News • Treatment guidance
Metastatic prostate cancer comes in two forms
Scientists have identified two subtypes of metastatic prostate cancer that respond differently to treatment.
News • High risk patients
WHO recommends antibody treatment for Covid-19 patients
A treatment combining two antibodies is recommended for two specific groups of patients with Covid-19 by a WHO Guideline Development Group panel of international experts and patients.
News • First-of-its-kind study
Computer-assisted colonoscopies reduces rate of missed lesions
Decreasing the rate of missed lesions could translate into fewer cases of colon cancer.
News • HER2-targeted therapy
Promising results for therapy of non-small cell lung cancer
New data highlights a promising new treatment for individuals with HER2-mutant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Eye health
FDA Approves biosimilar to treat macular degeneration disease
The FDA approved Byooviz (ranibizumab-nuna) as the first biosimilar to Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) for the treatment of several eye diseases and conditions.
News • Orthopedy
Antimicrobial coating for implants prevents infections
Customizable to individual patients and requiring less than 10 minutes to prepare and use, new surgical implant coating prevented 100% of infections in mice.
News • Insight report
More screening and secondary prevention needed
For World Patient Safety Day, Health First Europe (HFE) published a comprehensive insight report on five disease areas that affect millions of European citizens each year and how the European Union could and should do a better job for its citizens.
Article • Orthopaedic advances
Virtual training by hip implant simulator
Trainee trauma or orthopaedic surgeons have limited chances to practice hip replacement surgery before their first hands-on case. To change this, a team in the Dynamic HIPS project aim to improve this by creating a dynamic hip replacement simulator for future surgeons to practice the intervention and develop a reality-based feel for the procedure.
News • Autoimmune reaction study
Severe Covid-19 linked to increase in self-attacking antibodies
Hospitalized Covid-19 patients are substantially more likely to harbor autoantibodies — antibodies directed at their own tissues or at substances their immune cells secrete into the blood — than people without Covid-19, according to a new study.
News • DNA damage causes AML
Cancer chemotherapy side-effects on blood cell development
By analysing secondary acute myeloid leukaemias, researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona have detected mutations caused by platinum-based chemotherapies in cells that were healthy at the time of treatment. Treatment with chemotherapies influences the development of blood cells, favouring clonal hematopoiesis from cells with pre-existing mutations. The study has…
News • Classifying subtypes
Breast cancer ‘ecotypes’ could lead to more personalised treatment
A team led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research has revealed a new approach for classifying breast cancer subtypes based on their cell profile, which could help personalise treatments for patients. By analysing breast cancer biopsies from patients at Sydney hospitals, the researchers revealed more than 50 distinct cancer, immune and connective cell types and states, which could assign…
News • Blood poisoning
Sepsis: 5-country survey shows lack of public awareness
On World Sepsis Day, in vitro diagnostics company bioMérieux and the UK Sepsis Trust reveal the results of a survey conducted in Europe regarding knowledge and attitudes towards sepsis. The findings demonstrate the need to accelerate awareness and education of the general population about this life-threatening condition.
News • Combined chemotherapy
Pancreatic cancer: New treatment promising for older patients
Pancreatic cancer is a disease of the elderly: the average age of patients is 72. In Austria, about 1,600 people are diagnosed each year. Since pancreatic cancer has no specific symptoms, it is not usually diagnosed until the tumor is locally advanced or has already metastasized. Once the tumor has metastasized, it is usually no longer treatable by surgery or radiotherapy. In addition, the drug…
News • Eye disease prevention
Using AI to screen for glaucoma
Scientists from the Nanyang Techniogical University (NTU) Singapore, in collaboration with clinicians at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) in Singapore, have developed a novel method that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to screen for glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness through damage to the optic nerve at the back of the eye. Glaucoma is often called ‘the…
Video • Innovative approach
Osteoarthritis: Nasal cartilage relieves knee pain
Cartilage cells from the nasal septum can not only help repair cartilage injuries in the knee, they can also withstand the chronic inflammatory tissue environment in osteoarthritis and even counteract the inflammation – according to researchers from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel.
News • Coronavirus prevention
Double vaccination cuts risk of Long Covid in half
Adults who have received a double vaccination are 49% less likely to have Long Covid should they contract a Covid-19 infection, according to new research from King's College London. The scientists analysed data from participants logging their symptoms, tests and vaccines on the UK ZOE COVID Symptom Study app between 8th December 2020 and 4 July 2021, including 1,240,009 (first dose) and 971,504…
News • Titanium-alloy knee plates
3D printing simplifies high tibial osteotomy
3D metal printing technology is producing personalised medical-grade titanium-alloy plates that perfectly fit individuals suffering arthritis of the knee. Engineers at the University of Bath’s Centre for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) working with 3D Metal Printing Ltd, are using the TOKA (Tailored Osteotomy for Knee Alignment) treatment to improve the surgical procedure and fit of high-tibial…
News • Medication combination
'4-in-1' blood pressure pill shows great promise
The first large-scale, long-term trial of a new strategy using combinations of very low-doses in one capsule, has demonstrated significantly improved control of high blood pressure - the leading cause of heart attack and stroke. This first large-scale, randomised controlled clinical trial of starting this novel combination blood pressure medication brought blood pressure under control in 80…
Article • Cardiology advances
Digital solutions for heart failure patients
Triage HF Plus, highlighted in the BCS conference session ‘Digital Innovation in Cardiology - What's new?’ is a digital heart failure care project that uses a customised algorithm to detect early signs of deterioration in patients with implanted devices. During her presentation ‘Digital solutions to identify worsening heart failure’, consultant cardiologist Dr Fozia Ahmed discussed the…
Article • Molecular targeting for better results
Emerging novel tracers for cardiovascular imaging
Molecular imaging, guided by novel tracers, is emerging as an important diagnostic and therapeutic tool in cardiovascular medicine. Delegates at ICNC-CT, the online International Conference on Nuclear Cardiology and Cardiac CT, also heard that cardiology can learn from fields such as oncology and neurology that have already made important advances in this area. Professor Frank Bengel, who is…
News • Thromboembolic misunderstandings
Covid-19, not vaccination, presents biggest blood clot risks
Researchers from the University of Oxford have announced the results of a study into thrombocytopenia (a condition with low platelet counts) and thromboembolic events (blood clots) following vaccination for Covid-19, some of the same events which have led to restricted use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in a number of countries.
Sponsored • Transcatheter aortic valve implants
TAVI: from short-term effects to lifetime management
Until recently, TAVI, the minimally invasive procedure in which a replacement valve is inserted inside a diseased valve has been mostly prescribed for patients too weak to face open heart surgery – largely involving those in the 80-plus age group. Today, due to greater longevity plus advancing skills that result in risks reduction, TAVI is increasingly prescribed for patients in their 70s and…
News • Reducing collateral damage
A shield to protect patients during prostate cancer radiotherapy
Prostate cancer specialists from the Radiotherapy Department at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals Foundation Trust have become the first in the world to use an innovative technique to help patients receiving treatment for prostate cancer. Some patients receiving radiotherapy for prostate cancer will have their treatment split into two portions. The first stage of killing the cancerous…
News • Heart-related hospitalisations
Drug danger: opioid use linked to steep rise in cardiac arrests
A nationwide US study has shown that the rate of opioid-related cardiac arrests has steeply risen and is now on par with the rate of cardiac arrest from other causes. The research is presented at ESC Congress 2021. Opioid use disorder, which includes dependence and addiction, affects more than two million people in the US, while opioid overdose is the leading cause of death for those aged 25 to…
Article • Precision oncology
Personalized health and genomics: Minimizing collateral damage
A solid diagnosis has always been the first step on any patient’s journey to health. However, diagnostic categories are necessarily oversimplifications. In the last decades, medical professionals and scientists have begun to uncover the true variability in patients’ physiological and biochemical make-up that is the principal cause for individual variations in the way diseases present…