News

UZ Leuven best Belgian hospital in top 20 in Europe according to Newsweek ranking

5 March 2024

For the sixth year in a row, the American magazine Newsweek and the data platform Statista drew up a list of the world's best hospitals: World's Best Hospitals 2024. In it, UZ Leuven is the first Belgian hospital in position 44, achieving a top score of 93.17%.

‘Mini lungs’ from amniotic fluid cells predict the success of lung surgery in foetus

4 March 2024

Researchers from London and Leuven were able to make organoids from amniotic fluid for the first time. This allows them to predict how the organs if an unborn baby will react right after being born. Organoïds are threedimensional ‘mini-organs’ in a culture dish, mimic the structure and function of the organs from which they originate. UZ Leuven wants to use this technique in future to better predict how the lungs of an unborn baby will react to a surgical procedure in the uterus.

Rare diseases day

29 February 2024

On 29 February, literally a rare day, there is worldwide attention for rare diseases. In Belgium, more than half a million people suffer from a rare disorder. Read the stories of Fleur (21) and Seth (4), who have been monitored at UZ Leuven since childhood.

Record number of liver transplants in 2023 at UZ Leuven

19 February 2024

In 2023 there was a record number of liver transplants at UZ Leuven. The remarkable increase is partly due to technological evolutions that allow the use of donor livers of people that died of a cardiac arrest. It also reduced the waiting list for liver transplants in 2023.

Five myths about epilepsy

12 February 2024

Did you know that more than 60,000 people in Belgium suffer from epilepsy and that the disorder is not that rare at all? And that an epileptic seizure is certainly not always accompanied by convulsions? Paediatric neurologist prof. dr. Katrien Jansen helps dispel five myths about epilepsy.

Allergy medication as treatment for irritable bowel syndrome

9 February 2024

Good news for patientst with irritable bowel syndrome: a recent study, coordinated by UZ Leuven, has shown that the allergy medication ebastine can reduce the symptoms of the disorder.

Leuven researchers find biomarker to predict success of immunotherapy in liver cancer

12 January 2024

Leuven researchers used single cell technology to look at the deepest level of the cells in the tumour and discovered a biomarker that can predict whether a patient with liver cancer will react to immunotherapy or not. The study was published in Nature Communications.

Researchers develop a way to make immunotherapy work better for melanoma patients

9 January 2024

Leuven researchers have developed a new way to make immunotherapy work better for melanoma patients that are currently not reacting to their treatment. By targeting a specific type of melanoma cells, the reaction to immunotherapy can be improved.

Little Nirvana: gaming technology distracts children during stressful or painful procedures

3 January 2024

The European research project Little Nirvana, with the support of both KU Leuven and UZ Leuven, examines how gaming technology can distract children that have to undergo painful procedures. Little Nirvana has since been successfully tested in more than 100 patients, including at UZ Leuven.

Leuven surgeons transplant four organs during one procedure in a toddler

20 December 2023

A team of UZ Leuven doctors has recently replaced all abdominal organs in a toddler for the first time in Belgium: stomach, liver, pancreas as well as the small intestine were transplanted in one procedure. The young patient was successfully operated on and is doing well.

Extended reimbursement of cochlear implants for children

11 December 2023

As of 1 January 2024, the reimbursement of cochlear implants for children and youngsters with severe loss of hearing or deafness will be extended. As part of that decision, Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health Frank Vandenbroucke paid UZ Leuven a visit.

UZ Leuven helps build a climate-neutral Leuven

30 November 2023

A week ago, UZ Leuven signed the first Leuven Climate Contract: 10 pioneering guiding principles, more than 30 partners, 86 break-through projects met actual commitments and a financial strategy, brought together to accelerate Leuven's readiness for climate neutrality by 2030.