Using the newly designed 3-D ultrasound technology, Duke University bioengineers can compensate for the thickness and unevenness of the skull to see in real-time the arteries within the brain that most often clog up and cause strokes. The researchers believe that these advances will ultimately improve the treatment of stroke patients by enabling emergency medical technicians (EMT) to quickly scan the heads of potential stroke victims while in the ambulance or allowing physicians to easily monitor in real time the patients’ response to therapy at the bedside.

 Photo by ilkerender

A survey conducted on over 860,000 women aged 70-75 years indicated that breast cancer screening is effective and reduces deaths from the disease in women aged up to 75 years old. In another study carried over about 100,000 women between the age group of 50 and 62 years indicated that the best interval for screening was every three years, which contradicts arguments that women should have mammograms more frequently.

According to the authors of an article released on April 18, 2008, in The Lancet, venous ultrasonography may no longer be needed to diagnose pulmonary embolisms (PE) when a multislice CT scan (MSCT) is used. Detection of PE currently includes clinical probability assessment (CPA) with subsequent sequential diagnostic tests, such as the D-dimer, ultrasonography and CT scans.

According to US researchers who conducted meta-analysis of 33 prospective studies, ultrasound or MRI should be the imaging modality of choice in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). While colonoscopy and barium examination can also be used, these methods are time consuming. Moreover, colonoscopy is invasive and may result in perforation in severe ulcerative colitis. Reported sensitivities and specificities of other options, such as ultrasonography, CT, MRI and scintigraphy, vary and, hence, are not extremely reliable.

Alfacell Corporation announced that Dr. Intae Lee of the University of Pennsylvania has reported that Alfacell’s ONCONASE (ranpirnase) could be a promising radiation sensitizer for lung cancer treatment. Dr. Lee presented the pre-clinical in vivo and in vitro data in a poster at the 2008 American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting being held during April 12 - 16 in San Diego. Dr. Lee provided pre-clinical evidence that ONCONASE +/- I-buthionine sulfoximide significantly increased the radiation-induced growth delay of lung tumors in vivo without increases in skin reaction, as compared to radiation alone.

According to a study published in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology Biology Physics, the breast cancer treatment choices should not be based on the patient’s age alone. Treatments need to be selected based on the age and the type of comorbidities, say the researchers.

Medical professionals can now know more about tumors using a new technique, known as Raman spectroscopy, in a non-invasive manner. These disease sites were earlier accessible only through biopsies, which is an invasive procedure. The new procedure uses low-power infrared lasers with nanoparticles that tag targeted areas suffering from tumors.