Digital Lightbox replaces the conventional light box used to observe analog x-ray images. Connected to the hospital PACS, the new digital platform can be installed both in meeting rooms and in operating rooms, where clinicians can then access, manipulate, and utilize data for surgery planning. By displaying the human body in 3D, Digital Lightbox helps clinicians to more clearly demonstrate to patients what effects a disease can have and which procedures may be necessary.

Digital Lightbox enables clinicians to select the most valuable images from large amounts of existing medical data. Ergonomic touchscreen technology with zoom functionality makes working with data easy and effective.

Clinicians can intuitively navigate within pictures and between settings. Image scrolling can be performed with one finger; zooming in and out of images with two. Images from different sources can also be fused easily. A measure functionality enables clinicians to set size and other dimensions.

By integrating the communication platform iPlan® Net from BrainLAB, clinicians can perform treatment planning with Digital Lightbox or any PC connected to the hospital network. This eliminates bottlenecks, as busy planning stations are rendered obsolete. iPlan Net helps to simplify the clinical workflow and save costs, as well as strengthen and simplify interdisciplinary collaboration between neurosurgery, nuclear medicine and radiology departments.

Digital Lightbox can be installed in any hospital environment and is compatible with all established image formats, such as DICOM, jpg, bmp, tif, png, avi, wmv. Planning data can be transferred directly from Digital Lightbox to surgical navigation systems designed for precise and minimally invasive procedures.

Video demonstrating the Digital Lightbox:

Press release: World Premiere at University Hospital in Munich: Digital Lightbox...

Product page: Digital Lightbox

In a nutshell, the EpiCard™ is designed to be the smallest epinephrine auto-injector. Once (and if) it becomes commercial, the EpiCard will be the size of a credit card. In addition, the device will be able to provide step-by-step voice instructions to patients on how to use the autoinjector during a life-threatening emergency.

Intelliject...

The Intelliject Story...

Flashback: Student invents handy 'Epi-Card' (Inside UVA May 17-23, 2002)

UPDATE: A rep for the company tells Medgadget that Intelliject is an independent company, and is not a spinoff. Also, please note that EpiCard is designed for intramuscular administration of epinephrine, and not for subcutaneous as we mentioned earlier. We apologize for these mistakes.

Potential uses from the company page:

For Conventional Medicines • Caters for those averse to needle jabs • May require lower dose than oral route • Good vasculature for absorption

For Vaccinations
• ..Ease of use in areas having low numbers of clinical staff– allowing mass immunisation • Delivered to the right part, formulated to adhere for immune response • DNA ‘vaccines’ in development

Why Alchemy Healthcare's Nasal Device?
• High performance spray for dose accuracy and fast onset • Compact active device with high value • Self-treatment since unit dose with no inter-operator variability • Five parameters can be varied for different uses • Lockable with actuation indicators

Alchemy Healthcare...

Flashback: Cheap Dry Pill Inhaler May Fit in Wallet

(hat tip: Eureka)

Features from the product brochure:

PRECISION FLOW™ is a high flow heat and humidification device for the non-invasive delivery of inspired gas flows from 1 to 40 liters per minute. The technology delivers a perfect synchronization of flow, temperature, humidity and oxygen percentage without discomfort via nasal cannula.

PRECISION FLOW™ moves beyond conventional humidification, giving the clinician the ability to manage the key factors in gas conditioning to achieve desired outcomes.

PRECISION FLOW™ helps clinicians reach their goal to deliver the maximum respiratory assistance safely and comfortably. More invasive techniques can result in iatrogenic effects and increased costs.

• Precise measurement of temperature and flow
• Built-in oxygen blender and oxygen sensor
• Disposable patient circuit
• Battery backup
• Rapid set up and circuit priming
• Single button control for flow, oxygen percentage and temperature values
• Color–coded, uncluttered display for alarms and indicators
• Engineered for reliability and streamlined maintenance

Press release: VAPOTHERM® PRECISION FLOW™ RECEIVES FDA 510(k) CLEARANCE

Product page: Precision Flow

Precision Flow brochure (PDF)...

From the article abstract published in in PEDIATRICS:

METHODS. A randomized trial with baseline and 1- and 3-month assessments was conducted from 2004 to 2005 at 34 medical centers in the United States, Canada, and Australia. A total of 375 male and female patients who were 13 to 29 years old, had an initial or relapse diagnosis of a malignancy, and currently undergoing treatment and expected to continue treatment for at least 4 months from baseline assessment were randomly assigned to the intervention or control group. The intervention was a video game that addressed issues of cancer treatment and care for teenagers and young adults. Outcome measures included adherence, self-efficacy, knowledge, control, stress, and quality of life. For patients who were prescribed prophylactic antibiotics, adherence to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was tracked by electronic pill-monitoring devices (n = 200). Adherence to 6-mercaptopurine was assessed through serum metabolite assays (n = 54).

RESULTS. Adherence to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole and 6-mercaptopurine was greater in the intervention group. Self-efficacy and knowledge also increased in the intervention group compared with the control group. The intervention did not affect self-report measures of adherence, stress, control, or quality of life.

CONCLUSIONS. The video-game intervention significantly improved treatment adherence and indicators of cancer-related self-efficacy and knowledge in adolescents and young adults who were undergoing cancer therapy. The findings support current efforts to develop effective video-game interventions for education and training in health care.

Abstract in PEDIATRICS...

Re-Mission homepage...

Video about the making of Re-Mission and the clinical trial conducted::

(hat tip: ScienceRoll)

Clinicians from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center are studying the two-ring device to see its efficacy and applicability for the African population and beyond.

From the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center press release:

With the recent endorsement by the World Health Organization (WHO) and scientists worldwide of adult male circumcision as an important strategy for HIV prevention, there is increased urgency to develop safe and cost-effective circumcision services. This is especially the case in Africa where HIV/AIDS continues to spread at an epidemic rate.

Studying this method are Dr. Marc Goldstein and physician-scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who are evaluating an innovative circumcision device developed in China and will initiate a study of the device in Africa in the coming months.

The device, named the ShangRing after its inventor, Mr. Jian-Zhong Shang, consists of two concentric plastic rings that sandwich the foreskin, allowing it to be cut away without suturing and with minimal bleeding. Performed in a clinic under local anesthesia, the procedure takes less than five minutes, compared with approximately 20 to 30 minutes for a traditional "free hands" circumcision that requires suturing. The patient returns in one week for device removal.

"Circumcision with this technique promises to be faster, safer and more acceptable to patients than conventional surgical circumcision methods," says Dr. Goldstein, the study's principal investigator. He is urologist and specialist in reproductive medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, the Matthew P. Hardy Distinguished Professor of Reproductive Medicine and Urology at Weill Cornell Medical College, and senior scientist at The Population Council, Center for Biomedical Research, located on the campus of The Rockefeller University.

The ShangRing has been used to circumcise several thousand Chinese men since 2005. Preliminary reports of 1,200 patients indicate good results with minimal complications. The ShangRing, with 15 patents pending in 85 countries, is currently available only in China. FDA evaluation is under way.

We tried to obtain images of this device, but unfortunately we failed. (Anyone out there can get them for us?)To further understand how the device works, attached is the United States Patent Application recently filed by Mr. Shang with USPTO.

Press release: New Male Circumcision Device for HIV Prevention Studied by NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell...

United States Patent Application # 20080154283:
Apparatus for circumcising a penis

UPDATE: Hurrah! Weill Cornell Medical College has kindly provided us with the picture of ShangRing device.

From the CX50 product page:

Previously available only on our premium iE33 system, PureWave on the CX50 system allows you to get the clear images you need for confident diagnoses on a wide variety of patients, including the difficult-to-image.

The CX50 system was designed for your critical study requirements. In addition to PureWave, its premium imaging and Doppler performance are possible because of its digital broadband beamformer and XRES technology. Easily perform advanced echo analysis with integrated QLAB and stress echo capability.

The CX50 is designed to make portable exams easy and efficient. One-button iSCAN automatically optimizes 2D and Doppler data for new levels of clarity for your portable studies. On-board QLAB provides advanced analysis capabilities during and after exams.

Portable exams are a challenge, and getting clear diagnostic data is complicated by many factors. Now you can have the image quality you need for the diagnostic confidence wherever you need it – take the CX50 to your patients.

The CX50 system can be used on a specially designed cart, hand carried to your patients, or packed in its special travel case for easy transport to remote destinations.

Press release: Philips new handheld ultrasound system offers premium image quality in a portable system

Product page: CX50 CompactXtreme Ultrasound System

A tiny breath-activated turbine inside the inhaler beats at a mesh packet with sieve-like holes, which contains the drug particles. This activity releases all the particles into the air at the same time, which conveys the medication directly into the lungs. Because the turbine is activated via breathing, no expensive electrical additions are necessary as they are in other inhalers of the same class.

The product is now beyond proof-of-concept and Aespironics is manufacturing working models for external testing by potential partners. This testing is due to begin by the end of the year, and if all goes well, the product could be out on the market in three years.

The efficacy of the Aespironics inhaler is such that it could replace injections - which would make life much easier for Type I diabetics, who need regular injected doses of insulin.

Currently, only top of the line dry powder inhalers deliver medication efficiently into the lungs; more commonly used inhalers leave drug particles clinging inside the oral cavity, which can lead to negative side effects. Another drawback to cheap inhalers is that because of their inefficiency at conveying the medication to the lungs, it's difficult to calculate accurate dosage.

More from Israel21C...

aespironics company home page...

From a press release:

Monitoring "preemies" as a patient group is especially important as certain life-threatening conditions such as infection can be detected up to 24 hours in advance by observing changes in physiological data streams.

The type of information that will come out of the research project is not available today. Currently, physicians monitoring preemies rely on a paper-based process that involves manually looking at the readings from various monitors and getting feedback from the nurses providing care.

"This research has the potential to reatly impact neonatal care through reduced mortality and morbidity rates and overall health-care costs," said Dr. McGregor [Dr. Carolyn McGregor, a University of Ontario Institute of Technology associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Health Informatics --ed.]. "By merging our research and technology, we are able to collect more detailed patient data in a systematic manner, do online health analysis and decision support, and get advanced early warning of emerging patterns that could predict a medical event."

When fully developed, IBM's software will be capable of processing the 512 readings per second generated by some of these medical devices, and UOIT researchers will further test and develop its ability to analyze these vast quantities of data in real time.

Initially researchers will use NICU medical devices in UOIT's state-of-the-art Health Informatics Laboratory to test IBM's software using simulated patient mirroring data. Then the software will be tested using de-identified actual patient data. The de-identified data is recorded in a way that enables researchers to alter some variables, play it back and run simulations for further study.

Press release: First-of-a-Kind Technology to Help Doctors Care for Premature Babies....

Image by keaggy.com

The company says Watchhaler has the following benefits:

Continuous inhalation flow controlled by a mechanical valve (patented)

Limitation of inhalation volume by a balloon

High intra thoracic deposition Reproducible dosage

Pure mechanical driven, no electronics

Visual control of inhalation

Activaero is distributing the following brochure about the clinical advantages of its system:

Press release: Activaero's Innovative Children Spacer Watchhaler receives 510(k) Clearance from the US FDA...

Product page: Watchhaler...

Product brochure (.pdf)...

Flashback: The Funhaler...