Friday, May 9, 2008
Duke Scientists Report Success with Early Autonomous Robot Surgeries
Investigators at Duke are all enthused with a possibility of autonomous robots one day operating on your autonomic nervous system, and other parts:
Engineers at Duke University believe that the results of feasibility studies conducted in their laboratory represent the first concrete steps toward achieving this space age vision of the future. Also, on a more immediate level, the technology developed by the engineers could make certain contemporary medical procedures safer for patients, they said.For their experiments, the engineers started with a rudimentary tabletop robot whose “eyes” used a novel 3-D ultrasound technology developed in the Duke laboratories. An artificial intelligence program served as the robot’s “brain” by taking real-time 3-D information, processing it, and giving the robot specific commands to perform.
“In a number of tasks, the computer was able to direct the robot's actions,” said Stephen Smith, director of the Duke University Ultrasound Transducer Group and senior member of the research team. “We believe that this is the first proof-of-concept for this approach. Given that we achieved these early results with a rudimentary robot and a basic artificial intelligence program, the technology will advance to the point where robots – without the guidance of the doctor – can someday operate on people.”
The results of a series of experiments on the robot system directing catheters inside synthetic blood vessels was published online in the journal IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control. A second study, published in April in the journal Ultrasonic Imaging, demonstrated that the autonomous robot system could successfully perform a simulated needle biopsy.
Advances in ultrasound technology have made these latest experiments possible, the researchers said, by generating detailed, 3-D moving images in real-time.
The Duke laboratory has a long track record of modifying traditional 2-D ultrasound – like that used to image babies in utero – into the more advanced 3-D scans. After inventing the technique in 1991, the team also has shown its utility in developing specialized catheters and endoscopes for real-time imaging of blood vessels in the heart and brain.
In the latest experiment, the robot successfully performed its main task: directing a needle on the end of the robotic arm to touch the tip of another needle within a blood vessel graft. The robot’s needle was guided by a tiny 3-D ultrasound transducer, the “wand” that collects the 3-D images, attached to a catheter commonly used in angioplasty procedures.
“The robot was able to accurately direct needle probes to target needles based on the information sent by the catheter transducer,” said John Whitman, a senior engineering student in Smith’s laboratory and first author on both papers. “The ability of the robot to guide a probe within a vascular graft is a first step toward further testing the system in animal models.”
While the research will continue to refine the ability of robots to perform independent procedures, the new technology could also have more direct and immediate applications.
“Currently, cardiologists doing catheter-based procedures use fluoroscopy, which employs radiation, to guide their actions,” Smith said. “Putting a 3-D ultrasound transducer on the end of the catheter could provide clearer images to the physician and greatly reduce the need for patients to be exposed to radiation.”
Press release: First Steps Toward Autonomous Robot Surgeries ...
(hat tip: Engadget)
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Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Peak PlasmaBlade Wants to Be The New Bovie
PEAK Surgical, Inc. from Palo Alto, CA hates the bovie cutter/coagulator. The company cannot stand the 1920's technology behind the bovie, and how its thermal function destroys healthy patient tissue around the cut. What do we hate about the bovie? Well, you know: all those bovie induced burns and destroyed gloves that surgeons are regularly subjected to.
Long story short, PEAK Surgical wants its Peak PlasmaBlade, a cold cutter and coagulator, to be the bovie of the 21st century. The company is quite hopeful: a new study presented in a poster session at the ongoing American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' (ACOG) 56th Annual Clinical Meeting in New Orleans showed that PEAK PlasmaBlade™ "cut freshly excised human abdominal tissue with little thermal tissue injury compared with traditional electrosurgery."
More about the technology:
Electrosurgery was invented in the beginning of the 20th century and became one of the most-often used surgical tools after William Bovie introduced his electrosurgery (radiofrequency) generator in 1926. Since then, electrosurgical cutting has been performed using continuous radiofrequency waveforms, which thermally vaporizes soft tissue via an electrical arc through air and Joule heating. This results in a cutting and coagulation action that leaves a wide zone of collateral thermal damage.By contrast, PEAK Surgical’s PULSAR Generator supplies pulsed waveforms that produce short plasma-mediated, highly controlled electrical discharges through extensively insulated electrodes on a handheld device -- the PEAK PlasmaBlade. Because the radiofrequency is provided in short pulses with low duty cycle (fraction of time the voltage is ON), and the PEAK PlasmaBlade is so highly insulated, heat diffusion and associated thermal damage to surrounding tissues is limited, resulting in greatly reduced collateral damage and extreme cutting precision.
PEAK Surgical’s technology including the pulsed plasma-mediated discharges and electrode insulation techniques were originally developed by Professor Daniel Palanker’s group at the Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory and Department of Ophthalmology at Stanford University. They have been evaluated in ophthalmic applications, including human studies in retinal and cataract surgery – one of the most delicate, precise and difficult types of surgery, and in preclinical studies.
Check out the following product brochure distributed by PEAK Surgical:
Product page: Peak PlasmaBlade...
Press release: PEAK Surgical Announces Positive Results from Preclinical Study of PEAK PlasmaBlade™ for Obstetric and Gynecologic Surgery
Video demonstrating the device...
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Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MR Auxiliary Table
Sentinelle Medical Inc., a Toronto, Ontario firm, is reporting that its president Mr. Cameron Piron was just recognized as Best Young Innovator by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. Putting aside the whole twisted idea of "Ministry of Research and Innovation", we ventured to check out the product of Sentinelle Medical. It turns out that the product, called Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MR Auxiliary Table®, is a pretty clever device. Designed to work in tandem with GE Healtcare's Signa® HDx 1.5T MRI system, the table features an eight channel coil array that enhances imaging of the breast, while the configuration of the table makes percutaneous biopsies (and other interventions) more tolerable for the clinician and the patient, thanks to an open design that offers easy accessibility to all quadrants of the breast.
More about the system:
Variable Coil Geometry® of the 8 channel array allows the position of the coils to be customized for every patient. Vanguard® coils can be moved medially and laterally, as well as posteriorally towards the axilla and chest wall providing improvements to image quality unavailable on traditional tabletop coilsThe unique coil geometry improves overall signal to noise ratio which can result in higher resolution images. Higher resolution images provide more detailed information and may promote earlier detection of lesions. This can, in turn, result in better management of disease and treatment...
Complete and open medial and lateral access provided by the Vanguard® design allows interventions to all quadrants of the breast. The system employs adjustable interventional grids which can be moved medially and laterally as well as towards the axilla and chest wall, providing access to lesions in the inner upper and outer upper quadrants of the breast. Use of a removable sternum support and support plate improves access to lesions near the chest wall in medial approaches.
The Vanguard® works in combination with several biopsy devices and localization needles...
A Significant amount of effort has been put into the design and padding of the patient support. Increased patient clearance in the bore means that more patients can be comfortably positioned with arms by their side. This improves comfort for the patient and reduces motion during the exam. The ‘wings’ of the system not only provide support for this positioning but also protect the patient from the magnet.
The padding used is made of visco-elastic foam providing improved comfort especially in common pressure areas such as the diaphragm and sternum. All padding is adjustable, allowing customized cushioning for every patient. The foam is covered in surgical grade material allowing for easy clean up.
The Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MR Auxiliary Table® is a comprehensive system. All features, including storage drawers, tray tables, biopsy grids, padding, safety rails, movable sternum supports, and integrated lighting are designed to work together for improved workflow. The Vanguard® is the only dedicated, detachable table design available for Breast MR.
The Vanguard’s® unique detachable table design allows patient preparation prior to and after both imaging and intervention to be performed outside the MR suite. Used in conjunction with the standard Signa™ detachable table, this results in significant savings in per-patient magnet use time. Experience with Vanguard® has shown an average efficiency increase of 10-25 minutes per patient.
Product page: Sentinelle Vanguard Breast MR Auxiliary Table...
(hat tip: Boomer Babe)
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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Philips HD7
Philips is introducing in the United States its new general purpose, modestly priced ultrasound system, the Philips HD7:
The system provides grayscale and color Doppler imaging with simple one button optimization, as well as Tissue Harmonic Imaging. In addition, the HD7 features a wide array of transducers, an adjustable flat panel LCD monitor, proven system architecture, and advanced imaging, measurement and quantification technologies.The Philips HD7 system addresses basic scanning needs while adding new technology and design advances that help improve image quality. Developed with clinicians in mind, the ergonomic, easy-to-use system can meet the demands for high-volume use in cardiovascular, OB/GYN, anesthesiology, oncology, electrophysiology, stress echo, pediatric, orthopedic, urologic, emergency and other applications.
Like all Philips ultrasound systems, the HD7 has a broadband digital beamformer to capture and preserve more tissue information than conventional narrowband systems and its wide dynamic range and digital focal tuning provide exceptional sensitivity and detail resolution. Features such as iSCAN one button image optimization, multiple transducer ports, DICOM connectivity, and easy data recording to CD or USB, position the HD7 well against other modestly priced ultrasound systems. In addition, optional off-line QLAB quantification software capability allows clinicians to perform post-examination image review and analysis on a PC. Further enhancing the system’s usability is a Study Guide on disk that quickly equips clinicians to use the advanced features of the HD7.
The system can accommodate a range of Philips' transducers for all kinds of clinical applications.
Product page: HD7 Ultrasound System...
Press release: Philips HD7 ultrasound system now commercially available in the United States...
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Friday, April 4, 2008
FDA Grants Approval to First (?) Digital Mammograph With Computer Aided Detection
iCAD Inc. has announced that the FDA approved the integration of its SecondLook Digital tumor detection system with Fuji's FCRm tomograph. iCAD claims it is the first implementation of computer aided detection technology on top of a digital mammography system, although Medgadget covered Siemens' announcement of iCAD's integration into its systems two years ago. (Update below)
From the product brochure:
The unique SecondLook algorithms detect up to 72% of actionable missed cancers an average of 15 months earlier than screening mammography alone. Potential cancers are identified using patented artificial intelligence and pattern recognition technology to analyze images and identify patterns. Sophisticated mathematical analysis identifies and marks suspicious areas without obscuring the underlying image, enabling faster, more accurate reading.SecondLook Digital provides the most powerful and flexible DICOM connectivity solutions – enhancing digital workflow and enabling seamless integration with acquisition systems, review workstations, and PACS from
leading vendors. Flexible integration options enable CAD results to be viewed on workstations or sent to a plain paper printer. Priority queuing of studies improves clinical efficiency and efficacy by enabling the most
urgent or important studies to be analyzed with CAD first. SecondLook Digital performs CAD analysis on an image in an average of up to just 30 seconds, maximizing throughput and preventing bottlenecks.
Press release: iCAD receives FDA Approval for its SecondLook Digital for use with Fuji's Digital Mammography System
Product page: SecondLook Digital
Update: In an email, a representative from iCAD corrects our initial confusion: "The write-up questions the statement in iCAD's release about this being the first application of CAD "with digital mammography"..you are correct to point out that this is not the first application of CAD with DM. However, this refers to the first application of CAD with Computed radiography, a version of digital mammography that is more cost-effective than previous DM systems."
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Robotic Snake May One Day Wrap Around Rod of Asclepius
A collaboration between researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Pittsburgh, and Technion University in Israel has produced a miniaturized robotic probe that may one day replace traditional laparoscopic devices. The system is being developed by a spin off startup Cardiorobotics, Inc.
The CardioArm is operated using a computer and a joystick. It has 102 degrees of freedom, three of which can be activated at once. This allows it to enter through a single point in the chest and wrap around the heart until it reaches the right spot to, say, remove problematic tissue. "The nice thing about [the] design is that each joint follows where you went in space. That's not always possible in other designs," says Webster. This kind of control prevents the probe from bumping into sensitive tissue. The disadvantage of a jointed robot, however, is that it's harder to miniaturize, Webster says.The smallest version of the device is 300 millimeters long and has a diameter of 12 millimeters. Eventually, the CMU researchers hope to make a snake small enough to enter the bloodstream through a blood vessel, says Marco Zenati, one of the principal researchers on the CardioArm project and a professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.
Zenati has used robotic surgical assistants in the past and notes that they all have limitations. The da Vinci system, for example, can't "squeeze into tight locations within the human body" and requires five or six entryways, he says.
Realizing the need for more-advanced robots for minimally invasive surgery, Zenati teamed up with Howie Choset, a TR35 honoree known for his work at CMU on crawling robotic snakes, and Alon Wolf, founder and director of the Biorobotics and Biometrics Lab at Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology.
"We are working to just have a single port in the body and from that point being able to reach any location," says Zenati. "There is no technology that allows one to do that. The only one is the CardioArm."
More at the MIT Tech Review...
Cardiorobotics company page...
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Thursday, April 3, 2008
EZ Clean System Makes Ostomy Care Less Hands On Experience
The lives of colostomates and ileostomates may be getting a little easier as Schena Ostomy Technologies has introduced their new EZ Clean System which includes a specialized bag and a toilet attachment to power the system. Watch the video below to get an idea of how it works.
From the product page:
You simply sit on the commode as you would normally, open the drain and attach the water feed; depress the thumb trigger and three or less minutes later you are done.The pouch is hygenically clean and the exposed surfaces of the stoma are gently washed.
You have that just showered feeling without ever having had to come in direct contact with body waste. You simply wipe the water from the pouch drain, seal it and flush the toilet.
Product page: Schena Ostomy EZ Clean System
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
ARUP Consult: The Physician's Guide to Lab Test Selection and Interpretation
Our wise readers probably have been using this website for a couple of decades now, but for us it's been a new and interesting discovery. ARUP Consult, a collaborative website run by Utah-based ARUP Laboratories with help from an expert panel of University of Utah medical faculty, is described as a "dynamic tool to provide instant, electronic, point-of-care access to laboratory testing information, help with test selection and decision making, and test interpretation for more than 750 laboratory tests." The information offered through ARUP Consult can be accessed either via the Web or PDA. The website offers more than 1,500 lab tests categorized into disease-related topics, as well as a number of clinical decision-making algorithms. Our staff anesthesiologists were particularly drawn to the Porphyrias Testing Algorithm that is illustrated at the bottom of the post.
A representative for ARUP Consult tells the following to Medgadget:
New and updated information is “published” every two months and each topic or disease receives a thorough annual review to ensure current and correct information. In an industry where nearly 80 percent of major medical decisions are based on lab test results it is extremely important to know which tests to order, why, how to interpret them and which steps to take next. Physicians don’t have the time or resources to stay current on a lab industry that constantly changes with improved techniques and assays. However, getting tests right the first time and having a resource at your fingertips to improve diagnostic capabilities will not only save valuable time and money to both physician and patient, but will ensure optimum patient care.We saw more than $50 billion spent last year in laboratory testing and over 10 percent or more of that was unnecessary… and this is not counting patient downstream costs and unnecessary therapy. ARUP Consult fills a giant gap in patient diagnostics.
Porphyrias Testing Algorithm:
ARUP Consult: The Physician's Guide to Laboratory Test Selection and Interpretation...
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
FDA Approves ARTISS Slow-Setting Fibrin Sealant for Treatment of Burn Patients
ARTISS fibrin sealant, a newly approved Baxter company product, is indicated to adhere autologous skin grafts to surgically prepared wound beds resulting from burns, for both adults and pedi patients. It is not indicated for hemostasis.
The following is from the statement by the FDA:
Fibrin sealants are tissue adhesives that contain the proteins fibrinogen and thrombin, which are essential in the clotting of blood. Artiss (Fibrin Sealant, VH S/D 4) differs from other fibrin sealants in that it contains a lower concentration of thrombin. This lower concentration allows surgeons more time to position skin grafts over burns before the graft begins to adhere to the skin. Artiss also contains aprotinin, a synthetic protein that delays the break down of blood clots."The approval of Artiss can help surgeons using a fibrin sealant to fine tune graft placement on burn sites," said Jesse L. Goodman M.D., M.P.H., director of FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. "The approval also provides an additional choice for health care professionals in providing burn treatment."
The fibrinogen and thrombin proteins in Artiss are derived from human plasma, collected from FDA-licensed plasma centers. Both proteins undergo purification and virus inactivation treatments to reduce the risk of blood-transmissible infections.
During a multicenter clinical trial, investigators evaluated Artiss for its ability to attach skin grafts on two wound sites for 138 patients. At one test site, the skin graft was fixed with Artiss; at the other test site, the graft was fixed with surgical staples. The results showed that Artiss was, within a statistical error, as good as staples to attain complete wound closure.
Press releases: FDA Approves New Medical Adhesive to Treat Burn Patients...; Baxter Announces FDA Approval of ARTISS Slow-Setting Fibrin Sealant in Treatment of Burn Patients...
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Endo-microscopy Technique Shows Promise for Early Colon CA Diagnosis
Back in June 2007 we profiled an endo-microscopy system from Paris-based Mauna Kea Technologies. To remind our readers, this company's main product, the Cellvizio® fibered confocal microscopy system, allows a "practitioner to insert one of the miniprobes (only 300 um to 2.8 mm in diameter) into a conventional endoscope and record microscopic level movies of the tissue as fast as 12 frames/sec."
The latest news is that Stanford University scientists tested the system in a small study, to evaluate the detection of early stages of colon cancer, and they were quite pleased with the results:
Doctors may one day be able to detect early stages of colon cancer without a biopsy, using a new technique developed by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.This imaging technology is one of many new ways of detecting cancers in the body in real time, said Christopher Contag, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and of microbiology and of immunology, who led the study. Contag said he hoped it might be one of the first to be used routinely for early detection of cancer.
“Detecting colon cancers is just the first step,” said Contag. He predicted similar techniques will eventually be able to find a wide range of cancers, monitor cancer treatment, and deliver chemotherapies directly to cancerous cells in the colon, stomach, mouth and skin. The study is published online in Nature Medicine...
If doctors find suspicious growths during a routine colonoscopy, they take a sample, called a biopsy, and send it to a pathology lab to screen for cancer. That step takes time and not all people have ready access to a nearby pathologist. What’s more, doctors biopsy only the cancers that form easily visible growths called polyps. Early stage cancers that remain flat aren’t detected.The trick to picking up cancer without a biopsy is to find a way of seeing which cells are cancerous while they are still in the body. That’s what Contag and his group succeeded in doing.
The group found a short protein that sticks to colon cells in the early stages of cancer. Before screening a person, they spray that short protein attached to a fluorescent beacon into the colon. The protein then gloms on to any cancerous cells and creates an easily visible fluorescent patch. They then used a miniaturized microscope called Cellvizio GI, developed by Paris-based Mauna Kea Technologies and loaned to Contag, to peer inside the colon and look for those telltale spots.
Not only did the researchers see fluorescent patches, they could make out the individual cancerous cells. That fine resolution could allow doctors to pick up the earliest possible cancers. Contag said it could also become a useful research tool for studying the small number of cancer stem cells that are thought to establish the eventual tumor.
In the initial trial with 15 patients, the technique detected 82 percent of the polyps that were considered cancerous by a pathologist. Contag said the next step is to work with some of the additional small proteins they’ve found that also attach to cancerous cells. He thinks that a combination of those proteins will make the technique highly accurate.
Once the screen is ready for widespread use, Contag said it could bring accurate cancer detection to people in remote locations who otherwise don’t have access to pathology labs. “A doctor could send a video in real time via the Internet to someone trained to analyze the living cell images,” Contag said. This could help people begin the appropriate therapy when the cancer is still at an early stage.
Stanford press release: Cancer detected earlier, faster, with new medical imaging, Stanford study finds...
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Femtosecond Lazers: Killing Cancer & Fusing Metal to Bone
University of Missouri scientists are working to bring functional femtosecond lasers [as in beams] out of the real of sci-fi and into the real world of medicine. Lead researcher, and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Robert Tzou explains how this new technology could revolutionize everything from dentistry to oncology to joint replacement surgery.
What makes the femtosecond laser different from other lasers is its unique capacity to interact with its target without transferring heat to the area surrounding its mark. The intensity of the power gets the job done while the speed ensures heat does not spread. Results are clean cuts, strong welds and precision destruction of very small targets, such as cancer cells, with no injury to surrounding materials. Tzou hopes that the laser would essentially eliminate the need for harmful chemical therapy used in cancer treatments.“If we have a way to use the lasers to kill cancer cells without even touching the surrounding healthy cells, that is a tremendous benefit to the patient,” Tzou said. “Basically, the patient leaves the clinic immediately after treatment with no side effects or damage. The high precision and high efficiency of the UUL allows for immediate results.”
Practical applications of this type of laser also include, but aren’t limited to, the ability to create super-clean channels in a silicon chip. [Ed note: we can think of more applications later...] That process can allow doctors to analyze blood one cell at a time as cells flow through the channel. The laser can be used in surgery to make more precise incisions that heal faster and cause less collateral tissue damage. In dentistry, the laser can treat tooth decay without harming the rest of the tooth structure.
Associate Professor Yuwen Zhang and Professor Jinn-Kuen Chen recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to use the laser to “sinter” metal powders—turn them into a solid, yet porous, mass using heat but without massive liquefaction—a process which can help improve the bond between joint implants and bone.
“With the laser, we can melt a very thin strip around titanium micro- and nanoparticles and ultimately control the porosity of the bridge connecting the bone and the alloy,” Zhang said. “The procedure allows the particles to bond strongly, conforming to the two different surfaces.”
(hat tip: Gizmodo)
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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
KFH Novo Wound Healing Device Approved by EU
Kingfisher Medical just received the CE Mark of approval from the European Union to market its Novo wound healing device. The handheld unit delivers small levels of electric current when placed in proximity to the wound, and that supposedly speeds up ATP production and overall healing of tissue around the damaged area.
The following is from the company's pitch:
Attracting the right cells to the wound area e.g. keratinocytes (cells which make up 90% of the outer layer of skin called the epidermis) Stimulating fibroblast cells to activate wound healing Increasing the production of ATP, providing energy to restart tissue healing Increasing the blood and oxygen supply to wound beds
Product page...
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Tuesday, March 4, 2008
HistoMag, A Magnetometer for Cancer Cells
Investigators at the University College London developed a miniature magnetic device that is suppose to detect the presence of breast cancer cells labeled with magnetic nanoparticles. This technology, awarded a prestigious Brian Mercer Feasibility Award from the Royal Society, might improve the sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of not only breast but also other types of cancers:
“Each year 35,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK and the testing programme is a massive undertaking,” says Professor Quentin Pankhurst of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the UCL Department of Physics & Astronomy. “Until now, pathologists had to stain tissue samples with brown dyes to help them determine whether they were normal or cancerous. In terms of streamlining the process, the main problem is that all of the results are open to interpretation and each test has to be individually checked by a specialist.
“At UCL we’ve been working in the relatively new area of biomagnetics to develop a technique which provides more quantitative and reliable results, whilst also enabling pathologists to identify abnormal tissue sections much more quickly.
“Cancerous cells have a protein on their surface called HER2. We use a solution of HER2 antibodies, tagged with magnetic nanoparticles, to stain the tissue sample. Using the HistoMag we can detect the quantity of tagged antibodies which attach themselves to the HER2 protein, which in turn provides us with an accurate picture of the spread of cancerous cells.”
By automating the process through which cancerous cells are detected and quantified, HistoMag will not only ease the pressure on pathologists but also help to identify the 15-30% of patients who are likely to benefit from being treated with the drug Herceptin. At a cost of £30,000 per patient per annum it is essential to target Herceptin at those women who will respond positively to it.
The team, led by Professor Pankhurst and LCN systems engineer Simon Hattersley, works closely with Professor Kai Stoeber and Dr Keith Miller of the UCL Department of Pathology. They form one of only seven groups to receive a Brian Mercer Feasibility Award from the Royal Society this year. The £25,000 award will enable the team to re-engineer the HistoMag, increasing its sensitivity before it goes on to clinical trials. Their goal is to make the device generally available to pathologists in 2010.
UCL: Biomagnetics developed for use in new breast cancer tests...
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Monday, March 3, 2008
ActiveCare+SFT®: A Breath Synchronized DVT Prevention
ActiveCare+SFT® is a second generation DVT prevention device from Israeli company MCS Medical Compression Systems (DBN) Ltd., that features the firm's proprietary Synchronized Flow Technology (S.F.T.). The SFT synchronizes the device with the venous phasic flow of respiratory cycle for a supposedly better pumping of blood in lower extremities. The ActiveCare+SFT® been enrolled in the NIH-sponsored study that is evaluating the device's effectiveness against the enoxaparin low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) therapy in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA). At the upcoming annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Dr. Clifford Colwell Jr from Scripps Clinic in La Jolla will present encouraging preliminary results from the study, that demonstrate the device "to be noninferior to enoxaparin in reducing VTED with decreased bleeding after THA." The device has not yet been cleared for marketing in Europe or in the US.
More about the technology:
Synchronized Flow Technology (S.F.T.®) is a technology that enables the detection and monitoring of the respiratory related venous phasic flow. Once detected the technology will trigger compression on the vein so that it will be in phase with the venous phasic flow.Since the venous phasic flow is at its peak when the common femoral vein is open and flow is not disturbed by a descending diaphragm (such as when inhaling) this technology enhances the Peak Venous Velocity (PVV) generated by the device, to levels much higher than the SCD Express, current market leader.
It is well known within the field that the main benefit and clinical attribute of any compression system is the transformation of the sluggish venous flow associated with operative time and the weeks that follow, to a high pulsatile flow. As the amount of blood that is circulating in the legs is determined by the cardiac output and cannot be changed by the use of mechanical systems not synchronized to cardiac rhythm, the only real contribution of mechanical systems is the change of a sluggish flow to a healthy high pulsatile flow.
S.F.T.® technology helps to achieve exactly that objective while still exercising gentle pressure on the leg that does not impair patient tolerance of the treatment and overall compliance. Previous devices needed to exert an intolerable impact on the patients’ leg in an effort to increase PVV through fast inflation of the sleeve, thus impairing the compliance factor that is crucial to the success of the treatment.
Product page: ActiveCare+SFT...
Abstract: Thrombosis Prevention in Total Hip Arthroplasty: CECT vs LMWH...
Flashbacks: ActiveCare DVT®: Goes with Patient; Goes to Cleveland
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Friday, February 22, 2008
New Device to Track Organ Health
Research by Basque scientists has led to a patented device, which measures the electric impedance and temperature of organs before transplantation, and can supposedly provide guidance as to the health of the organs.
By means of a microelectrode that measures the impedance and temperature of the tissues, the system enables the state of any organ to be monitored from the moment of its extraction, during its transport, to the moment of the surgical operation to transplant it into a patient.The Ikerlan-IK4 device, designed in collaboration with the National Centre for Microtechnology (CNM-CSIC) and the Carburos Metálicos company and patented in conjunction with I2M Design S.A., uses a polymer substrate that represents a great advance in biomedical instrumentation, as it does not produce injury in the tissues during transport or surgical manoeuvres. It even opens a new way to control organ rejection, given that the microelectrode can remain implanted for a considerable time without causing injury.
The application has a number of prototypes already and has had clinical trials with organs of animals at Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic. Moreover, it is of particular interest for a process as delicate as an organ transplant, as it provides an objective indicator of the evolution of the organ in which, despite the conservation techniques used – whether with special liquids or in cold -, the duration of the viscera is highly limited (12 hours in the case of the kidney, eight for the liver and only four hours in the case of the heart). The device is used incorporated into a small electronic system which gathers and sends data by telemetry to an external system, enabling the verification of the state of the organ at all times.
Press release: Ikerlan-IK4 (CIC microGUNE Microfluidics Unit) patents device that measures optimum state of an organ prior to transplanting
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Monday, February 11, 2008
Qoustic Wound Therapy System™
Arobella Medical, LLC (Minneapolis, MN), just released its new Qoustic Wound Therapy System™ for low-frequency cavitational ultrasound wound cleaning, designed for debridement of wounds, and for maintenance or for preparation of wounds for other therapies, such as grafts and flaps.
The Qoustic Wound Therapy System removes harmful bacteria and biofilm and improves wound bed circulation. The system's unique, dome-shaped Qoustic Qurette(TM) vibrates at 35 kHz, converting electrical energy to ultrasound waves and focusing them intensively on the wound. Sterile saline solution transfers the ultrasonic energy to the wound, where tiny vibrating gas bubbles and cellular-level fluid movement separate dead and harmful cells from healthy tissue. As a result, dead and harmful cells are fragmented and destroyed, thus aiding in their easy removal with the edge of the Qoustic Qurette.The Qoustic Wound Therapy System is portable and can be used in many health care settings - including the bedside - by certified wound care specialists, including physicians, registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, physical therapists and podiatrists. The system reduces splash and aerosolization. It can reduce wound care costs in several ways: fast setup, no required disposables, short procedure times, effective procedures that reduce debridement frequency, efficient use of saline and fast cleanup.
Press release: Arobella Medical, LLC Launches Qoustic Wound Therapy System ...
Product page: Qoustic Wound Therapy System™ ...
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HepaLife Artificial Liver Shows Promise
HepaLife, a company out of Boston developing an artificial liver, has announced the latest positive results of tests of its proprietary PICM-19 cells inside the bioreactor that would, if it becomes a real product, function as an external liver.
In recent tests, HepaLife’s bioartificial liver reduced levels of toxic ammonia by 75% in fewer than 24 hours, a feature considered necessary to the successful treatment of acute liver failure using an artificial liver.According to researchers, biochemical improvement as a result of an artificial liver device treatment in clinical application is judged not only by the elimination of ammonia, but also by the production of urea. Importantly, HepaLife’s PICM-19 cells synthesized 80% of the ammonia present into urea, the normal pathway of ammonia reduction of the human liver. HepaLife’s PICM-19 cell line is the only known liver stem cell line of its kind with this ability to produce substantial amount of urea.
During these same tests HepaLife’s PICM-19 liver stem cells inside the Company’s bioartificial liver maintained differentiated hepatic (liver) function, showing typical hepatocyte morphology -- the characteristics representative of human liver cells -- including cell features such as intercellular canaliculi, extensive Golgi apparatus, endoplasmic reticulum, peroxisomes and mitochondria.
“The performance of our bioartificial liver device is exciting. The rate of ammonia reduction achieved mainly via the natural urea cycle is an important step towards successful clinical application,” continued Mr. Menzler. “Furthermore, the ability of our cells to produce substantial amounts of urea while maintaining liver-like function, and preserving liver cell-like characteristics, all clearly establish the superior performance of our PICM-19 cell line inside our bioartificial liver.”
Intended for the treatment of liver failure, the HepaLife™ Bioartificial Liver device consists of three basic components: (1) a plasma filter, separating the patients blood into blood plasma and blood cells; (2) the bioreactor, a unit filled with the patented PICM-19 liver stem cell line which biologically mimics the liver’s function; and (3), the HepaDrive™, a perfusion system for pumping the patient's plasma through the bioreactor while controlling gas supply and temperature for best possible performance of the cells.
Press release: HepaLife's Bioartificial Liver Dramatically Reduces Toxic Marker for Acute Liver Failure
Technology page: HepaLife Artificial Liver ...