Microfluidic Device Separates Circulating Tumor Cells by Size to Help Spot Cancer
Tumors tend to shed cells that travel down the bloodstream, spreading the disease wherever they end up landing. Though these circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the reason that cancers metastasize to distant places in the body, they’re also a great biomarker for spotting the existence of tumors. The extreme rarity of CTCs, though, makes detecting these cells, a process called liquid biopsy, extremely difficult.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Queensland University of Technology of Australia have collaborated to create a microfluidic device that can separate the cells found in whole blood by ...
Source: Medgadget - February 27, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Materials Nanomedicine Oncology Pathology Source Type: blogs
A stage IV lung cancer survivor story
I want to share how the era of immunotherapy, specifically immune-checkpoint-inhibitors, has changed the landscape of community oncology practice in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer, for oncologists and, more importantly, patients. I want to tell you the story of Joe. A stage IV lung cancer survivor story. (Name and details changed to protect anonymity.) In 2015, Joe […]Find jobs at Careers by KevinMD.com. Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now. Learn more. (Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog)
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - January 23, 2019 Category: General Medicine Authors: < span itemprop="author" > < a href="https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/jennifer-lycette" rel="tag" > Jennifer Lycette, MD < /a > < /span > Tags: Conditions Oncology/Hematology Pulmonology Source Type: blogs
Last Month in Oncology with Dr. Bishal Gyawali
By BISHAL GYAWALI MD
Long list of news in lung cancer
September was an important month in oncology—especially for lung cancer. The World Conference in Lung Cancer (WCLC) 2018 gave us some important practice-changing results, also leading to four NEJM publications. The trial with most public health impact is unfortunately not published yet. It’s the NELSON trial that randomised more than 15000 asymptomatic people at high risk of lung cancer to either CT-based screening for lung cancer or to no screening and found a significant reduction in lung cancer mortality rates among the screened cohort compared with the contr...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 4, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: matthew holt Tags: Research Bishal Gyawali Breast cancer Cancer drugs Clinical Trials health spending immunotherapy Lung cancer Oncology pembrolizumab Source Type: blogs
Microfluidic Chips to Diagnose and Characterize Cancer: Interview with Prof. Fatih Sarioglu, Georgia Tech
Research into microfluidic devices to aid in cancer diagnosis promises huge leaps in making diagnostics easier and faster. Much of this research is focused on chips that can trap circulating tumor cells (CTCs) which are present in blood samples. CTCs are released from a primary tumor and can form metastases in other sites in the body, a process which is responsible for more than 90% of cancer-related deaths.
Being able to easily detect and assess CTCs in the blood would provide clinicians with the ability to minimally-invasively diagnose cancer and provide researchers with a window on cancer metastasis and progression. At ...
Source: Medgadget - October 24, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Conn Hastings Tags: Diagnostics Exclusive Oncology Source Type: blogs
Meet the Academic Medicine Editorial Board: What Was Your First Publication?
Do all medical educators start out by publishing advanced research? Or do some try their hand at something else first? We asked the members of the Academic Medicine editorial board about their first publication. This is what they said.
M. Brownell Anderson, National Board of Medical Examiners
Except for serving as editor of my high school newspaper, my first publication was: Soler NG, Mast TA, Anderson MB, Kienzler L. A logbook system for monitoring student skills and experiences. J Med Educ. 1981;56:775-777. My first publication as first author was: Anderson MB, Mast TA, Soler NG. A required internal medicine preceptorsh...
Source: Academic Medicine Blog - October 23, 2018 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: Journal Staff Tags: Editorial Board Q & A Featured Academic Medicine Anthony R. Artino Jr Brenessa Lindeman Bridget C. O’Brien Carrie L. Byington Christopher S. Candler Colin P. West Denice Cora-Bramble Grace Huang John P. Sánchez M. Brownell Ander Source Type: blogs
Precipio Announces ICEme Kit for Lung Cancer Mutation Detection
Earlier this year, Medgadget heard from Precipio CEO Illan Danieli on how his company uses advanced diagnostics and personalized medicine to reduce the prevalence of cancer misdiagnosis. Over 1 million patients globally and about 200,000 patients in the U.S. are annually diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This week, the company announced the launch ICEme, a new kit leveraging the company’s proprietary, ultra-sensitive ICE-COLD PCR (ICP) liquid biopsy technology.
With the new kit, physicians can identify patients eligible for TKI (Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor) therapies through analysis of tumor DNA f...
Source: Medgadget - September 21, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Michael Batista Tags: Diagnostics Oncology Pathology Thoracic Surgery Source Type: blogs
Metal Based Detector of Dopamine Receptors May Help Identify Early Signs of Cancer
At Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), researchers have created the first metal-based probes for spotting dopamine receptors. While dopamine is best known as a neurotransmitter that plays a major role in defining our mood, dopamine receptors seem to be related to certain cancers. To study this relationship, a technique that can work on living animals to identify dopamine receptors would go a long way.
“Early detection is crucial for improving the survival rate of hard-to-treat cancers such as lung cancer, which is associated with dopamine receptor expression,” said Dr Edmond Ma, a professor at HKBU. “Fo...
Source: Medgadget - May 17, 2018 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Materials Nanomedicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
The Case For Real World Evidence (RWE)
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD
Randomized control trials – RCTs – rose to prominence in the twentieth century as physicians and regulators sought to evaluate rigorously the performance of new medical therapies; by century’s end, RCTs had become, as medical historian Laura Bothwell has noted, “the gold standard of medical knowledge,” occupying the top position of the “methodologic heirarch[y].”
The value of RCTs lies in the random, generally blinded, allocation of patients to treatment or control group, an approach that when properly executed minimizes confounders (based on the presumption that any significant confound...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 15, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Real World Evidence (RWE) vs Randomized Control Trials (RCT): The Battle For the Future of Medicine
By DAVID SHAYWITZ, MD
Randomized control trials – RCTs – rose to prominence in the twentieth century as physicians and regulators sought to evaluate rigorously the performance of new medical therapies; by century’s end, RCTs had become, as medical historian Laura Bothwell has noted, “the gold standard of medical knowledge,” occupying the top position of the “methodologic heirarch[y].”
The value of RCTs lies in the random, generally blinded, allocation of patients to treatment or control group, an approach that when properly executed minimizes confounders (based on the presumption that any significant confound...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 15, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
When dying is a rebirth
Follow me on Twitter @1111linno
My life is extraordinary. Such a hyperbolic-sounding statement and yet, in so many ways, so very true.
Extraordinary because a decade ago I was told I had three to five months left to live. Diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) three years earlier, the removal of most of my left lung followed by chemotherapy had done little to slow down the cancer. Too diffuse for radiation, we had run out of options.
And so, I did what the dying do. Grieving as preparations began. I bid adieu to friends and family, held my children even closer, and sought the help of a thoracic social worker. Th...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - March 19, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Linnea Olson Tags: Cancer Health Source Type: blogs
The Skeptical Oncologist
By BISHAL GYAWALI, MD
Why conduct post approval studies at all?
Atezolizumab previously received accelerated approval in second-line metastatic or advanced urothelial cancer based on response rates from a single arm trial. The results of post approval confirmatory phase 3 are now published and demonstrate that atezolizumab did not improve survival versus chemotherapy (11.1 v 10.6 months, HR 0.87, p = 0.41). The concept of accelerated approval is to grant early and conditional approval and access to drugs in diseases of unmet need, and that the decision to fully approve or revoke be made based on results of confirmato...
Source: The Health Care Blog - February 7, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
New Evidence in JAMA Shows Insurance Gaps Leave Some Cancer Patients Without
BY BAILEY FITZGERALD
“How long do I have?”
The man was just diagnosed with lung cancer.
“That depends,” his doctor says. “What insurance do you have?”
New research suggests that conversations like these may be actually taking place across the country. Todd Pezzi and colleagues analyzed a national database for treatment outcomes for patients with limited stage non-small cell lung cancer, a diagnosis with high rates of response to treatment. The results, reported in JAMA Oncology last week were astounding: patients with Medicare, Medicaid, or no health insurance received different, and often worse, care than thos...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 12, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Bailey Fitzgerald Cancer JAMA Oncology Standard of Care Source Type: blogs
New Evidence in JAMA Shows Insurance Gaps Leave Some Cancer Patients Without Treatment
BY BAILEY FITZGERALD
“How long do I have?”
The man was just diagnosed with lung cancer.
“That depends,” his doctor says. “What insurance do you have?”
New research suggests that conversations like these may be actually taking place across the country. Todd Pezzi and colleagues analyzed a national database for treatment outcomes for patients with limited stage non-small cell lung cancer, a diagnosis with high rates of response to treatment. The results, reported in JAMA Oncology last week were astounding: patients with Medicare, Medicaid, or no health insurance received different, and often worse, care than thos...
Source: The Health Care Blog - January 12, 2018 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Bailey Fitzgerald Cancer JAMA Oncology Standard of Care Source Type: blogs
The Science and Technology of Liquid Biopsies Improving Rapidly
I have blogged about liquid biopsies over the course of seven years (see, for example:Does the New Term"Liquid Biopsy" Make Any Sense?;Rapid Adoption of the Term"Liquid Biopsy" on the Web;"Liquid Biopsy" Used to Refer to Detection of Any Serum Cancer DNA). The procedure has the potential to revolutionize both the diagnosis and monitoring of malignant lessons. A recent article discussed the technology in detail (see:Going With the Flow: The Promise and Challenge of Liquid Biopsies). I offer below only a short excerpt from the article. Be sure to read the whole thing if you are interested....
Source: Lab Soft News - September 23, 2017 Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Clinical Lab Industry News Clinical Lab Testing Food and Drug Administration Lab Industry Trends Lab Processes and Procedures Medical Research Surgical Pathology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, August 28th 2017
In conclusion, CAVD is highly prevalent. Long understood as a passive process, it is now known to be complex and one which involves pathophysiological mechanisms similar to those of atherosclerosis. Understanding these mechanisms could help to establish new therapeutic targets that might allow us to halt or at least slow down the progression of the disease.
Early Steps in the Tissue Engineering of Intervertebral Discs
https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2017/08/early-steps-in-the-tissue-engineering-of-intervertebral-discs/
In this paper, researchers report on progress towards the manufacture of interve...
Source: Fight Aging! - August 27, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
