ABBOTT, having recently purchased St. Jude Medical, is already reaping rewards. The FDA has issued MR-conditional labeling for the Assurity MRI pacemaker and the matching Tendril MRI lead. This makes the Assurity MRI concurrently the smallest pacemaker (6mm thick) and one with the longest lifetime (10 years) of any wireless pacemaker (Read more...)
Author: Medgadged
CE Mark Approval for Shift Labs’ DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor
Three months ago we sat down with Dr. Beth Kolko, CEO of Shift Labs, to learn more about DripAssist Infusion Rate Monitor, a device that automates the calculation of IV infusion drip rates and total infusion volumes while also being able to alert a nurse when a drip rate changes or stops. At that time, […]
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Carbon Nanotubes as X-ray Contrast Agents to Track Stem Cells Inside Body
Researchers at Rice University have come up with a better X-ray contrast agent, which may allow for very precise tracking of cells, biomolecules, and other particles within the body. In particular, the researchers believe that seeing whether stem cells are moving towards and healing diseased tissue will be one of the first important applications fo (Read more...)
Biomimetic Artificial Skin Layer with Significant Temperature Sensitivity (VIDEO)
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed a material that can sense changes in temperature with more sensitivity than human skin. The team discovered that flexible films made from pectin demonstrate an electrical response, caused by the release of calcium ions, follo (Read more...)
A Breathalyzer to Detect Inflammatory Signs of Influenza Infection
Detecting diseases non-invasively by sampling exhaled breath is a growing field. Previously, we featured Owlstone Medical, who have developed breath sampling devices to store breath samples for later analysis along with an integrated unit for the detection of lung cancer biomarkers. Recent research on breath testing has suggested that viral in (Read more...)
Hologic Unveils NovaSure ADVANCED for Treatment of Abnormal Uterine Bleeding
Hologic is launching its NovaSure ADVANCED global endometrial ablation (GEA) system in the U.S. It’s designed to treat abnormal uterine bleeding by ablating the endometrium, using RF energy. The device is narrower than the previously available NovaSure system, having only a 6 mm diameter shaft vs 8 mm, which should help wi (Read more...)
Gore VIABAHN VBX Balloon Expandable Stent Graft First to Get FDA Approval for Iliac Arteries
Gore won FDA approval for its VIABAHN VBX endoprosthesis to be used in the iliac arteries, making it the only balloon expandable stent graft having such an indication. It can be used on new or restenotic lesions within the iliac, including at the aortic bifurcation. Previously, vascular surgeons were only able to do such procedures […]
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CardioInsight ECG Vest for Non-Invasive, Precise Heart Maps
Medtronic landed FDA clearance for its CardioInsight 3D cardiac mapping system that’s used to locate sources of arrhythmias. The system consists of an ECG vest with a whopping 252 electrodes. It’s used to collect highly detailed skin surface electric signal data while the patient is inside a CT scanner. This data is overlaid onto t (Read more...)
BIOTRONIK’s New Personalizable and Energy Efficient CRTs
BIOTRONIK is releasing a new line of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implants, the Ilivia series, that are designed to improve patient response to the therapy and make it customizable for individual needs. The devices are compatible under MRI and feature the company’s MRI AutoDetect capability that automatically switches the devices t (Read more...)
SkinGun Investigational Therapy for Burns Uses Patients’ Own Stem Cells for Healing
RenovaCare, a company based in New York City, is seeking FDA approval for the SkinGun, a device to treat burns using a patient’s own stem cells. Significant portions of skin can be destroyed in burn injuries, meaning that regenerative therapy is required to restore or replace the injured tissue. Current treatments for burns involve skin (Read more...)
PerkinElmer’s New Vectra Polaris Automated Quantitative Pathology System for Studying Cancer Immunotherapies
PerkinElmer is releasing a new automated quantitative pathology system, the Vectra Polaris. It was developed to help study how cancer immunotherapies are affecting their targets and nearby tissues. The machine is able to detect multiple immunohistochemical stains simultaneously thanks to multispectral imaging using seven colors, allowing for m (Read more...)
Neural Network Learns to Diagnose Congenital Catracts
In two newly published studies in Nature Biomedical Engineering, researchers trained a neural network to diagnose congenital cataracts with the same level of accuracy as individual ophthalmologists. Congenital cataracts is a rare disease that results in clouding of the eye’s lens and is responsible for about 10% of childhood vision loss (Read more...)
Silver Nanowire Skin Sensor for Measuring Hydration Levels
Athletes, soldiers, miners, and many others can suffer from dehydration, potentially putting them in mortal danger. Monitoring hydration levels within the body out in the field remains a challenge, but researchers at North Carolina State University have come up with a technology that may prove to be a consistent way of gauging hydration. The North (Read more...)
Locked-In ALS Patients Speak Thanks to Transcranial Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
At the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering in Geneva, Switzerland, four completely paralyzed people suffering from advanced ALS were able to communicate thanks to a cap that measures changes in the oxygenation within the brain. These folks are effectively locked-in, not even having the ability to move their arms and relying on a ventilato (Read more...)
7D Surgical’s Radiation-Free Image Guided Spinal Surgery System Gets U.S., Canada Clearances
7D Surgical, a company based in Toronto, Canada, won US FDA and Health Canada clearances to introduce its Machine-vision Image Guided Surgery (MIGS) system. The system allows for quick, radiation-free surgical navigation of the spine in preparation for delivering implants. Currently X-ray radiating intraoperative fluoroscopes are used to visualize (Read more...)
WIRED Health Bringing Together Medical Innovators in London
The fifth annual WIRED Health conference will be held on March 9 in London, bringing together entrepreneurs, techies, and many others who are participating in digitizing and revolutionizing how medical care is delivered. We’ve attended WIRED events in the past, and they stand out for their breadth, a focus on discussing actual problems and so (Read more...)
Tiny Acoustofluidic Chip Separates Nanoparticles from Liquid Samples to Detect Disease
Scientists at Duke University have developed a way of concentrating nanoparticles inside a small device using only sound waves. This achievement may help introduce portable diagnostics that rely on attaching nanoparticles to biomarkers such as proteins and measuring how many find their targets. There is now a large selection of nanoparticles, (Read more...)
YO Sperm Motility Testing and Counting at Home
We’ve already seen products that offer men the ability to do sperm counts in the privacy of home. Yet, sperm count is only one indicator of healthy fertility. Whether sperm are lively and energetic is another important parameter. Medical Electronic Systems, a well known name in laboratory equipment for sperm quality analysis, is about to (Read more...)
Lens-Free Automated Cell Counting System for Diagnosis of Meningitis
French researchers from Grenoble Alpes University and Aix-Marseille University have developed an automated lens-free microscopy technique for counting and telling apart red and white blood cells withing cerebrospinal fluid. Cerebrospinal fluid, gathered through a spinal tap, should be clear and have few, if any, blood cells within it. Patients with (Read more...)
Eyeglasses With Liquid Lenses Automatically Focus on Nearby Objects
Engineers at the University of Utah have developed eyeglasses with tunable lenses that automatically adjust their focus depending on what’s in front of them. The lenses consist of flexible membranes containing liquid glycerin. A battery powered mechanism moves the membranes in relation to each other, changing the overall shape of the lens and (Read more...)