Medical innovations are rapidly expanding therapy options for many diseases. Keep reading to find more information on new therapies, surgical techniques, effective medication and patient care.
Chemistry researchers at the University of Strathclyde are aiming to raise awareness of pancreatic cancer – with the use of specially-made quilts. Fellow cancer researchers across the UK are being asked to send diagrams illustrating their work. These will then be used as the patterns for quilts made by skilled crafters. After the project is concluded, the Strathclyde researchers hope to be able…
Convalescent plasma shows limited effectiveness as a potential treatment for patients with COVID-19 to help them fight off the infection, finds a clinical trial from India published by The BMJ. The findings show that convalescent plasma fails to reduce mortality or stop progression to severe COVID-19.
Dosimetry specialist PTW Freiburg GmbH signed a collaboration agreement with The Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL, Amsterdam) to jointly develop an advanced EPID-based dosimetry solution for automated patient-specific quality assurance in radiotherapy. The new software module RT EPID, which will become part of PTW’s patient QA platform Veriqa, builds on…
Focused ultrasound waves help researchers at ETH Zurich to deliver drugs to the brain only to where their effect is desired. This method is set to enable treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders and tumours with fewer side effects in the future.
The dosimetry specialist PTW Freiburg GmbH has entered into a collaboration with the US-based bioinformatics company Radialogica LLC to integrate their advanced SciMoCa Monte Carlo dose calculation algorithm into PTW’s patient QA platform Veriqa. The new Veriqa module RT MonteCarlo 3D, which uses the SciMoCa dose engine for calculation-based radiotherapy plan verification, has received CE mark…
TransEnterix, Inc., a medical device company that is digitizing the interface between the surgeon and the patient to improve minimally invasive surgery, announced that Hackensack Meridian Health Pascack Valley Medical Center, a hospital in New Jersey, successfully completed its first surgical procedures using the Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU).
More than 32,000 people from over 160 countries registered for The Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC 2020) in July. This largest and most influential international conference on dementia science had to be held virtually this year, when important highlights were aired. The ability to identify individuals at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), or at early…
According to the German Federal Ministry of Health, 400,000 to 600,000 patients are diagnosed with hospital-acquired infections every year. The treatment of these nosocomial diseases is complex. Hygiene is a must, especially in the operating room. The IT environment should be designed accordingly.
European Stroke Organisation (ESO) and Stroke Alliance for Europe (SAFE) initiated the implementation phase of the Stroke Action Plan for Europe 2018-2030, with a virtual meeting of over 80 experts from 52 countries, each involved within their national scientific societies or stroke support organisations.
The Vacuette® Visio Plus Needle with optical venipuncture control can make an important contribution to simplifying blood collection routine for phlebotomists. The needle has a translucent plastic hub, which functions as a view window. If venipuncture is successful, the view window is coloured red due to the blood flow. The Vacuette Visio Plus Needle guarantees a safe blood collection procedure…
For cardiology patients fitted with an implantable cardiac monitor, cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, home monitoring is a blessing. The system also has many advantages for medical staff, as Kristina Rauholt reports. The nurse and Certified Cardiac Device Specialist for Allied Professionals (CCDS) at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Sweden, has worked with home monitoring…
A new study has suggested that more patients could benefit from combinations of cholesterol-lowering drugs to reduce their risk of stroke and heart attacks. While risk is reduced for many patients through taking statins, those at the highest risk of cardiovascular events may benefit from combinations of lipid-lowering therapies, according to the results of a European study of patients across 18…
A new procedure to correct atrial fibrillation (AF) has been performed for the first time in the UK last week at Leicester's Hospitals. AF affects 1-2% of the general population, which amounts to more than 1 million people in the UK, and increases the risk of stroke by five times. Treating the condition with medicine is often ineffective, with many patients continuing to suffer from…
If a father or brother has prostate cancer, his son or brother has an increased risk of this type of cancer. Whether this also applies when precancerous stages of this cancer are discovered in relatives has not yet been known. Now scientists have analyzed data from more than six million men to find out how high the risk of prostate cancer is in this case. Researchers at the German Cancer Research…
For most women with early breast cancer, a single dose of targeted radiotherapy during surgery is just as effective as conventional radiotherapy, which requires several visits to hospital after surgery. This combination of targeted radiotherapy (restricted to the area around the tumour) given immediately after surgery is called targeted intraoperative radiotherapy. Conventional radiotherapy…
A bioactive polymer-ceramic composite for fixing implants and restoring bone defects in the skull was developed by an international group of materials scientists from the Russian National University of Science and Technology (NUST) MISIS Center for Composite Materials. An innovative composition of the material based on eggshell-derived bioceramic provides increased strength and biointegration of…
L-type calcium channel blockers (LCCBs) — the most widely used drugs for treating hypertension — may harm the heart as much as help it, according to a new study. The research team, led by the Pennsylvania State University, found that in rats and human cells in vitro, LCCBs cause changes in blood vessels — known as vascular remodeling — that reduce blood flow and increase pressure.…
Bringing a little bit of science fiction into an operating room, a team of engineers and physicians at Washington University in St. Louis has shown for the first time that using a holographic display improves physician accuracy when performing a procedure to treat irregular heartbeat. Jennifer N. Avari Silva, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, and Jonathan Silva,…
Medtech company BellaSeno announced the initiation of a first-in-human trial of its novel, absorbable soft tissue reconstruction scaffold (Senella). A patient with Pectus Excavatum congenital defect has undergone surgery at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane, Australia, earlier this month. The procedure was performed by Dr. Michael Wagels, Principal Investigator of the trial and Plastic and…
Better outcomes, more favourable prognoses – oncologists and their lung cancer patients didn’t dare to dream about it. Finally, there might be hope. The so-called checkpoint inhibitors (immunotherapy drug) have been used successfully, albeit not for every patient. They are a double-edged sword, with risks as well as opportunities, as explained by Professor Cornelia Schäfer-Prokop.
Medical device company Biotronik is proud to announce the availability of its next-generation balloon-expandable cobalt chromium iliac stent system, Dynetic-35. When compared to leading competitors, the new peripheral stent has up to 14 times greater flexibility and up to 23% higher radial strength. It is indicated for the treatment of de novo or restenotic atherosclerotic lesions in the iliac…
Patients and the general public appear to significantly overestimate the success of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and underestimate the negative impact it can have on a person’s health, new research suggests. US researchers have therefore recommended clinicians discuss CPR with patients and their loved ones to clarify the practice’s success rate and the real benefits and risks involved…
Department B for Internal Medicine of the University Medical Center Greifswald successfully used, within an international multi-center trial, a special diaphragmatic stimulation therapy to treat a COVID-19 patient as the first clinical site in Europe. "The first patient treated in this trial happened to be a woman who survived COVID-19, but was not able to be weaned from mechanical…
Johns Hopkins scientists report the successful use of nanoparticles to deliver gene therapy for blinding eye disease. A uniquely engineered large molecule allows researchers to compact large bundles of therapeutic DNA to be delivered into the cells of the eye.
New coatings on implants could help make them more compatible. Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a new method of applying anti-inflammatory substances to implants in order to inhibit undesirable inflammatory reactions in the body. Their study was recently published in the "International Journal of Molecular Sciences".
