Living cells inside our bodies are normally surrounded by an extracellular matrix, a supporting structure, that contains substances such as collagen and enzymes that help cells to function properly. When disease, particularly cancer, is present, the extracellular matrix tends to stiffen. This stiffening can be an indicator of disease arrival and it (Read more...)
Tag: Oncology
RefleXion X1 Cleared to Deliver Radiotherapy and Radiosurgery in U.S.
RefleXion Medical, a company based outside of Oakland, California, won FDA clearance for its RefleXion X1 machine to be used for stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). The X1 brings together fan-beam CT imaging and a linear accelerator inside a gantry that can spin up to (Read more...)
Stain and Label-Free Microscopy Enables Imaging of Extracellular Vesicles
Researchers at the Beckman Institute of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign have developed a method that employs ultrashort laser pulses to visualize extracellular vesicles in tissue samples without using stains or labeling compounds. An increase in the number of these small vesicles is known to be associated with cancer, whereby c (Read more...)
Ethos AI-Powered Radiotherapy System Follows Movement of Tumors
Varian has won FDA clearance for its Ethos therapy technology, which the company describes as an Adaptive Intelligence solution for improved tumor targeting during radiotherapy. Adaptive therapy allows clinicians to target tumors based on imaging performed during treatment sessions. This is important, as the internal anatomy tends to shift and tumo (Read more...)
Genomic Profiling for Precision Medicine: Interview with David Spetzler, Caris Life Sciences
Caris Life Sciences, a Dallas-based innovator in molecular science focused on fulfilling the promise of precision medicine, has developed the MI Genomic Profiling Similarity (GPS) score to compare the molecular characteristics of specific tumors against those in the Caris database. This allows clinicians to identify the molecular subtype of their p (Read more...)
GammaTiles Help Prevent Recurrence of Malignant Brain Tumors After Surgery
GT Medical Technologies, a company based in Tempe, Arizona, won FDA clearance for its GammaTiles to be used to prevent malignant brain tumors in newly diagnosed patients. The devices, about the size of a postage stamp, contain Cesium-131, a radioactive isotope with a half life of about ten days. The collagen material within which the […]
Magnetized Particles Show Live Metabolic Activity of Breast Cancer
Current imaging methods that are used to spot tumors don’t provide much information about the rate of activity of the cells making up the diseased tissues. Breast cancer tumors, for example, are mostly classified into a few categories based on hormone receptor and HER2 expression. Researchers at Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the (Read more...)
TriNav System Uses Pressure to Push Drugs into Solid Tumors
TriSalus, a Denver, Colorado firm, is launching a new solid tumor infusion system to target hepatocellular carcinoma, liver metastases, and other tumors. The TriNav Infusion System features the company’s SmartValve and Pressure-Enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) technologies to get more of the tumor killing drug inside the diseased tissue. The trea (Read more...)
Tumor Tissue Imaging and AI Bypass Path Lab for Brain Surgeries
In a major development in how tumors are excised, researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that it’s possible to accurately analyze brain tumor tissue within the operating room and assess its nature using artificial intelligence. Tumor tissues typically look just like the healthy stuff around them. When a tumor is removed, parts t (Read more...)
Tumor Chip Incorporates Vascular System for More Realistic Drug Testing
Researchers at Kyoto University in Japan have developed a tumor-on-a-chip device that incorporates perfusable blood vessels to more accurately mimic real tumors that occur in the body. The researchers hope that the device will allow for more realistic and accurate testing of anti-cancer drugs in the lab, and have already shown that the flow of [&he (Read more...)
Sensor Chip Screens Urine for Cancer Biomarker
Researchers from a multi-institutional group have developed a label-free chip-based sensor to detect very low levels of a cancer biomarker in urine. This exciting development may one day help catch cancer earlier, perhaps during regular screenings, leading to better outcomes. Current methods of cancer biomarker detection are often expensive and cha (Read more...)
Canon Unveils Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition Spectral CT Scanner
At the RSNA 2019 conference in Chicago, Canon Medical showed off its brand new Aquilion ONE / PRISM Edition spectral CT scanner, a system that takes advantage of artificial intelligence technologies. The device relies on Canon’s Advanced intelligent Clear IQ Engine (AiCE) along with its Deep Learning Spectral Reconstruction imaging algorithms (Read more...)
3DQuorum Mammography Tech Reduces Number of Images for Radiologists to Review
Hologic has won FDA approval to introduce its 3DQuorum imaging technology to the U.S. market. Powered by the company’s Genius AI analytics platform, the new software reconstructs 3D data captured by a Hologic 3D mammography system to generate so-called “SmartSlices” that are each 6 millimeters in width. During the reconstruction, (Read more...)
DNA Circuits to Identify Cancer Cells
Researchers from Duke University have developed a new DNA-based tool to identify cancer cells. Their system is a DNA circuit. DNA binding to specific cell markers produces a signal if and only if two specific proteins are present, helping to improve specificity and reduce false positives in cancer cell detection. The researchers also hope that [&he (Read more...)
AI Diagnoses Leukemia from Blood Samples as Well as Human Cytologists
A good deal of clinical diagnostics are effectively performed by cytologists who examine cells through a microscope for signs of disease. This is an imperfect, slow process that depends on the training, focus, and attention to detail of the cytologist. Now, researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University Hospital of LMU Munich in G (Read more...)
Chemo-Loaded Nanoparticles Piggyback on Red Blood Cells to Treat Lung Cancer
Scientists at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed a technique to deliver chemotherapy to the lungs using red blood cells. The method involves binding chemotherapy-loaded nanoparticles to red blood cells, which are then injected into the bloodstream. Once the red blood cells reach the lungs they have to squeeze through the small capillarie (Read more...)
3D Printed Liquid Biopsy Device Captures Most Cancer Cells
Circulating tumor cells can point to the existence of cancer and provide information about its progression. Capturing these cells remains a tricky process. Dozens of devices have been developed that do their best to grab onto only the cancer cells being looked for, but they all suffer from problems such as poor efficiency, damage to […]
GI Genius Automatically Identifies Possible Polyps During Colonoscopy
At the UEG (United European Gastroenterology) Week event in Barcelona, Spain, the first automatic polyp assistance system was unveiled by Medtronic. The GI Genius intelligent endoscopy system monitors the live video feed from a colonoscope, outlining in real time potential signs of polyps. It certainly doesn’t diagnose anything, but serves, i (Read more...)
GI Genius Automatically Identifies Possible Polyps During Colonoscopy
At the UEG (United European Gastroenterology) Week event in Barcelona, Spain, the first automatic polyp assistance system was unveiled by Medtronic. The GI Genius intelligent endoscopy system monitors the live video feed from a colonoscope, outlining in real time potential signs of polyps. It certainly doesn’t diagnose anything, but serves, i (Read more...)
Tiny Traps Lure Cancer Cells for Diagnostics, Treatment Monitoring
Detecting cancer at its early stages remains a major challenge in oncology. Even monitoring the progression of cancer is difficult, but researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with a tiny implantable device that can draw cancer cells toward itself for gene expression analysis. The microscopic device is a biomaterial scaffold that is (Read more...)