15.08.2017 - The scientific advance of the century in medicine, CRISPR, is a technique that allows scientists to make precise changes to genomes. CRISPR is part of the immune system of bacteria. It can cut the DNA of attacking viruses and renders the viruses...

22.07.2017 - It looks like that screening for prostate cancer does not lead to an advantage. I must admit that not all specialists agree, that this topic is discussed controversially, but most professors most probably would agree with me that the advantage of...

12.07.2017 - Pulmonary embolism is a sudden blockage in the major blood vessel of your lung, the pulmonary artery. Syncope (fainting): Doctors and many patients who had syncope can list a number of causes. Pulmonary embolism is not among these causes. Yet,...

24.05.2017 - OSA, “obstructive sleep apnoea,” is intermittent airflow blockage during sleep. Because the airflow is intermittently blocked, your brain wakes you up, for just half a second. You move around, and you can breathe again, and you go back to...

17.04.2017 - Do patients who need oxygen need less oxygen? If someone needs extra oxygen, from a tank, our automatic reaction is: “More is more.” But what if the opposite is true? “Less is more?” Could that be true? Yes, it seems that patients who need...

12.04.2017 - A new definition of sepsis. Sepsis is an infection that has entered the bloodstream. It can be very dangerous. The new definition has led to a considerable debate. How and when should it be integrated into clinical practice? Doctors would like to...

02.03.2017 - Our strongest pain medications are called opioids. It is largely believed that opioids are very effective for chronic pain. However, this is not so. There is a lack of benefit if chronic pain is treated with an opioid. (The only exception:...

02.02.2017 - The top medical topic of 2016 was—of course—Zika virus infection. If you are an adult, infection with the Zika virus leads to the same symptoms as the common cold, and it goes away just as quickly, in about 7 days. Not too bad. However, Zika...

22.12.2016 - Monoclonal antibodies are used in medicine mostly (but not exclusively) for the treatment of cancer. Biosimilars are copies of monoclonal antibodies. The approval process for biosimilars in Europe is unusually strict. Much stricter than the...

14.12.2016 - How are new medicinal drugs approved? Or, in other words: What has medicine to do with the rise of right wing populism?