More Accurate Diagnosis, Prognosis In Challenging Breast Cancer Cases Provided By PET Techniques
In two new studies featured in the February issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, researchers are revealing how molecular imaging can be used to solve mysteries about difficult cases of breast cancer. One article focuses on an imaging agent that targets estrogen receptors in estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer patients with formerly inconclusive assessments, and the second highlights a different imaging agent's ability to help predict the prognosis for patients undergoing chemotherapy for a very aggressive type of breast cancer...

Genetic Variant Increases Risk Of Common Type Stroke
A genetic variant that increases the risk of a common type of stroke has been identified by scientists in a study published online in Nature Genetics. This is one of the few genetic variants to date to be associated with risk of stroke and the discovery opens up new possibilities for treatment. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide (more than one in 10 of all deaths, and over six million deaths annually), and also in developed countries is a major cause of chronic disability. As the world's populations age the impact of stroke on wellbeing is likely to increase further...

Panic, Breathlessness And Unheard Pain: The Trauma Of Being On A Ventilator While Conscious
More and more people being cared for on ventilators are conscious during the treatment, but what is it like to be fully conscious without being able to communicate with the world around you? A thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has lifted the lid on a world of panic, breathlessness and unheard pain. It has been far more common since the beginning of the 21st century for patients to be conscious during ventilator treatment...