Flow-based arterial spin labeling is a set of techniques used for non-contrast enhanced perfusion imaging. This work describes technical development done for application in body.
Background Many breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening programs were disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to estimate the short-term impact of the temporary shutdown ... Show moreBackground Many breast, colorectal, and cervical cancer screening programs were disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to estimate the short-term impact of the temporary shutdown (from March until May- June) of the cancer screening programs invitations in Flanders (Belgium) by looking at invitation coverage, percentage of people screened after invitation and the screening interval. Methods Yearly invitation coverage was calculated as the number of people who received an invitation, as a proportion of the people who should have received an invitation that year. Weekly response to the invitation was calculated as the number of people who were screened within 40 days of their date of invitation, as a percentage of the people who received an invitation that week (as a proxy for willingness to screen). Weekly screening interval was calculated as the mean number of months between the current screening and the previous screening of all the people who screened that week. The two last indicators were calculated for each week in 2019 and 2020, after which the difference between that week's value in 2020 and 2019 with 95% confidence intervals. Results of these two indicators were also analysed after stratification for gender, age and participation history. Results Invitation coverage was not impacted in the colorectal and cervical cancer screening program. In the breast cancer screening program invitation coverage went down from 97.5% (2019) to 88.7% (2020), and the backlog of invitations was largely resolved in the first six months of 2021. The willingness to screen was minimally influenced by COVID-19. The breast cancer screening program had a temporary increase in screening interval in the first months following the restart after COVID-19 related shutdown, when it was on average 2.1 months longer than in 2019. Conclusions Willingness to screen was minimally influenced by COVID-19, but there may be an influence on screening coverage because of lower invitation coverage, mainly for the for breast Cancer Screening Program. The increases in screening intervals for the three Cancer Screening Program seem reasonable and would probably not significantly increase the risk of delayed screening cancer diagnoses. When restarting a Cancer Screening Program after a COVID-19 related shutdown, monitoring is crucial. Show less
Biomarker molecules are analyzed in clinical tests to diagnose a disease, but often these test lack sensitivity or specificity. Also, for many diseases there is not even a blood based test... Show moreBiomarker molecules are analyzed in clinical tests to diagnose a disease, but often these test lack sensitivity or specificity. Also, for many diseases there is not even a blood based test available, while blood collection is relatively low invasive. For breast- and pancreatic cancer, there are several proteins that could potentially serve as biomarkers in blood, but these are not yet specific enough to use for diagnostic testing. Further research on other types of biomarkers may therefore be a valuable addition to eventually be able to develop a blood test. Methods for glycosylation profiling from serum and dried bloodspots with mass spectrometry were developed and applied to pancreatic- and breast cancer biomarker studies. Differences were found between profiles of healthy and sick persons for pancreatic cancer, but no clear differences were seen for breast cancer. This is probably due to the many different forms of breast cancer which result in different profiles. In the future, combining different types of markers from serum might ensure that differences between healthy and sick, between different diseases and between types of disease can be identified. This could lead to the development of a blood test for the early detection of cancer and other diseases. Show less
