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Featured Articles
The eHealth Action Plan: innovative healthcare for the 21st century
The world of healthcare is changing. The prevalence of chronic diseases is increasing as our population is ageing, but there will be fewer taxpayers to maintain the current healthcare systems. We have increasing demand for expensive technologies, yet the number of healthcare professionals is decreasing. As an important step towards fostering the widespread adoption of eHealth throughout the EU, the European Commission adopted on December 6th, 2012 the eHealth Action Plan 2012-2020
The coming of age of intravascular ultrasound
Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) provides images of the insides of blood vessels for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease. Although the roots of IVUS date back a quarter century, it is only recently that physicians have begun to take serious cognizance of its potential.
Improving PCI outcomes
The growth in interest in IVUS is being driven by changes in the way for treating acute coronary syndrome (ACS). ACS is a common complication of coronary heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in industrialized countries.
The typical approach to treat ACS consists of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI): catheter angiography, balloon angioplasty and the use of stents. However, the proponents of IVUS have been making a strong case about its utility to improve PCI outcomes, including those offered by the latest generation of drug-eluting stents (DES).
IVUS consists of a miniaturized ultrasound imaging device. This is mounted on a catheter which is threaded across an artery to provide both cross-sectional and longitudinal views. It thus reveals not only the shape and amount of plaque but the deployment and expansion of a stent, too. Such information is not accessible via standard angiography. The main area for application is coronary arteries. Growing (if still far smaller) areas consist of peripheral arteries as well as intra-cardiac imaging.
State-of-the-art IVUS systems use spectral backscatter and frequency analysis to classify plaque (distribution, burden and calcification) and are claimed to achieve up to 97% accuracy. They are also used to plan for treatment with stents
Reaching for the skies: Healthcare and cloud computing
Healthcare has traditionally been a late entrant in adopting new information technology innovation, and the Cloud is no exception. In terms of markets, the US has been a first mover in healthcare Cloud applications. The EU has spent a great deal of time and effort assessing its implications, above all on data privacy. Britain, however, may have taken the most significant steps to begin endorsing use of the Cloud in its healthcare system.
Cloud computing comprises platforms and applications (online operating systems, file and data sharing), as well as infrastructure (Web-based data storage and access). Service providers bill users on the basis of subscriptions or pay-as-you-go. The latter is a key incentive for growing interest in the Cloud, given that it allows businesses to reduce upfront investments and scale up on the basis of real requirements rather than anticipated ones. The Cloud
Ultrasound and the musculoskeletal system: swings and roundabouts
The use of ultrasound for diagnostic imaging has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years and is now the preferred approach for many applications, but according to experts the application with the biggest growth potential is imaging of the musculoskeletal system.
Major developments in the technology, which now provides a number of modes including grey scale, colour and power Doppler, spectral Doppler and elastography, allow accurate characterization of joint pathology; even the acquisition of dynamic, essentially isotropic 3D images is now possible. The biggest remaining challenge is reported to be the adequate training and monitoring of medical professionals to enable them to carry out this highly complex ultrasound application.
However, while patients ranging from young athletes with suspected torn tendons, muscles or ligaments to those suffering from chronic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or osteoporosis
The ?European Lung White Book? and respiratory intensive care
The European Respiratory Society (ERS) published their first White Lung Book a decade ago, to provide a comprehensive survey of respiratory health across Europe for the benefit of patients as well as medical personnel and policy makers. The book aimed to highlight the huge and underestimated burden of respiratory disease in the region. Since then political and economic upheavals as well as an expansion in medical research and development have necessitated a second edition of this invaluable book, which was published ahead of this year