-Wendtland (Department of Radiology, University of Erlangen). However, the repetition ends there; the congress topics will be anything but repeated. Report: Meike Lerner
France – Re-opening clogged arteries with metal stents has proved a life-saver for a majority of patients with coronary disease. Yet the high rates of complications and mortality for patients with diabetes following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continue to baffle cardiologists. Report: John Brosky
‘Heal the world’ sang the Berliner Rundfunk Children’s Choir and Youth Orchestra, and thus aptly began the joint 21st International Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine and the 19th IFCC-EFCC European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, attracting 4,418 delegates, 2,833 visitors and 1,058 exhibiting staff to Berlin in May.