Article • Oncology
Cost cutting cancer drugs
How to cut the high cost of cancer drugs engendered high interest at the recent Forum on Hospital Management held in Vienna.
Article • Radiotherapy
Dutch centre of excellence adopts dedicated device
Patients with locally advanced rectal cancer have been treated with intra-operative radiotherapy (IORT) for over twenty years. Partly due to this type of radiation, survival rates in a group of patients considered to have inoperable cancer changed dramatically from five to 70 percent.
News • Implants
Screws that fit the body’s notches
Complex bone fractures are often set with titanium or steel screws and plates. However, if these remain in the body for some time, they can cause health problems. A new bioceramic screw nail has the capacity of replacing the currently used metal components. It can be easily introduced into bone and does not have to be removed.
Man develops hepatitis from consuming too many energy drinks
A 50-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department with hepatitis, most likely due to his intake of 4-5 energy drinks every day for three weeks, reveal doctors writing in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
News • Endoscopic surgery
NDS to launch 4K UHD display
NDS will showcase its new 4K Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) visualization technology with the launch of the Radiance® Ultra 4K 32” monitor during the MEDICA World Forum for Medicine.
Sponsored • Cardiology
CARDIOVIT AT-1 G2 - When tradition meets modernity
SCHILLER is very pleased to introduce the 2nd generation of its most successful ECG device: Building on the solidly proven AT-1 and enhanced with the latest technology, the AT-1 G2 distinguishes itself by its outstanding signal quality and the newest interpretation algorithm. Userfriendliness is guaranteed with step-by-step workflow and easy patient data entry. A colour screen and an…
News • Connected to Heart
Fetal surgery successfully removes life-threatening tumor
For the first time, fetal medicine experts have performed prenatal heart surgery to remove a life-threatening tumor, called intrapericardial teratoma. The patient, who underwent the operation at 24 weeks of gestation while in his mother’s womb, is now a healthy three-year-old preschooler. “We have shown that we can accurately diagnose and provide a prognosis for this rare condition in utero,…
News • Bio-Inspired
Lower-limb 'wearing robotic exoskeleton' for human gait rehab
Stroke and spinal cord injury patients often require gait rehabilitation to regain the ability to walk or to help strengthen their muscles. Wearable “robot-assisted training” is quickly emerging as a method that helps improve this rehab process.
News • Chemotherapy
Precision medicine test helps guide breast cancer patients’ decision
One of the earliest widespread applications of precision medicine in cancer care is helping patients and physicians decide whether chemotherapy is needed, a new study finds.
News • Stroke Patients
New hope for recovery of hand movement
Stroke patients are starting a trial of a new electronic device to recover movement and control of their hand. Neuroscientists at Newcastle University have developed the device, the size of a mobile phone, which delivers a series of small electrical shocks followed by an audible click to strengthen brain and spinal connections.
Interview • Endoscopy
New devices deliver exceptional clarity
This year Pentax Medical launches three premium products for use in gastroenterology, Ear nose and throat (ENT) and bronchoscopy. These result from highly focused global research and development, for which Mike Drexel, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, is responsible. In our interview he discusses how the firm’s globalised approach to product research and development has taken shape.
News • Neurology
“Stroke clearly is a brain disease”
“The medical rationale for stroke being a disease of the brain is overwhelming.” This is the key message of an urgent appeal launched by leading neurology experts in The Lancet.1 The authors are making public their concern about the classification of stroke in the draft revision of the “International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems” (ICD) after an…
News • 3D Printing
Promising biomaterial to build better bones
A Northwestern University research team has developed a 3D printable ink that produces a synthetic bone implant that rapidly induces bone regeneration and growth. This hyperelastic “bone” material, whose shape can be easily customized, one day could be especially useful for the treatment of bone defects in children.
News • Melanoma treatment
Dermatology develops an effective immunotherapy against solid cancer
Melanomas account among the eight most frequent deadly cancers in Europe and Northern America. Two major clinical criteria separate melanomas from most other cancers: the risk to die from a melanoma is a question of being less or more than 1 mm – and not a question of cm. About 95% of patients with melanomas ≤0.5 mm in thickness are clinically cured by early detection and appropriate melanoma…
News • Therapy
Nanoparticle injections may be future of osteoarthritis treatment
Osteoarthritis is a debilitating condition that affects at least 27 million people in the United States, and at least 12 percent of osteoarthritis cases stem from earlier injuries. Over-the-counter painkillers, such as anti-inflammatory drugs, help reduce pain but do not stop unrelenting cartilage destruction. Consequently, pain related to the condition only gets worse.
News • tumor-fighting
Swarms of magnetic bacteria could deliver drugs to tumors
Researchers funded in part by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have recently shown that magnetic bacteria are a promising vehicle for more efficiently delivering tumor-fighting drugs.
News • Oncology
Fighting cancer with sticky nanoparticles
A team of researchers at Yale found that a treatment using bioadhesive nanoparticles loaded with a potent chemotherapy drug proved more effective and less toxic than conventional treatments for gynecological cancer.
Article • Weaning off
These patients need more attention
A study on weaning patients in intensive care units (ICUs) has compared those who underwent prolonged weaning off mechanical ventilation (MV) with patients classified as undergoing ‘simple’ or ‘difficult’ weaning. It shows that patients who experienced ‘prolonged’ weaning from mechanical ventilation show significantly higher mortality rates. Report: Mark Nicholls
Article • Patient care
Robots will never replace human beings
As the number of patients and people requiring care increases, exacerbating the shortage of care staff for in- and out-patients, care robots might solve the problem. For menial tasks, many devices can contribute well; however, at the complex interactive human level of care, the idea that advancing technologies could replace human caregivers to alleviate staff shortages is clearly simplistic.
News • Proton Adaptive Therapy
IBA to open the path towards adaptive proton therapy
IBA (Ion Beam Applications) today unveils its unique platform, 'Leading the PATh', which gathers the leading experts in the field of proton therapy all in one place. It is anticipated that 'Leading the PATh' will enable the worldwide medical community to shape the most efficient Proton Adaptive Therapy (PATh), a proton therapy process which improves the accuracy of what is considered to be the…
News • Oncology
Nanotechnology supports treatment of malignant melanoma
Changes in the genetic make-up of tissue samples can be detected quickly and easily using a new method based on nanotechnology. This report researchers from the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel in first clinical tests with genetic mutations in patients with malignant melanoma.
News • Breast cancer
A small implanted device could improve survival
A small device implanted under the skin can improve breast cancer survival by catching cancer cells, slowing the development of metastatic tumors in other organs and allowing time to intervene with surgery or other therapies. These findings suggest a path for identifying metastatic cancer early and intervening to improve outcomes.
News • Transplant Patients
Algorithm illuminates need of high-volume hospitals
Using the results from a computerized mathematical model, Johns Hopkins researchers investigated whether they could improve heart and lung transplantation procedures by transferring patients from low-volume to high-volume transplant centers.
Article • Microsurgery
Lower limb trauma – reconstruction or amputation?
‘Amputation v. reconstruction’ – a vital issue – was debated by two leading surgeons during the Microsurgical Lower Limb Reconstruction session at the Advances and Controversies in Reconstructive Microsurgery (ACRM) 2016 conference, held in the United Kingdom this May. Consultant Plastic Surgeon Umraz Khan, from North Bristol NHS Trust presented a plastic surgeon’s view, while Ben…
News • Oncology
Nanovaccine could enhance cancer immunotherapy
NIBIB researchers have created a nanovaccine that could make a current approach to cancer immunotherapy more effective while also reducing side effects. The nanovaccine helps to efficiently deliver a unique DNA sequence to immune cells – a sequence derived from bacterial DNA and used to trigger an immune reaction. The nanovaccine also protects the DNA from being destroyed inside the body, where…