Cardiology
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a new device to cultivate and test both atrial and ventricular cardiac tissue in the lab. The device, called Biowire II, consists of two elastic polymer wires which are positioned three millimeters apart, with a small band of cardiac tissue grown between them. A "training" regimen using electrical pulse stimulation is then applied for approximately six weeks, which promotes cardiac maturation and makes it more analogous to true tissue. As the tissue contracts, bending of the elastic polymer wires allows researchers to...
HemaShock Auto-Transfusion Tourniquet to Save Lives from Heart Attacks and Severe Bleeding
February 19th, 2019 by Editors
Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current methods are paintful and can be difficult to administer, while trapping lots of blood within the legs, as with conventional tourniquets. A new device from OHK Medical Devices, an Israeli company, is designed to make it easier and faster to restrict blood flow to the arms and legs. The HemaShock is a tight silicone ring attached to a pressure stocking. It comes wrapped into...
Babies born prematurely often have a poorly developed sucking reflex, leaving them struggling to eat. A device called a Pacifier-Activated Lullaby (PAL) is now being tested at the UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital to see whether it can teach preemies to suck for milk through a bit of gentle behavioral modification. Babies love lullabies, and it is hoped that they love them so much that they'll work for them. The PAL is a pacifier that can detect whether a baby is sucking on it, and in turn the baby gets to hear...
QTrobot Enhances Learning Opportunities For Children With Autism
February 18th, 2019 by Kenan Raddawi
QTrobot, pronounced “cutie robot,” was developed by the Luxembourgian company LuxAI and introduced to early adopters back in 2018. It is a expressive and engaging humanoid robot designed to assist in teaching autistic children essential social skills. One may think: "How can a robot help in the management of a condition characterized by impaired social interaction and limited human communication?" As it turns out, children with autism, like most other children, love to play with robots. Studies have indicated that robots might be specifically advantageous in helping children with autism...
Detecting bacterial infestations within the GI system, particularly using low cost methods, takes so much time that treatment is often administered too late. Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a particular nasty nuisance that kills many frail patients, and even with a hospital lab it can take up to two days to get the results. Researchers at Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) have developed fluorescent microrobots that can spot C. diff in a stool sample within a matter of minutes without relying on expensive laboratory equipment. The technology relies on fungi spore-inspired microrobots that...
Exhaled breath is rich in biomarkers that can point to the presence of disease. In particular, ethanol, acetone, and isopropanol can point to the presence of lung cancer, so having a way of measuring these chemicals in breath might provide a way to diagnose lung cancers or to screen for them. Current methods of measuring exhaled biomarkers are prone to inaccuracies due to the humidity of exhaled breath, difficulty of calibrating such systems, and the presence of multiple analytes within breath. Researchers at University of Exeter have now shown that...
Tandem's t:slim X2 Insulin Pump Classified as First Alternate Controller Enabled Infusion Pump
February 15th, 2019 by Editors
Tandem Diabetes received a brand new classification from the FDA for its t:slim X2 insulin pump. The device is the first in a category known as Alternate Controller Enabled Infusion Pumps (ACE pumps). According to the company, the associated indication is that the pump is "able to reliably and securely communicate with compatible, digitally connected devices, including automated insulin dosing software, to receive, execute, and confirm commands from these devices." “This new classification of the t:slim X2 pump provides more flexibility for us as we make improvements to current products, create...
Custom Tuned Hearing Aids from Comfort of Home: Interview with Adam Karp and Dr. Harvey Abrams of Lively
February 14th, 2019 by Conn Hastings
Lively, a New York-based hearing aid provider, has recently announced their online platform for customers to take virtual hearing tests, purchase hearing aids, and receive videocall support from doctors to fine-tune their hearing aids. The platform represents a telemedicine solution for the hearing-impaired, and allows people to receive treatment for their hearing loss from the comfort of their own home. The company reports that 35 million Americans suffer hearing loss, and over 85% of these are untreated. Lively aims to make it easier for people to access treatment for their...
Vapotherm Releases Latest Precision Flow Hi-VNI Mask-Free Ventilation System
February 14th, 2019 by Editors
Vapotherm, a company based in New Hampshire, has released the latest version of its Precision Flow Hi-VNI system. The system is used to deliver non-invasive ventilation to spontaneously breathing patients using the company's Mask-Free NIV technology. The latest version of the system features updated hardware and software, which purportedly improves on reliability and "to comply with the EMC 4th Edition requirements for medical devices, IEC 60601-1-2:2014," according to a Vapotherm press release. Precision Flow Hi-VNI uses a nasal cannula, instead of a face mask, to deliver warm, humidified gas at high velocity to...
While there are wearable monitors that measure a person's respiration rate, they can't track the volume of air that a patient inspires. For people with asthma and other lung conditions, this is an important indicator that can be used to assess the patient's status. Engineers at University of California, Irvine have now developed a cheap and easy to use respiration monitor based on Shrinky Dinks, a popular children's craft toy. It consists of two piezo-resistive sensors that are stuck around the ribs and abdomen, and which measure the strain on the tissues...
Powered prosthetic devices need a great deal of electricity to energize them throughout the day. Researchers at the University of Glasgow in Scotland have developed a combination electronic "skin" that can generate and store electricity for prosthetic devices. The technology consists of layers of a finely tuned graphite-polyurethane composite covered by graphene, a material only one carbon atom in thickness. The graphite-polyurethane works as an electric supercapacitor, storing energy that can be used at any time by a prosthetic. The graphene component is essentially a solar panel that converts sunlight...
Operative repairs of emergency type A aortic dissections require serious surgical skills and a complicated decision making process. Ascyrus Medical, a company based out of Boca Raton, Florida, just won the European CE Mark to introduce its stenting system that works as an adjunct to the current surgical repair. According to the company, its Ascyrus Medical Dissection Stent (AMDS) “... is an arch remodeling hybrid graft designed as an adjunct to the current surgical reconstruction. The AMDS helps reduce the risk of complications and reoperations by treating malperfusion and stabilizing...
Medicine
HemaShock Auto-Transfusion Tourniquet to Save Lives from Heart Attacks and Severe Bleeding
Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current...
February 19th, 2019
Microrobots Take Minutes to Detect C. diff in Stool Samples
Detecting bacterial infestations within the GI system, particularly using low cost methods, takes so much time that treatment is often administered too...
February 15th, 2019
Tandem's t:slim X2 Insulin Pump Classified as First Alternate Controller Enabled Infusion Pump
Tandem Diabetes received a brand new classification from the FDA for its t:slim X2 insulin pump. The device is the first in a category known as Alternate Controller...
February 15th, 2019
Cardiology
Biowire II Allows for More Accurate Testing of Cardiac Tissue
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a new device to cultivate and test both atrial and ventricular cardiac tissue in the lab. The device, called...
February 19th, 2019
HemaShock Auto-Transfusion Tourniquet to Save Lives from Heart Attacks and Severe Bleeding
Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current...
February 19th, 2019
Vapotherm Releases Latest Precision Flow Hi-VNI Mask-Free Ventilation System
Vapotherm, a company based in New Hampshire, has released the latest version of its Precision Flow Hi-VNI system. The system is used to deliver non-invasive...
February 14th, 2019
Surgery
HemaShock Auto-Transfusion Tourniquet to Save Lives from Heart Attacks and Severe Bleeding
Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current...
February 19th, 2019
Digital Thermography and Machine Learning Team Up to Improve Burn Wound Care
A team at McGill University in Canada and the Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi in Mexico have developed a system for analyzing thermographic scans of burn...
February 7th, 2019
Crescent Vision Dual-Camera Headband for Surgeons: CES 2019
Many surgical procedures are difficult to teach in practice because few people can gather around an operating table. Particularly with highly detailed surgeries,...
January 23rd, 2019
Emergency Medicine
HemaShock Auto-Transfusion Tourniquet to Save Lives from Heart Attacks and Severe Bleeding
Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current...
February 19th, 2019
what3words Addressing System for Medical Uses: Interview at CES 2019
Modern medicine relies a great deal on advanced technologies, but some of these technologies introduce new complications and existing systems muddy the waters...
January 9th, 2019
Argos Cardiac Output Monitor Now Available in U.S.
Retia Medical, out of Valhalla, New York, won FDA clearance and is making available in the U.S. its Argos Cardiac Output Monitor. For use in the OR and ICU, the...
December 17th, 2018
Radiology
Pipeline Flex Embolization Device Approved for Small and Medium Brain Aneurysms
Medtronic won FDA approval for its Pipeline Flex embolization device to be used on patients with small or medium wide-necked brain aneurysms anywhere between the...
February 8th, 2019
Siemens Healthineers Powerful MAGNETOM Lumina 3 Tesla MRI Cleared by FDA
Siemens Healthineers won clearance from the FDA to introduce its MAGNETOM Lumina 3 Tesla MRI scanner in the United States. The device features a large 70 cm bore,...
January 30th, 2019
Cook Medical's Zenith Dissection Endovascular Stent for Aortic Tears FDA Approved
The FDA has given approval to Cook Medical's Zenith Dissection Endovascular Stent for treatment of symptomatic aortic dissection distal to the left subclavian...
January 30th, 2019
Anesthesiology
MightySat Rx Cleared by FDA to Measure Breathing Rate from Fingertip
Masimo won FDA clearance for its MightySat Rx fingertip pulse oximeter to be used to spot check the respiration rate. A similar clearance was issued by the European...
January 30th, 2019
Electronic Headband for Drug-Free Motion Sickness Therapy
Motion sickness can be a debilitating condition for many people, preventing them from traveling and engaging in various activities such as sailing. There are a few...
December 18th, 2018
Argos Cardiac Output Monitor Now Available in U.S.
Retia Medical, out of Valhalla, New York, won FDA clearance and is making available in the U.S. its Argos Cardiac Output Monitor. For use in the OR and ICU, the...
December 17th, 2018
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