Radiation dosimeters are commonly used by clinicians working around CT scanners, fluoroscopes, radiotherapy systems, and other equipment. Typically, after wearing one for a month or so, the detector is sent to the manufacturer and the results come about a week or two later, though real-time smart counters are coming out. All these counters are also (Read more...)
Author: Medgadged
Drowning in Drugs: An Interview with Carnegie Mellon’s Diane Nelson
One of the most engaging areas of research these days is improving drug delivery. Here at Medgadget, we often share news about technological advances in nanomedicine that promise improved delivery to tumor sites, or newly designed gadgets that increase drug delivering efficacy. Rarely do we hear about attempts to improve drug delivery in the lungs. (Read more...)
This Device Helps Improve Accuracy of Dialysis Catheter Placement
Patients on hemodialysis have to undergo vascular access procedures, typically arteriovenous fistulas or arteriovenous grafts. Some, though, are limited to tunneled cuffed catheters due to heart failure or poor cardiac reserve. Properly placing tunneled cuffed catheters can be challenging and failures can lead to serious complications such as (Read more...)
Automation of Patch Clamp Technique to Speed Brain Studies
The patch clamp technique, for which the 1991 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded, is widely used to study the electrical activity of individual cells. It is particularly useful in neuroscience because electricity is the language through which neurons communicate. But it is slow and tedious since it requires a trained specialist to [& (Read more...)
Virtual Reality and Neural Stimulation to Help Amputees Use Their Prostheses
Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland have developed a new technique to help amputees use their prostheses. The method involves virtual reality and neural stimulation to help change an amputee’s “phantom limb” to more closely match their prosthetic limb, making it easier and more (Read more...)
Flexible and Conductive Mesh for Implantable and Wearable Bioelectronics
Researchers at the Institute of Basic Science in South Korea have developed a highly stretchable bioelectronic mesh patch which can monitor electrophysiological signals, such as heart muscle electrical activity, and can apply electrical and thermal stimulation for therapeutic purposes. The mesh can be implanted, such as around the heart, or can be (Read more...)
BioSig PURE EP High Resolution Electrophysiology System Cleared in United States
BioSig Technologies, out of Los Angeles, California, won FDA clearance for its novel PURE EP, a system for gathering, analyzing, and manipulating electrocardiographic and intracardiac data during electrophysiology procedures. The company believes that its system can provide a more detailed and nuanced view of the heart during ablation procedures wh (Read more...)
GN Hearing Unveils ReSound LiNX Quattro Advanced Hearing Aid
GN Hearing, a company that makes audio technology that appears under names such as Beltone, Interton, and Jabra, just announced new hearing aid called ReSound LiNX Quattro. The firm describes it as “the world’s first Premium-Plus hearing aid,” delivering what it believes is the best sound quality and speech intelligibility availab (Read more...)
Healthcare Blockchain Startup Coral Health Announces Health Records App and Upcoming Token Sale (Interview)
Earlier this year Medgadget spoke with Coral Health about the company’s vision to create a more connected future in healthcare by leveraging blockchain technology. At the time, Coral Health COO Philip Parker commented that, “While EHRs have made record sharing possible, sharing has remained laborious and it wasn’t until the F (Read more...)
Actisound Intense Therapeutic Ultrasound Device Cleared in Europe
Guided Therapy Systems, based in Mesa, Arizona, landed EU CE mark approval (via Ardent Sound Inc., Guided’s partner and manufacturer) for the Actisound Intense Therapeutic Ultrasound device. It’s intended to help recover from a variety of injuries and chronic pain resulting from internal soft tissues. The device is used to create s (Read more...)
Surgical VR Firm Osso VR Launches Collaborative Training Tool: Exclusive With CEO Dr. Justin Barad
Osso VR, a leading virtual reality (VR) surgical training technology company, has recently announced the launch of its collaborative training feature that allows multiple surgeons to train together in a single immersive VR space. The option to train collaboratively offers improved learning opportunities for surgeons and the surgical teams regardles (Read more...)
Hailie Inhaler Monitoring System Now Available Direct to Consumers
Adherium, a Silicon Valley firm, is releasing its Hailie system for inhaler monitoring in the United States. The company received FDA clearance to sell the product over the counter, allowing patients to work toward improved compliance with regards to their medications. The system includes a sensor that is attached to an inhaler and a smartphone [&h (Read more...)
Hospital Introducing HoloLens Augmented Reality into the Operating Room
Alder Hey, an important children’s hospital in Liverpool, England, is working on integrating Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality technology into its operating theaters. The HoloLens is a headset that is able to overlay digital images onto a person’s field of view, essentially mixing virtual reality with the real world. The hospita (Read more...)
3D Printed Silicone and Stem Cell Implant to Treat Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are notorious for the disabilities they cause and for the difficulty of finding a way to fix them. At the University of Minnesota researchers are pointing to a potential solution in the form of 3D printed scaffolds seeded with neuronal stem cells. The team has already created a prototype device, made of […]
Artificial Intelligence Optimizes Chemo and Radiotherapy to Treat Glioblastomas
Patients with glioblastoma, a persistent and difficult to treat brain cancer, often end up suffering through multiple rounds of chemo and radiation therapy. Scientists at MIT have been working on harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to better optimize the therapy dosages, sparing the patients the brunt of the treatments while maintaining (Read more...)
Shift Labs Announces Partnership with Option Care Enterprises for National Use of DripAssist
DripAssist by Shift Labs is an infusion rate monitor that offers a significant improvement in portability, efficiency, durability and ease of use over traditional infusion monitors. The last time Medgadget reported on Shift Labs, the company had just received their CE mark for DripAssist. The device is also FDA approved. Now, Shift Labs is ann (Read more...)
Highly Sensitive Electronic Skin Detects Touch and Temperature Changes
The University of Texas at Arlington has obtained a patent for a highly sensitive electronic skin that may one day give prosthetic devices a keen sense of touch. The e-skin features a dense forest of flexible zinc oxide nanowires on its surface. As it comes in contact with something, each nanowire generates a small electric […]
First Patient Receives Medtronic’s Extravascular Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator
A pilot study is getting underway to evaluate a new Medtronic implantable cardioverter defibrillator that doesn’t require leads to be placed inside the heart or veins. The Extravascular Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (EV ICD) system can deliver defibrillation shocks as well as pacing signals to the heart, but it uses only a singl (Read more...)
Genotype-Specific Microparticle Treatment for Brain Cancer
Researchers from Harvard and MIT have developed microparticles that can treat a specific genetic subtype of glioma, a brain cancer. The microparticles slowly release a drug that specifically targets cancer cells that rely on a particular enzyme. During surgery to remove the brain tumor, clinicians can conduct a rapid (30 min) genetic test on a [&he (Read more...)
New Device for Testing Immunotherapies on Tumor Fragments
Immuno-oncology, a rapidly developing field that harnesses the body’s immune system to attack cancers, lacks effective methods of testing potential therapies. In addition to animal studies, tiny bits of tumors are placed, along with chemical compounds being tested, within multiwell plates and watched over using a number of techniques. While t (Read more...)