Protura Robotic Patient Positioning System Cleared to Interface with Varian’s Accelerometers
CIVCO (Kalona, Iowa) won FDA clearance for the integration of its Protura Robotic Patient Positioning System with Varian‘s Clinac iX and Trilogy linear accelerators. The system features sub-millimeter accuracy and six degrees of freedom of movement, and is controlled by its own software that downloads data from Varian’s 4DTC System through the Motion Management Interface to ensure accuracy of positioning during image guided radiation therapy.
From the product page:
Compatible – Protura was designed with the customer in mind. By accommodating virtually all Linac pedestals, IGRT systems and table tops, Prot...
Source: Medgadget - October 9, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Editors Tags: Radiation Oncology Source Type: blogs
Spiced: Synthetic Cannabis Keeps Getting Stronger
Case reports of seizures in Germany from 2008 to 2011.
I wish I could stop writing blog posts about Spice, as the family of synthetic cannabinoids has become known. I wish young people would stop taking these drugs, and stick to genuine marijuana, which is far safer. I wish that politicians and proponents of the Drug War would lean in a bit and help, by knocking off the testing for marijuana in most circumstances, so the difficulty of detecting Spice products isn’t a significant factor in their favor. I wish synthetic cannabinoids weren’t research chemicals, untested for safety in humans, so that I could avoid hav...
Source: Addiction Inbox - October 7, 2013 Category: Addiction Authors: Dirk Hanson Source Type: blogs
Weekly Overseas Health IT Links - 21st September, 2013.
Here are a few I have come across last week.
Note: Each link is followed by a title and few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
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http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2013/09/managing-prescription-drugs
Managing prescription drugs
The quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar question
Sep 12th 2013, 8:40 by G.F. | SEATTLE
IN JULY Babbage, a 40-odd male, got a drug-coated stent in his left anterior descending artery. He unexpectedly found himself in need of the procedure, probably owi...
Source: Australian Health Information Technology - September 21, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Authors: Dr David More MB PhD FACHI Source Type: blogs
Cleveland Clinic’s preventive breast cancer vaccine growth takes step forward
Cleveland Clinic Innovations has created a spin-off company to develop a preventive breast cancer vaccine based on research through Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Company.
The brand new company, Shield Biotech, will complete preclinical development and seek permission from the FDA to test the shot as an investigational new drug within proof-of-concept, first-in-human clinical trials. The trials are expected to start within 2 yrs and will take about three years to accomplish.
“The mission of Shield Biotech will be to convert the scientific research on a breast cancer vaccine, led by Vincent ...
Source: My Irritable Bowel Syndrome Story - September 17, 2013 Category: Other Conditions Authors: Ken Tags: IBS News Source Type: blogs
Know the human being behind the diagosis
When I was a resident in radiation oncology, I thought I already knew a lot about medicine. After all, I had just completed an internal medicine residency, and had taken and passed my boards. Needless to say, I was more than a little bit irritated the first time a patient “coded” in the radiation therapy department and I was shoved out of the way by the intern on the code team. After all, he was an internal medicine intern at the World’s Greatest Hospital, and I was a lowly radiation oncology resident. My protestations of “I can handle this!” were lost in the general hubbub of excitement and confusion surro...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 26, 2013 Category: Family Physicians Tags: Physician Cancer Residency Source Type: blogs
New Update On Prostate Cancer Prevention With Finasteride Creates A Dilemma For Patients
We've all heard the phrase, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." Well, that saying may hold particular relevance while reviewing a new research report published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The report is an important one. It is an 18 year follow-up of a study designed to show whether the use of the drug finasteride could reduce the incidence and deaths from prostate cancer. The study was called the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial and when it was initially reported in 2003 it showed that the drug could reduce the incidence of prostate cancer by almost 25%. However, there was a...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - August 14, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Cancer Care Early detection Medications Prevention Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Research Screening Treatment Source Type: blogs
An Interview with Noted Pancreas Surgeon Dr. Charles J. Yeo
Recently, InsideSurgery had a chance to speak with Dr. Charles J. Yeo about his career as a top Whipple and pancreas surgeon and his ongoing role as a surgical leader and educator.
As the Samuel D. Gross Professor of Surgery and Chair of the Department of Surgery, you welcomed your second intern class to Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania last month. What one piece advice do you have for your new trainees?
One piece of advice….that’s tough! Several pieces of advice….enjoy the challenges and experiences of internship; read and increase your knowledge base outside of that 80 hours; practice kno...
Source: Inside Surgery - August 12, 2013 Category: Surgeons Authors: Editor Tags: Interviews Source Type: blogs
New Clinic for High-Risk Prostate Cancer Patients at the University of Michigan
This report is interesting on a few counts. Recall that it's now rather common to refer to cancer as a chronic disease. By this it is meant that, for most patients, the disease can be managed well and is not life-threatening. I would amend this statement to say that cancer, except the high-risk varieties, can be treated as a chronic disease. At least at the University of Michigan, they are now separating some of these high-risk patients out into a separate clinic. This identification/separation process is accomplished with the Gleason score, PSA testing, cancer staging, and, more recently, next generation genomic...
Source: Lab Soft News - July 29, 2013 Category: Pathologists Authors: Bruce Friedman Tags: Healthcare Delivery Hospitals and Healthcare Delivery Medical Research Source Type: blogs
How old do you have to be to avoid radiation therapy after lumpectomy?
When I was in practice, women would often ask if they really needed to get radiation therapy to the breast after lumpectomy. There was no question that for younger women, radiation was important. Without it the chances were pretty good that the cancer would come back sometime in their life. But what if the woman was over 70? We know that in general, breast cancers in this age group are typically not very aggressive or life threatening. And the inconvenience of those daily visits, often for 6 or 7 weeks was a lot for an older person. My default position was that the radiation was probably not necessary if the cancer was ...
Source: Dr.Kattlove's Cancer Blog - July 10, 2013 Category: Oncologists Source Type: blogs
The Risk of Heart Disease After Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer
Question: I had a lumpectomy and radiation therapy five years ago for early-stage breast cancer. My cancer is gone, and my doctor says I have an excellent prognosis -- at least as far as the cancer is concerned. However, he says I need to be careful about heart disease, since the chest radiation I was exposed to may increase my risk for a heart attack. How high is my risk for heart disease? And when doctors say, "Be careful about heart disease," what are they talking about?...Read Full Post (Source: About.com Heart Disease)
Source: About.com Heart Disease - June 24, 2013 Category: Cardiology Source Type: blogs
It's Guns vs. Butter (Again): How Do We Reconcile Expensive Cancer Treatments With The Need To Improve The Basics Of Cancer Care?
As we walk the halls and sit in the lectures at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, there's an elephant in the room. It is right there in front of us, but not many of us seem willing to talk about it. Fewer still are making any commitments to do something about it.
So what is this ubiquitous juxtaposition that is right in front of us but we can't seem to see?
It is the contrast between incredibly sophisticated science and computer data that will help us understand cancer and its treatment vs. the reality that we can't have medical records that really work. It is the fact that we have million do...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - June 3, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Access to care Breast Cancer Cancer Care Cervical Cancer Colon Cancer Early detection Prevention Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Rectal Cancer Research Screening Tobacco Treatment Source Type: blogs
One of these three is not like the others
I borrow this old expression from Sesame Street to present a contrast that is indicative of the health care environment in the US, made all the more poignant by the fact that this is occurring in our nation's capital.This is United Medical Center, a safety net hospital serving one the poorest parts of the District of Columbia. The Washington Post reports that the District paid $12 million to Huron Healthcare to operate the hospital and make recommendations for its future.Under its contract, Huron assumed management of United Medical Center in late March. It is undertaking a “strategic review” of the hospital’s...
Source: Running a hospital - June 1, 2013 Category: Health Managers Source Type: blogs
C R Bard Settles Allegations of Kickbacks to Promote Radiation Treatment for Prostate Cancer
Screening for and aggressive treatment of prostate cancer has become an enormously lucrative business, if not necessarily a life-saving medical strategy. The minimal media coverage of a recent settlement suggests that at least to some degree, it has been fueled by some questionable practices.The CR Bard SettlementAs reported by the Atlanta Journal Constitution,A medical device company on Monday agreed to pay a $48.2 million settlement to resolve claims by a Georgia employee that it paid kickbacks to doctors and customers who bought radiation treatment for prostate cancer.C.R. Bard Inc., which is headquartered in N...
Source: Health Care Renewal - May 16, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: kickbacks impunity C R Bard prostate cancer whistle-blowers legal settlements deferred prosecution agreement Source Type: blogs
A New Genomic Test To Guide Prostate Cancer Treatment: What We Know And What We Don't
Coming to an office near you: a new test that can "confidently" predict whether or not you need to have aggressive therapy for your newly diagnosed prostate cancer.
Really?
That's what the press reports would lead you to believe. And it's really going to catch your attention if you're one of the tens of thousands of men who will have to decide what to do if you are diagnosed with prostate cancer that has what we call "favorable characteristics." And with the test coming to market, you would assume that your doctor would have a good understanding of whether or not it works based on the available studies and information...
Source: Dr. Len's Cancer Blog - May 9, 2013 Category: Cancer Authors: Dr. Len Tags: Cancer Care Early detection Media Prostate Cancer Radiation Therapy Research Screening Treatment Source Type: blogs
Tomotherapy treatment
This is a guest post by William Blackhurst, MD
Have you ever heard of Tomotherapy treatment? This is a treatment designed for radiation therapy of various cancers. Its name comes from the Greek root for slice. Basically it combines a CT or other type of scan with radiation therapy in such a way that the radiation dose can be altered to match the thickness of the tumor in a given image slice.
Tomotherapy is both intensity modulated and image guided. Intensity modulated radiotherapy or IMRT uses devices called collimators to adjust the amount of radiation delivered in a single dose. Image...
Source: Medicine and Technology by Dr. Joseph Kim - April 23, 2013 Category: Technology Consultants Tags: guest post oncology cancer Source Type: blogs
