Medical Engineering

3D MRI can detect pancreatic cancer when it is smaller and patients have a greater likelihood of survival, a new study shows.

The study included 57 patients who had clinical symptoms of pancreatic cancer. All had contrast enhanced 3D gradient-echo MRI examinations. Radiologists correctly identified pancreatic cancer in 24 patients, said Richard Semelka, MD, professor of radiology, at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and an author of the study. Eight of the cancers fo

A temporary under-the-skin sensor could monitor a variety of health indicators for soldiers, athletes, diabetics, infants, and critically ill patients without wires and at a distance, according to a team of Penn State chemical engineers.

“We were asked to develop micro sensors for metabolic monitoring of troops,” says Dr. Michael Pishko, professor of chemical engineering and materials science and engineering. “These implantable sensors are intended to monitor the physiology of t

Although minimally invasive prostate removal aided by a robot can lead to less blood loss, shorter hospital stays and fewer complications, there is no evidence that the procedure improves cure rates, according to a new technology assessment.

In addition, robotic surgery, in high demand among patients, can lose money for hospitals because of its expense and special training required, according to the new review of studies by ECRI.

ECRI is a nonprofit health services res

Non-invasive imaging may help predict type 1 diabetes and response to treatment in humans: Joslin recruiting for new Imaging in Diabetes Clinical Trial

A key obstacle to early detection of type 1 diabetes – as well as to rapid assessment of the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention – has been the lack of direct, non-invasive technologies to visualize inflammation in the pancreas, an early manifestation of disease. Instead, clinicians have had to await overt symptoms before

Johns Hopkins researchers have, for what is believed to be the first time, used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), a technique that images the movement, or diffusion, of water molecules in tissues, to successfully determine the effectiveness of high-intensity focused ultrasound for treating uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous tumors that line the uterine wall and can cause intense pain and bleeding. The study appears in the July edi

A Penn State researcher is part of the team that developed techniques that have generated insights into dietary divergences between some of our human ancestors, allowing scientists to better understand the evolutionary path that led to the modern-day diets that humans consume. “Our new techniques are allowing us to get beyond simple dichotomies and helping us understand the processes by which dietary evolution is working,” said Peter Ungar, professor of anthropology at the University of Arka