Phase contrast X-ray imaging has enabled researchers at ETH Zurich, the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and the Kantonsspital Baden to perform mammographic imaging that allows greater precision in the assessment of breast cancer and its precursors. The technique could improve biopsy diagnostics and follow-up.

The Momentum project published a list of 18 factors that are critical to deploying telemedicine successfully into routine health care. Distilled from an analysis of telemedicine practices by experts from across Europe, these factors will help telemedicine "doers" to build sustainable implementations from the ground up or move experimental pilots into routine care. Telemedicine, which is care where the healthcare professional and the patient are not in the same room, holds promise for European healthcare systems.

We may soon be able to make easy and early diagnoses of prostate cancer by smell. Investigators in Finland have established that a novel noninvasive technique can detect prostate cancer using an electronic nose. In a proof of principle study, the eNose successfully discriminated between prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) by "sniffing" urine headspace (the space directly above the urine sample). Results using the eNose are comparable to testing prostate specific antigen (PSA), reports the Journal of Urology®.

Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda.
It is a great pleasure to be here at the high level eHealth Forum. As many of you recall, the first of these eHealth conferences was in 2003: also under the Greek presidency. So today is a historic moment. It's like the Olympics: bringing the eHealth torch back to the presidency that first lit it.

A new computer program could help doctors predict which patients might suffer potentially fatal side-effects from a key stroke treatment. The program, which assesses brain scans using pattern recognition software similar to that used in airport security and passport control, has been developed by researchers at Imperial College London. Results of a pilot study funded by the Wellcome Trust, which used the software are published in the journal Neuroimage Clinical.

The quest for new cancer treatments could be revolutionised by advances in technology that can visualise living cells and tissues, scientists claim. Leading edge imaging techniques will make it easier to identify which are the most promising new drugs to take forward for patient testing, a review of the technology suggests. Applying such techniques early in the drug discovery process could improve the success rate of new medicines by helping to rule out drugs that are unlikely to work.

Health outcomes for major medical conditions requiring hospital care vary considerably between and within European countries, according to a study evaluating the performance of seven European health care systems. The EuroHOPE (European Health Care Outcomes, Performance, and Efficiency) research project compared the health outcomes during the latter part of the 2000s for acute myocardial infarction, ischaemic stroke, hip fracture, breast cancer and very low birth weight and very low gestational age newborn infants, as well as all-disease outcome measures.