Abstract Cancer is a serious worldwide health issue. Routinary detection exams are recommended for better prognosis, however there are still no suitable routinary procedures. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive, portable, low-cost novel imaging technology. Its side effects are reversible heat discomfort and/or uncomfortable electrostimulation. By measuring the dielectric properties of a region of interest, it makes possible to detect and monitor cancer. Software such as Electrical Impedance Tomography and Diffuse Optical Tomography Reconstruction Software and COMSOL are used nowadays to solve the forward and inverse problem. However, the state-of-the-art image reconstruction solutions are based on deep learning and this ongoing research has boosted the accuracy of EIT in a substantial manner. With such accuracy improvement, this technique has been utilized for breast cancer detection. The successful results for breast cancer encouraged researchers to explore its usage in other cancer types such as lung, skin, prostate, tongue and gynaecological. Results reaffirm that EIT holds great potential to be used in clinical cancer diagnostic scenarios and thus, more exhaustive research of EIT-based cancer imaging is highly recommended. This review offers an overview of the main elements that EIT technology comprises. Detailed explanation is provided for safety parameters and possible adverse effects. A comprehensive overview of deep tomographic image reconstruction in EIT is provided. Finally, an updated literature revision for EIT usage in the oncological area is presented.
Abstract Digital twins (DTs) in healthcare have the potential to transform patient care, but their adoption depends critically on the perspectives of clinical professionals, patients, and the public. As part of the Ecosystem for Digital Twins in Healthcare (EDITH) initiative, we undertook a programme of targeted engagement to understand, explore and integrate these perspectives into the development of the European virtual human twin (VHT). Methods included surveys, breakout sessions at public ecosystem meetings, and three dedicated workshops with clinicians and patient representatives covering cardiovascular and musculoskeletal applications. Key findings emphasised the need for early and sustained end-user involvement to ensure that DTs in healthcare address unmet clinical needs, improve patient outcomes, and demonstrate cost-effectiveness. Participants identified practical challenges in data access, validation, regulation, and integration into hospital systems, as well as broader socio-economic and trust-related concerns. Opportunities were also recognised for using DTs to influence patient behaviour, enhance preventive care, and support medical education. From these insights, we identified recommendations across six themes: inclusion, clinical relevance, integration and validation, trust and equity, patient involvement, and incentives. The outcomes of this work provide an important step towards improving clinical interest, engagement, and eventual uptake in DTs in healthcare. Incorporating these perspectives into the VHT roadmap has strengthened its alignment with real-world clinical priorities and patient needs, supporting EDITH’s vision of a sustainable and clinically impactful DT ecosystem. Further work is needed to extend this research across a wider range of clinical and patient stakeholder groups, and additional complex, multi-parametric clinical environments such as oncology.
Abstract The development of advanced drug delivery systems (DDSs) has the potential to revolutionize pharmaceutical industry by enabling precise, controlled, and targeted drug release. Polymer-based biodegradable systems have drawn notable attention due to their inherent biocompatibility and ability to enable localized, sustained drug delivery. Nonetheless, their widespread clinical adoption is hindered by challenges such as uncontrolled drug release kinetics, limited patient-specific customization, and scalability constraints. Three-dimensional (3D) printing overcomes these limitations by offering unparalleled design flexibility and customization, while 4D printing can further address dynamic control challenges by enabling stimuli-responsive drug carriers for precise and targeted release. This review offers a comprehensive overview of 4D printing technologies for drug delivery applications, with a particular focus on a wide range of polymer-based smart materials. We discuss the basic principles of 3D printing, the evolution toward 4D printing, and the various stimuli-responsive mechanisms employed to achieve programmable drug release. We then explore key polymeric materials, including smart hydrogels, shape-memory polymers, self-healing polymers, and vitrimers, highlighting their potential in next-generation drug delivery platforms. Finally, we address the existing challenges and future perspectives of 4D printing in pharmaceutical applications, emphasizing the need for scalable, cost-effective, and clinically viable solutions.
Pediatric solid tumors continue to pose a major therapeutic challenge, with survival gains lagging behind those achieved in pediatric hematologic malignancies. While traditional approaches have focused on dose escalation and intensification of systemic therapies to improve survival, this strategy is often limited by significant short- and long-term morbidity from intensive multimodal treatment. Because children have developing organs and decades of life ahead, therapeutic strategies must balance durable tumor control with preservation of neurodevelopment, organ function, and quality of life. Immunotherapy has generated significant interest as an alternative to dose escalation; however, clinical translation in pediatric solid tumors has been limited by antigen heterogeneity, tumor plasticity, immune-cold or immune-excluded phenotypes, and a profoundly immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. Bioengineered cellular therapies, particularly chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and CAR-modified natural killer (CAR NK) cells, provide a modular platform to address these barriers through synthetic receptor design, multi-antigen targeting, controlled activation, and improved trafficking to anatomically restricted sites such as the brain. However, engineering advances alone are unlikely to achieve durable benefit without parallel integration of quantitativein vivomonitoring capable of reporting biodistribution, persistence, and functional engagement. Non-invasive imaging and measurement-enabled approaches can provide mechanistic insight into therapeutic performance, discriminate between delivery failure and functional dysfunction, and support rational iteration of construct design, dosing, and route of administration. In this perspective, we review the current status of CAR T and CAR NK therapies in pediatric solid malignancies, outline key biological and engineering challenges, and propose a pediatric-centered development framework that integrates controllable cell engineering with quantitative, non-invasive assessment ofin vivobehavior. By embedding measurement into the therapeutic design loop and prioritizing long-term safety and developmental outcomes alongside efficacy, next-generation engineered cell therapies may evolve toward adaptable, precision-guided systems capable of improving both survival and quality of life for children.
Introduction. This review examines the impact of ionizing radiation on bone microstructure and mechanical properties in murine models, with particular attention to how different radiation types, total absorbed doses, and dose rates influence skeletal tissue. The topic is highly relevant in both radiotherapy and aerospace research, two different scenarios but that share important skeletal consequences, such as disturbances in bone remodeling, deterioration of trabecular and cortical microarchitecture, and reductions in mechanical strength.Methods. This review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines, with a structured search across Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar using predefined keywords and Boolean operators. Experimental murine studies investigating the effects of ionizing radiation in radiotherapy- or spaceflight-simulating settings were considered eligible if they reported at least one bone morphological and one mechanical outcome. After screening and eligibility assessment, 11 studies were included and evaluated for methodological quality based on the robustness of the reported morphological and mechanical analyses.Results. The included studies indicate that radiation exposure in murine bone is associated with dose-, time-, and radiation quality-dependent deterioration, with early, transient effects after single doses and more persistent damage following repeated exposures. Trabecular bone emerged as the most vulnerable compartment, showing reduced trabecular number and increased separation across several studies. Mechanical outcomes appeared to be site-specific: cortical-rich bones often retain strength despite trabecular loss, whereas trabecular-rich sites appeared more susceptible, suggesting microstructural deterioration may contribute to functional impairment even when whole-bone strength is relatively preserved.Conclusions. These findings highlight that trabecular bone is the primary target of radiation-induced damage, with site-specific effects and persistent mechanical deficits, emphasizing the importance of multiscale assessment to understand and mitigate skeletal fragility in clinical and spaceflight contexts. However, a limited number of eligible studies and heterogeneity of experimental designs could reduce the strength of direct comparisons and the generalizability of these conclusions.
