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Latest In Medicine
Early Detection Techniques Offer Hope for Improved Outcomes in Lung Cancer Patients

New techniques for identifying lung cancer earlier -including a new type of chest screening, a nanotech 'nose' and a method to examine the cells of the cheek-- are showing substantial promise. "Currently, low-dose CT is the only early detection modality that has shown to improve survival rates. However, identifying persons at risk for lung cancer by methods that use less radiation, would be preferable.

Fast and inexpensive imaging

A fast and inexpensive new imaging technique, called digital chest tomosynthesis, is a promising method for lung cancer screening. Digital tomography takes about 11 seconds. The lung cancer detection rate using digital chest tomography is in line with the detection rate of previous studies using computed tomography. The 1% detection rate is adequate for lung cancer screening and the cost is by far lower then using low-dose CT scan. Based on their experience, the Italian group believes the new technology holds great promise. Further multicenter studies are needed to confirm the clinical role for the technique in the detection or evaluation of lung nodules.

New Way to Image Bleeding in Arteries of the Brain Identified

New research from the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute shows that by using a CT scan (computerized tomography), doctors can predict which patients are at risk of continued bleeding in the brain after a stroke. This vital information will allow doctors to utilize the most powerful blood clotting medications for those with the highest risk. One in three individuals will continue to accumulate blood in the brain from a leak in a small artery. Pooling blood in the brain has serious consequences, and could lead to disability or even death. Previously, doctors in emergency stroke situations could not discern whether or not a patient's brain bleeding had stopped. Using CT scan images, researchers can now identify "spot signs" that are seen as a small area of contrast on the CT scan. This spot sign is the actual location of bleeding within an artery in the brain.

This research provides validation of a new imaging marker to identify patients that may need to be treated with clotting medications versus those that don't. Clinical trials have now begun to test powerful clotting drugs in these patients.

Microfluidic chip to quickly diagnose the flu

During the H1N1 flu pandemic of 2009, which spread across more than 200 countries and killed more than 18,000 people, it became clear that flu diagnosis was often taking too long and resulting in frequent false negatives.
Today, researchers from Boston University, Harvard, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center are reporting in the journal PLoS ONE that they have built a microfluidic chip that rivals in accuracy the gold-standard diagnostic test known as RT-PCR but is faster, cheaper, and disposable.