Pathology
Nanolive, a spinoff company of École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, has just introduced a holographic microscope that can image live cells at high resolution over extended time periods. Nanolive's CX-A device relies on a low energy light beam to penetrate the sample, which does not interfere with internal cell activity. At every exposure, the system creates a 3D dataset of the sample, down to resolutions below 200 nanometers, which it can do repeatedly for hours at a time. Since entire 96-well plates can be imaged by the...
Chemo Tester Identifies Which Formulation Works for Each Patient
July 17th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Chemotherapy is challenging for patients, as it can be terribly brutal on their bodies, but also for physicians trying to figure out which medication to deliver. Now, a new device has been developed at Rutgers University that can test whether a given chemo agent works on a patient's specific tumor. The idea is that a tumor biopsy is used to seed the device. Chemo agents are then added to see whether they kill the patient's tumor cells. This is measured using a special biosensor that relies on multifrequency impedance spectroscopy...
Dysfunction of the pancreas is related to a number of diseases, most famously diabetes. Conditions such as cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (CFRD), are particularly difficult to study in a laboratory setting, but researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center have now developed a device, and an accompanying methodology, to mimic the functionality of the human pancreas. The technology is already being used to answer important questions about how CFRD comes about and will certainly help in solving other medical mysteries. The team's microfluidic device has two chambers separated by a porous...
New Nanoparticles to Stop Growth of HER2-Positive Breast Cancer
July 17th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2) is a protein that is associated with some particularly aggressive forms of breast cancer. The presence of high concentrations of this protein seems to lead to the growth of tumors, so inactivating HER2 may help to stop the spread of certain strains of cancer in the body. An existing technique involves introducing an antibody that can block HER2 from binding to other things, but now researchers at Nanjing University in China have developed a polymer nanoparticle that can bind to HER2 just as...
ProFound AI for 2D Mammography Cleared in Europe to Spot Potential Breast Tumors
July 16th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
iCAD, a company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, won European CE Mark approval for its ProFound AI for 2D Mammography software system. The product relies on a "high-functioning, deep learning" artificial intelligence algorithm to analyze 2D mammography scans and point out potential areas of concern. The software package provides "Certainty of Finding" and "Case Scores" for each instance of a suspect lesion that it identifies, helping radiologists better focus on what's important while quickening and improving the quality of diagnosis. The system works by noticing slight changes in soft tissue...
INSIGHTEC Neuro with GE 3 Tesla MRI Now Approved in U.S., Europe
July 16th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
INSIGHTEC, an Israeli firm, and GE Healthcare have won FDA approval and the European CE mark for the Exablate Neuro with the SIGNA Premier MRI. The Exablate Neuro, made by INSIGHTEC, delivers focused ultrasound into the brain as a treatment option for tremor dominant Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and neuropathic pain (the last indication appropriate only to Europe). This gives clinicians the ability to treat patients without penetrating the scalp and brain. The SIGNA Premier MRI, a 3.0 Tesla scanner from GE Healthcare, is used prior to the procedure to...
The development of new drugs is a long and tedious process. Chemists come up with new libraries of molecules which biologists test to see whether these generate some kind of cellular response. Promising agents become models for further chemical development, and the process continues repeatedly until promising candidates for animal trials are found. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany have now developed a chip that allows scientists to perform chemical synthesis and immediately follow up by testing the resulting compounds on live cells. The technology is fast...
Centerline's Radiation-Free IOPS System for Minimally Invasive Procedures
July 15th, 2019 by Medgadget Editors
Centerline Biomedical, a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, landed FDA clearance for its Intra-Operative Positioning System (IOPS). The product provides physicians with a radiation-free way to navigate through vasculature during minimally invasive procedures. Currently, X-ray fluoroscopy is used to track where minimally invasive instruments are in a patient's body. Danger results from ionizing radiation, but also from the low-resolution 2D grayscale images that clinicians have to work with. These can make it challenging to understand the location and position of instruments, often leading to long procedures, difficulty completing them, or...
Potrero Medical Receives CE Mark for the Accuryn® Monitoring System.
July 15th, 2019 by Potrero Medical
The company received its FDA clearance in 2016 when it transformed the traditional urinary catheter into a smart sensing platform that helps to accurately monitor vital signs in real-time, such as urine output (UO) and intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Traditional urinary catheters have issues draining urine from the bladder, causing inaccurate UO measurements. Using active drain line clearance, the Accuryn® Monitoring System automatically clears the drainage line as needed. Hayward, California - July 15, 2019 – Potrero Medical has received CE mark in the European Union for its technology platform, the...
Lipid Nanoparticles Deliver CRISPR/Cas9 into Organs with High Efficiency
July 15th, 2019 by Conn Hastings
Researchers at Tufts University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new lipid nanoparticle which can deliver CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools into organs with high efficiency, suggesting that the system is promising for clinical applications. The CRISPR/Cas9 system is currently being investigated as a way to treat a variety of diseases with a genetic basis, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Huntington’s, and sickle cell disease. While the system has significant promise, there are some issues that need to be resolved before it can be used clinically. CRISPR/Cas9 is a...
Researchers from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed new nanoparticles for theranostic (therapeutic and diagnostic) applications. Their work describes the synthesis of these particles and demonstrates that by stimulating at a long, safe wavelength, the nanoparticles can cleave bonds that hold onto drugs and release them into the body. This is an exciting development for the field of nanomedicine, and may one day lead to improved detection and treatment of many diseases, including cancer. Nanoparticles have been developed in the past for theranostic applications, but they tended...
Carbon Dioxide-Based Cancer Cryoablation Probe for Low-Resource Regions
July 15th, 2019 by Conn Hastings
Undergraduate researchers at John Hopkins University have developed a cryoablation probe for breast cancer, which uses carbon dioxide instead of argon, making it more affordable and accessible for use in low resource regions. Treatments for women with breast cancer are scarce in poorer places. In fact, survival rates can be as low as 12% for breast cancer patients in places such as The Gambia, compared with 90% in the United States. Treatments that are commonly used in wealthier countries, such as surgery or chemotherapy, are either too expensive or...
Medicine
Low Power Network for Wireless Body Sensors
As wearable devices multiply and gather ever more data about our bodies, the batteries and wireless networks they rely on can become strained. To give wearables a...
July 19th, 2019
Looking Deep Into Body Using Virtual Ultrasound Lens
Light is a great tool for imaging the outside of the body and for looking at the interior using endoscopes, but looking through more than a few millimeters of...
July 19th, 2019
Withings Releases Two Fashionable Wireless Blood Pressure Monitors
Withings is releasing two new wireless blood pressure monitors, the BPM Core and BPM Connect, one of which is a bit more than just a BP cuff. As always, the French...
July 18th, 2019
Cardiology
Low Power Network for Wireless Body Sensors
As wearable devices multiply and gather ever more data about our bodies, the batteries and wireless networks they rely on can become strained. To give wearables a...
July 19th, 2019
Withings Releases Two Fashionable Wireless Blood Pressure Monitors
Withings is releasing two new wireless blood pressure monitors, the BPM Core and BPM Connect, one of which is a bit more than just a BP cuff. As always, the French...
July 18th, 2019
Centerline's Radiation-Free IOPS System for Minimally Invasive Procedures
Centerline Biomedical, a company based in Cleveland, Ohio, landed FDA clearance for its Intra-Operative Positioning System (IOPS). The product provides physicians...
July 15th, 2019
Surgery
New Nanoparticles Help Spinal Cords to Heal Following Injury
When people damage their spinal cords, a lot of the long-term consequences often stem from the body's overreaction to the injury. That's because the blood-brain...
July 19th, 2019
Chemo Tester Identifies Which Formulation Works for Each Patient
Chemotherapy is challenging for patients, as it can be terribly brutal on their bodies, but also for physicians trying to figure out which medication to deliver....
July 17th, 2019
ProFound AI for 2D Mammography Cleared in Europe to Spot Potential Breast Tumors
iCAD, a company based in Nashua, New Hampshire, won European CE Mark approval for its ProFound AI for 2D Mammography software system.
The product relies on...
July 16th, 2019
Emergency Medicine
Low Cost Medical Devices for Low-Resource Regions: Interview with Prof. Saad Bhamla, Georgia Tech
Advances in medical technology continue apace, with sophisticated new medical devices and therapies becoming available on an ongoing basis. However, medical...
July 1st, 2019
Canon Releases Aplio a-series Budget Ultrasounds
Canon Medical is releasing a new line of ultrasounds, called the Aplio a-series. Presented at this year's American Society of Echocardiography's annual meeting, the...
June 26th, 2019
AI System Can Identify Cardiac Arrest by Listening to Breathing
Researchers at the University of Washington have used machine learning to teach an AI system to identify when someone is having a cardiac arrest. The system learned...
June 20th, 2019
Radiology
CompCyst Tool Developed to Identify Precancerous Cysts
Researchers from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a new computational and biomolecular tool, dubbed CompCyst, that can identify precancerous...
July 22nd, 2019
Penumbra Unveils JET 7 with XTRA FLEX Mechanical Stroke Remover
Penumbra is releasing a new stroke thrombectomy aspiration system at the Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery 16th Annual Meeting in Miami. The Penumbra JET 7...
July 22nd, 2019
Looking Deep Into Body Using Virtual Ultrasound Lens
Light is a great tool for imaging the outside of the body and for looking at the interior using endoscopes, but looking through more than a few millimeters of...
July 19th, 2019
Anesthesiology
Potrero Medical Receives CE Mark for the Accuryn® Monitoring System.
The company received its FDA clearance in
2016 when it
transformed the traditional urinary catheter into a smart sensing platform that
helps to accurately monitor...
July 15th, 2019
Radiation-Free Guidance for Vascular Catheters Using Smart Fiber Optics
While modern catheters can reach into various parts of the body, navigating there remains a major challenge. Fluoroscopes that emit X-rays are used to constantly...
July 2nd, 2019
Canon Releases Aplio a-series Budget Ultrasounds
Canon Medical is releasing a new line of ultrasounds, called the Aplio a-series. Presented at this year's American Society of Echocardiography's annual meeting, the...
June 26th, 2019
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