A team of researchers in South Korea has developed a soft electronic contact lens capable of measuring glucose and intraocular pressure, a development that may help diabetes and glaucoma patients monitor their conditions. There have been previous attempts by ambitious companies and universities to do so in the past, but the results were not very [& (Read more...)
Author: Medgadged
Exclusive Interview with Dr. David Rhew, Chief Medical Officer of Samsung Electronics America
During our time at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, we noted that large firms, previously known for their consumer products and services, are jumping into the healthcare space. Samsung may be the best example of this, as over the past few years it has expanded its offerings to include even high-end ultrasound machines. We had […]
Broadcasting Surgeries With Ease: Interview with B-Hive Co-Creator Steven Thekan
A great deal of advanced medical training involves witnessing surgeries and listening to the guidance, suggestions, and recommendations of the people performing them. Typically, this is done on-site, which often involves costly travel expenses plus a lot of time wasted simply getting to the lesson. There are alternatives available, such as hiring a (Read more...)
Applications Open for 2018 Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition Sponsored by Boston Scientific
Applications are open for the 2018 Johns Hopkins Healthcare Design Competition facilitated by the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design (CBID) and sponsored by Boston Scientific. The competition is open to all student-led design teams from around the world developing innovative health-related solutions. The competition includes three trac (Read more...)
Willow, a Wearable Breast Pump (CES 2018)
What you see is what you get. This sleek wearable breast pump from Willow, a Mountain View, CA-based company is an autonomous unit designed to pump and collect breast milk. There are no wires or any other external components. The milk is collected in a specially designed bag that fits inside the unit. The bag […]
Medically Home Wants to Shift Advanced Medical Care from Hospital to Home (CES 2018)
Healthcare is evolving and even where clinical care is delivered is changing. Fifty years ago, patients stayed in the hospital for weeks after an appendectomy. Today they go home the same or the next day. Some patients nowadays stay due to common problems: for DVT prophylaxis after surgery, for physical therapy, for antibiotics and serial [… (Read more...)
3M Wants to Make Medical Adhesive Selection a Simpler Process for Design Engineers (CES 2018)
It was remarkable to observe at CES 2018 how many wearable devices have been developed for health and lifestyle applications. Many of these devices use adhesives to stick to people’s skin, sometimes for an hour, sometimes for a day, or even a week or longer. Also, there are developers out there that want implantable devices […]
Biomeme’s Portable PCR System Expands Research Possibilities
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most widely used techniques in biological research and testing, allowing researchers to amplify and identify even small quantities of DNA or RNA. It serves a wide variety of uses, from genetic testing to infectious disease identification to forensics. Thermal cyclers, the machines that run PCR, are a [& (Read more...)
Cynosure’s TempSure Envi Released to Improve Skin Aesthetics
Cynosure, now a part of Hologic, is releasing a radiofrequency system for performing aesthetic procedure on the skin, including for reduction of wrinkles and other facial lines, tightening of skin by coagulating soft tissue, and making cellulite look more attractive than its natural self. The system is already FDA cleared. The TempSure Envi device (Read more...)
Mira, the Home-Use Quantitative Hormone-based Fertility Tracking Device (CES 2018)
Mira is a new compact ovulation predictor device from Mira, a Pleasanton, CA firm, that is based on a fluorescent immunoassay test with 99% accuracy at detecting the Luteinizing hormone (LH), which peaks just before ovulation. At CES 2018 we had a chance to check out the device and talk to co-founded Dr. Zheng Yang, […]
QuickSee Autorefractor to Help Prescribe Glasses in Poor and Remote Areas
Eyeglasses have gotten pretty cheap over the decades, but the process of obtaining a prescription is still too expensive for many people around the world. One reason for the high cost of prescriptions is the expense, and size, of traditional autorefractors. These devices are bulky, and so can’t be easily transported between places lacking pro (Read more...)
High Tech Solution to Inhaler Compliance: Interview with Arik Anderson, CEO of Adherium
Patients taking inhaled medications, particularly those with asthma, have to comply with the prescribed regimen in order to achieve optimal results. As anyone in medical practice knows, medication compliance among patients can be remarkably low. Adherium, a company based in Auckland, New Zealand, has come up with technology to tackle this issue for (Read more...)
Philips Releases Its Latest Patient Monitoring Solution in U.S.
Philips is releasing its latest Patient Monitoring solution in the U.S., a product designed to help hospitals keep track of patient monitor data as they move from one clinical area to another. The offering revolves around the company’s IntelliVue X3 transport monitor and it allows clinicians to easily combine all the data gathered i (Read more...)
Advisor HD Grid Mapping Catheter, Sensor Enabled, Cleared in Europe to Map Cardiac Arrhythmias
Abbott has announced that its Advisor HD Grid Mapping Catheter, Sensor Enabled, landed CE Mark approval in Europe. The device is used to track down sources of difficult to diagnose cardiac arrhythmias in order to locate targets for therapeutic ablation procedures. It relies on both electrical impedance and magnetic sensing to map out the heart (Read more...)
International Biophysics FloPump 32 Centrifugal Disposable Heart Pump FDA Cleared
International Biophysics, a firm out of Austin, Texas, won FDA clearance for its FloPump 32 centrifugal disposable heart pump. The device is designed to be powered by the Maquet ROTAFLOW console, which can be used as a stand along unit or a part of a heart-lung machine. The new pump won the CE Mark approval in […]
Biodegradable Pressure Sensor Doesn’t Need to be Removed After Implantation
Researchers at the University of Connecticut have developed a biodegradable pressure sensor that can be implanted in the body and help clinicians to monitor a variety of conditions over extended periods of time. What makes this sensor different from existing ones is that it doesn’t need to be removed and will eventually dissolve in the [&hell (Read more...)
New Device Combines Different Ophthalmology Equipment Into Single Instrument
Patients receiving comprehensive eye exams have to go from one imaging device to another in order to properly assess their vision. In addition to the hassle, there are costs associated with maintaining and housing multiple pieces of equipment of which only one is usually used at any one time in a typical ophthalmology office. Now […]
Cryogenic 3D Printing to Make Replica Brain and Lung Tissues
Printing biological tissues, a necessary precursor to creating replacement organs, is not easy, but constructing extremely soft and fragile tissues that resemble the brain and lungs is even more difficult. Researchers at Imperial College London and Kings College London are now using extremely cold temperatures in combination with 3D printing to cre (Read more...)
X-Ray Pill for Colon Cancer Screening: C-Scan System Cleared in Europe
Traditional colonoscopies that are used to screen patients for presence of colon cancer can be physically unpleasant, much too invasive, and require diets and laxatives that leave patients feeling empty and exhausted. A new option, in the form of a pill that emits X-rays to image the colon, has just been cleared by European regulators […]
Corti Intelligent Assistant Helps Emergency Dispatchers Diagnose, Triage Callers
Artificial intelligence is a popular buzz term in medicine these day. While there’s a lot of simple things pretending to be smart, there are also some pretty impressive AI applications that can be very useful. Thanks to Fast Company, we learned of Corti, an AI assistant that listens to calls to emergency services (911) and […]