The Hospital Universitario General de Villalba, in Madrid, warned on Wednesday, July 31, that the incidence of sarcomas, a group of tumours comprising more than 100 different subtypes, ‘is on the rise’ and warned that more than 25% of the patients treated in this centre's unit, one in four, are under 30 years of age. With 300 new cases detected each year, it is considered a rare disease because it affects fewer than 60 new patients per million inhabitants per year, although overall it represents around 1 per cent of malignant tumours. Among the warning signs and detection, the focus is on the appearance of a lump and its growth. An ultrasound scan of the area is usually performed and, depending on the results, an MRI scan. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Early detection of cancer is a crucial factor in saving lives and reducing the costs of cancer treatment, according to health officials. Knowing how early detection is achieved is critical now that the incidence of cancer is being detected at a younger and younger age. Early detection of cancer is increasingly necessary, accompanied by the primary prevention recommended by medical experts. The World Health Organisation explains that early detection consists of early diagnosis and screening. Early diagnosis is effective for symptomatic cancers and involves knowing the symptoms and seeing a doctor, accessing screening and diagnostic services, and moving on to a consequent treatment service. Screening aims to detect signs of cancer or a pre-cancerous lesion in people who do not have symptoms, says the WHO. Tests such as cytology and mammography fall into this group.

The Hospital Universitario Puerta de Hierro has been recognised in the second edition of the ‘Premios Latido’, in the category of social responsibility, for having been the first hospital in Spain to reach the figure of 1,000 heart, lung and liver transplants. These awards are organised by the health publication Medicina Responsable and seek to recognise the unparalleled and admirable work of the professionals who work day after day for those who need them most: the patients. Hospital Puerta de Hierro performed the 1,000th liver transplant in December 2022; subsequently, in April 2023 it was the first hospital to reach the 1,000th heart transplant and, also in 2023, the hospital reached the 1,000th lung transplant.

It represents a new generation of small, leadless pacemakers that can be implanted through an alternative approach, the jugular access. The leadless pacemaker is introduced through the jugular access via a catheter in a minimally invasive procedure. This jugular access offers a potentially more direct and safer way to reach septal positions and release the device into the right ventricle. It is capable of performing all the functions of a traditional pacemaker, but avoids the complications of having leads inside the heart chambers and a battery lodged under the skin via a surgical procedure.