Category: Department of Surgery and Cancer

Bladder problems: Can we be less shy about having a pee?

Prof Marcus Drake

Bladder problems affect millions of people around the world, yet they remain shrouded in silence and embarrassment. Professor Marcus Drake, Chair in Neurological Urology, explores why society continues to be shy about this topic, and highlights why more medical research is needed to improve bladder care.


People do not generally spend a lot of time thinking about their bladder. After all, each pee only takes about 20 seconds. Since we might go for a pee just six times a day, that means only a couple of minutes are given over to the bladder daily.

As well as not thinking about it much, we also seem to be reluctant to talk about it. This may be a reflection on society, since peeing is a vital function yet talking about it seems to be discouraged. Perhaps this does not matter so much for most people. But it does matter for anyone with a bladder problem. This reluctance means that people can leave it very late to get help. For many it makes the experience of getting help difficult too.

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Shining a Light on Ovarian Cancer

Christina Fotopoulou

To mark Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, Professor Christina Fotopoulou, Chair in Gynaecological Cancer Surgery and Professor of Gynaecological Cancer in the Department of Surgery and Cancer, and consultant gynaecological oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust—reflects on Imperial’s recent breakthroughs in the field. Delving into Imperial’s pioneering efforts to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of this complex disease, Christina also sheds light on some of the unique challenges faced. 


The time has come once again for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in the UK. This is our annual opportunity to shine a spotlight on ovarian cancer and increase awareness of a disease that has been a significant challenge for women for centuries (see fig. 1).  

Imperial and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust have made significant strides towards improving the diagnosis and management of ovarian cancer for many years, and there is even long-term hope of a cure in the future. Through pioneering systemic and surgical therapeutic strategies and conducting ground-breaking research, the Imperial clinicians and researchers  have established themselves as global leaders in the field of gynaecological cancer.  

For example, James Flanagan recently received half a million pounds from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) for his Early Diagnosis programme and Anke Nijhuis was awarded a £1 million Career Development Fellowship from CRUK to establish her own independent research within the Department of Surgery and Cancer. Additionally, the Parasol foundation has generously awarded over £1 million to support research into drug resistance, tumour heterogeneity, and more personalised, predictive imaging.  

The fight continues for better care, improved quality of life and increased survival rates for patients. 

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Involving critically ill children in research: Is that even possible?

When a young patient’s life hangs in the balance, the last thing on the minds of stressed parents, families and patients would be to get involved in research. Or is it? Despite the turmoil, some brave families and children have volunteered to support clinicians in their research by taking part. Dr Padmanabhan Ramnarayan, Clinical Reader in Paediatric Critical Care in the Department of Surgery and Cancer and Honorary Consultant in Paediatric Intensive Care at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and West London Children’s Healthcare, explains why.  


I have been a children’s intensive care doctor for over 20 years, and for most of that time, I have been leading research that has involved critically ill children. My patients are young, their parents and families are super-stressed, and most of the treatments are given in an emergency – all of which seem like perfectly valid reasons to not involve sick children in research. Despite this, my experience is that parents and families are overwhelmingly in support of research. Why? 

The evidence gap 

Since children’s intensive care is a young speciality, much of our practice is ‘borrowed’ from adult intensive care or newborn intensive care. This is not ideal because our patients range from birth to 18 years of age, with diseases as diverse as asthma, respiratory infections, accidents and trauma, sepsis and brain injury. Without high-quality research to guide care, the treatments provided to sick children may not be the best or the most effective. Doctors and nurses, and parents and families, understand this. By agreeing to include their children in research studies, parents want to improve the care provided to future patients. 

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Navigating digital health: a guide to data and artificial intelligence in healthcare

Kelly Gleason introduces a guide, Navigating Digital Health, co-produced with 20 local diverse public partners (aged between 18-78, ethnicity: White, Black & Asian, 60% women and 40% men) to help the public navigate data and artificial intelligence and wider resources. Kelly is Imperial CRUK Lead Nurse and leads the Public Involvement for the CRUK Convergence Centre and the NIHR Imperial BRC Surgery and Cancer Theme. The guide and supporting resources are part-funded by the NIHR Imperial BRC.


What the public need to know about the guide:

  1. It’s made for the public by the public (with a large and diverse group of public contributors) and supported by experts in the field.
  2. This is a gentle introduction to data science and AI to allow anyone to begin to learn about this field.
  3. It can be used by patients or family members to understand more about these issues generally or to contribute to public involvement programmes in research.
  4. It can help people make informed decisions about accessing new technologies to support their health.
  5. The guide is supported by various forms of media, including the written word, podcasts and animated videos (see links at the end of this blog). (more…)

Medical cannabis for chronic health conditions: hype or hope?

A small pile of medical cannabis on a dish

It’s been over four years since the UK legalised the medical use of cannabis. Despite this, attitudes towards its use remains a hot topic for patients and health professionals alike. Dr Simon Erridge from the Department of Surgery and Cancer separates fact from fiction about the prescribing of medical cannabis for health conditions such as chronic pain and anxiety.


Since 2018, medical cannabis has been available legally on prescription for patients here in the UK. However, many people are not aware of this and our research in 2021 suggested that almost 50% of UK adults are unaware that medical cannabis is legal in the UK. Many more may be unsure as to what medical cannabis is, when it can be prescribed, and what the medical evidence says about its effects. Despite this, there is a lot of promise held about the potential of medical cannabis and its use in healthcare in the future.

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Academic Women Association: a new women network at Imperial

Academic Women Association

How can we close the gender gap in STEM? Dr Ilaria Belluomo explores how a new network at Imperial aims to provide a safe space for women to discuss and plan their careers in leadership roles – in and outside academia.


We are all aware of the disparity between the number of men and women in senior academic positions, as well as the limited number of female mentors available to support and inspire young girls interested in pursuing a career in science. This small percentage of female representation can give the impression that a career in science and academia, in the current climate, can be difficult and hard for women to pursue. Things are slowly improving, but we are only at the beginning of initiating this change. We continue to have conversations and work on initiatives to ensure that the academic gender gap can be improved.

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The iKnife – the cutting-edge of cancer diagnosis?

The iKnife analysing a liver tissue sample

For all the advancements medicine has seen in recent decades, there remains a major public health challenge: cancer. However, a new surgical tool called the iKnife has shown significant promise in improving the diagnosis of endometrial (womb) cancer. Professor Sadaf Ghaem-Maghami discusses how this new tool could transform the clinical care of thousands of patients.


Endometrial (womb) cancer is the most common gynaecological cancer in the UK, and the fourth most common cancer in women. It affects 9,300 women and people with gynae organs every year in the UK alone. It generally occurs in postmenopausal women, but up to 25% of cases are diagnosed in the pre-menopause. Its main symptom is one of abnormal bleeding. These women are usually referred to the two-week wait clinics for diagnosis or exclusion of cancer.

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A letter to our taught students and their loved ones

This is an open letter from Mr Martin Lupton, Vice-Dean of Education to taught students in the Faculty of Medicine and their loved-ones.


Dear Students and their friends and families,

My eldest son has recently returned to University in the UK and, even though I work in both the health and education sector, I have to acknowledge that I have a certain level of anxiety about him. It is very difficult to read the news about all that has happened during this time of COVID and not to worry.

I am telling you this because I want you to understand that I have some inkling of what you may be feeling right now, particularly if you come from overseas or your daughter, son or relation, has just started their university life. The first thing I want to say is “Welcome to the Faculty of Medicine”. We are very proud of what we have achieved during this global pandemic; the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College has been a key player contributing to the world’s understanding of the virus, the mapping of the virus, teaching people about the virus and developing a new vaccine. However, that is not all that we have been doing. (more…)

Why good cancer research must have the patient at the centre

Kelly Gleason, CRUK Lead Nurse, explores the value of patient and public involvement in cancer research and how it can improve the quality and outcomes of research.


Patient and public involvement (PPI) is increasingly recognised as important. Funding bodies are asking for more and more from researchers in regard to patient and public involvement. They want to see evidence of authentic and ongoing relationships between researchers and the public that is informing what is being researched, how it is being researched and how findings are shared with the public. Funders want to see more co-creation between researchers and the public and for this to happen, researchers require help accessing larger patient networks and support in maintaining relationships with patients.

My journey with PPI at Imperial

I became involved in patient and public involvement almost a decade ago – it was a relatively novel concept back then. The need for cancer researchers to access patients to involve in their research was increasing. The Imperial Cancer Research UK Centre, where I work as a Lead Nurse, established a group of patients and members of the public for Imperial researchers to have easy access to the patient voice. The group served as a resource to researchers and inputted on everything from grant proposals to lay summaries. They helped us create a research culture at Imperial where patients were integral to what and how we carried out cancer research. (more…)

My fight against medical myths and fake news on social media

Dr Amalina Bakri

This festive period Three Wise Women from the Faculty of Medicine will be giving us the gift of wisdom.

Our final wise woman, Dr Amalina Bakri, provides an insight into the role of social media in fighting medical misinformation online.


Some people are often surprised to hear that I’m a General Surgeon (speciality trainee) with a significant social media presence – over one million followers across Twitter and Instagram. I use social media to communicate what I’m passionate about, and that is an evidence-based approach to lifestyle medicine and disseminating accurate health information.

As the internet has matured, social media has developed and become an intrinsic part of many people’s lives. Some commonly use social media as a trusted source of information or news. But in the current climate, fake news or misinformation spreads like wildfire on social media, making it hard for individuals to see the true picture without checking sources.

Despite this, social media is a quick and effective way to spread scientifically proven, correct health information. That’s why I think medics and other healthcare professionals have an important role on social media to provide accurate medical information and to debunk myths and fake medical news. (more…)