Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Pregnancy outcome after uterine artery embolization for uterine adenomyosis: A systematic review

BACKGROUND: Uterine adenomyosis involves the growth of endometrial gland and stroma within the uterine musculature. Patients with uterine adenomyosis experience heavy painful periods, deep dyspareunia and subfertility, reducing their overall quality of life. Hysterectomy is usual...

Bile acids and ursodeoxycholic acid alter gene expression in primary myometrial cells

Abstract Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP), characterised by elevated maternal serum bile acids (BAs), increases risk of preterm labour that may be mitigated by ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) treatment. How different BA species, including UDCA, affect myometrial function r...

Autoimmune-associated thrombosis: mechanisms, population burden, and prevention strategies

Autoimmune diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, antiphospholipid syndrome, and systemic vasculitis, are associated with increased risk of thrombosis, accelerated atherosclerosis, cardiovascular-events, and premature mortality. Heparin-induced th...

Data distribution impacts the performance and generalisability of contrastive learning-based foundation models of electrocardiograms

Contrastive learning is a widely adopted self-supervised pretraining strategy, yet its dependence on cohort composition remains underexplored. We present Contrasting by Augmented Patient Electrocardiograms (CAPE) foundation model and pretrain on four cohorts (n = 5,203,269), from...

Kidney transplantation in older people (KTOP): a longitudinal, qualitative study of kidney transplant experiences in older, frail adults

Abstract Background Transplantation rates are increasing in those who are older and frail, driven by an aging dialysis population. This longitudinal, qualitative study explores how older adults navigate the journey from dialysis to transplantation and how frailty is experienced a...

Oral health and systemic health outcomes: A call for interdisciplinary action

Abstract Objectives To make the case, from periodontology and dental public health, for interdisciplinary action on oral and systemic health, and to set out recommendations for practice, policy, education, and research. Materials and Methods A joint working group of the European...

Dual-Targeted Therapy in Refractory Pyoderma Gangrenosum: A Focused Systematic Review of Convergent Pathway Targeting

Refractory pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) may persist despite corticosteroids, ciclosporin, biologics or sequential treatment escalation. Dual-targeted therapy (DTT) is increasingly used in medically complex inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), but PG is often recorded only as an extrain...

67 Limited-stage small cell lung cancer – how to address the high risk of intracranial metastases?

Abstract Introduction Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) accounts for approximately 15% of lung cancers and is characterised by rapid proliferation, early dissemination and poor prognosis. It has a strong predilection for brain metastases, with around 10% of patients presenting with i...

22 Quality of life and services use in patients diagnosed with brain tumours: data from a national cancer survivorship study

Abstract Introduction About 13,000 new patients are diagnosed annually with a primary brain tumour in the UK and less than 20% of patients survive 10 years post-diagnosis. Patient-Reported Outcomes and Experiences (PROMs & PREMs) are largely used in clinical trials that recruit f...

Pregnancy after Hemithyroidectomy: Increased Risk of Gestational Overt Hypothyroidism Despite Favorable Obstetric Outcomes: A Nationwide Study

Background: To assess the association between preconception hemithyroidectomy and the risk of gestational hypothyroidism and obstetric outcomes. Methods: This nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study compared euthyroid pregnant women with a history of hemithyroidect...

Comparing the readability of AI-generated and society-authored patient information leaflets in orthopaedics

Abstract Introduction Effective patient education is critical in orthopaedic care, influencing satisfaction, adherence, and outcomes. Artificial intelligence (AI), particularly large language models (LLMs), could offer the potential to improve patient information leaflets (PILs),...

Revisiting Obesity Definitions: Impact of the 2025 Lancet Commission Criteria on Obesity Prevalence Among People With MASLD

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

Enhancing iNKT cell immunotherapy through the integration of optimized CAR endodomains and iNKT engagers

Abstract iNKT cells are emerging as a highly promising immunotherapy platform for the treatment of cancer. To maximise the anti-cancer activity of CAR-iNKT against the blood cancer multiple myeloma we investigated optimal CAR designs and their combination with new iNKT-specific e...

The Co-Occurrence of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia and Functional Neurological Disorder: A Meta-Analysis and Narrative Synthesis

Background: Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) are both complex, often debilitating conditions that frequently affect young women and involve high symptom burdens and psychiatric comorbidity. Although clinical overlap betwe...

The mirrored burden and accountable handovers in cancer survivorship: co‑designing a post‑treatment transition standard

Post-treatment transitions after active cancer care often lack clear ownership, timelines and closure rules, shifting coordination work onto survivors and staff. We aimed to identify how these failures arise and to co-design a handover standard for post-treatment survivorship car...

The influence of hypoxia on cancer lipid metabolism: a scoping review

Abstract Background Hypoxia, a hallmark of solid tumours, profoundly alters cellular metabolism to enable survival in the harsh tumour microenvironment. Whilst effects on carbohydrate and protein metabolism are well characterised, the hypoxic regulation of lipid metabolism remain...

Development and validation of a theoretical test for ultrasound-guided biopsy competence in the head and neck

PURPOSE: This prospective study is designed to test the validity of a multiple-choice question (MCQ) test in assessing theoretical knowledge of ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration biosy and core-needle biopsy of the head and neck. METHODS: Seven international experts reached...

Iron deficiency testing among people with incident heart failure in primary care

Background Given around 50% of people with heart failure have a degree of iron deficiency, guidelines recommend screening. It is uncertain to what extent this is done in primary care and whether testing is equitable. Aim To report the proportion of people with incident heart fail...

Drug stock-outs in HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programs: a systematic review

Background Stock-outs of antiretroviral, anti-tuberculosis, and anti-malarial medicines remain a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries, affecting both health systems and patient outcomes. This systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence on the causes, consequence...