eSight, a company based in Toronto, Canada, is releasing the latest version of its vision-improving electronic glasses for people with poor eyesight and even legal blindness. The eSight 4 sports two 1280×960 screens that display images captured and processed from the forward facing camera on the glasses. It’s indicated for people with all kinds of […]
Author: Medgadged
TIGERTRIEVER XL Cleared in EU to Remove Large Stroke Clots
Israel’s Rapid Medical has won European regulatory clearance to introduce its TIGERTRIEVER XL device for removing large ischemic stroke-causing clots from intracranial vessels. The company calls its line of devices “stentrievers,” as these look and operate similar to stents but can retrieve clots out of the body. The TIGERTRIEVER XL can be used to remove […]
InterStim Micro and SureScan MRI Leads Approved in U.S. for Incontinence Control
Medtronic has landed FDA approval for its InterStim Micro neurostimulator and the matching InterStim SureScan MRI leads that are used to treat overactive bladder, fecal incontinence, and non-obstructive urinary retention. The InterStim Micro is a miniaturized version of Medtronic’s InterStim II neuromodulator, being 80% smaller, but it is rechargeable. Thanks to a technology called Overdrive, […]
Nihon Kohden Releases Video Laryngoscope in U.S. for Faster Intubation During COVID
Critical care facilities around the world are on the front lines of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Intubation is necessary to maintain many critical patients in the ICU, but too often obtaining an airway proves to be challenging. In some patients, intubation can take over a minute or more, potentially leading to serious consequences. Now, Nihon […]
A Laparoscopy Assistance Platform to Optimize Minimally Invasive Surgery: Interview with Anne Osdoit, CEO of MastOR
Minimally invasive surgery has played a huge role in improving patient outcomes, and reducing morbidity and recovery times compared with traditional surgical techniques. However, it can be a little tricky for surgeons to operate through tiny incisions and use complicated equipment, meaning that there is often a significant learning curve and training period involved. Robotics […]
Drawing Biomedical Electronics Directly Onto Skin
Wearable biomedical devices hold the promise of allowing for continuous, remote patient monitoring in all kinds of settings. A variety of vital signs, including heart rate and its variability, body temperature, and the amount of sweat produced, can be measured. The problem is that a lot of these measurements are not particularly accurate when using […]
Philips Wins FDA Clearance and Launches EMS Remote Monitoring and Defibrillation Solution in U.S.
The need for emergency medical services (EMS) outside of the hospital setting is on the rise, with an estimated 240 millions 9-1-1 calls made in the US annually. While medical equipment used in this setting must be available, manipulable, and able to share important data across a variety of unknown situations, historically it has been […]
Tiny 3D Printed Cubes Serve as Scaffolding for Broken Bones
A good deal of orthopedic bone repair surgeries involve injecting powders or pastes, to serve as scaffoding, into fractures. Now a collaboration between scientists at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU), University of Oregon, New York University, and Mahidol University in Thailand has led to the development of a Lego-like 3D printed scaffolding system that […]
Augmented Reality Telemedicine Shown to be Effective for Battlefield
A team of researchers from Purdue University and the Indiana University School of Medicine has recently developed and now demonstrated, in realistic simulations, a telemedical augmented reality system that can be used in very difficult and stressful situations. Called System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR), it allows remote clinicians, such as surgeons, to guide […]
Vagus Nerve Stimulator Gets FDA Emergency OK for Asthmatics with COVID
People stricken with COVID-19 exhibit a wide range of symptoms. Some are barely affected while others suffer dire consequences. People with asthma are in particular danger, as SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory virus that can make breathing even more difficult. Now, the FDA has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for the gammaCore Sapphire CV non-invasive vagus […]
Simplifying Transseptal Access to the Left Atrium: Interview with Terri Burke, CEO of Protaryx Medical
Protaryx Medical, a company based in Baltimore, Maryland, has developed a device to allow for more precise transseptal access to the left atrium during transcatheter procedures. The device provides three-dimensional control and steerability to take the guesswork out of transseptal access to the left atrium, and the company believes that this could improve physician convenience […]
EVA15 Surgical Insufflator and Smoke Evacuator for Minimally Invasive Procedures FDA Cleared
Palliare, a company out of Galway, Ireland, won FDA clearance for its flagship product, the EVA15 insufflator and smoke evacuation system. The EVA15 combines two devices into a compact package that is designed for use in laparoscopic, endoscopic, endolumenal, and robotic procedures. Smoke is a common problem in all kinds of minimally invasive procedures that […]
Digital Guide Dog for Blind People
Guide dogs can be incredibly helpful, letting blind people maintain a level of independence that would be difficult without their loyalty. However, guide dogs require a huge amount of training and, because they’re dogs, are not practical for every blind person. Now, a student at Loughborough University in England has designed a concept handheld device […]
Curved-Field OCT for Unprecedented View of The Cornea
Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique regularly utilized by ophthalmologists to view multiple layers of the cornea and count the nerves and cells within. It’s important for diagnosing a variety of corneal conditions as well as when preparing for cataract surgery. The problem is that, as anyone who has tinkered with macro photography […]
Watchman FLX Next Gen Stroke Prevention Device Now FDA Approved
Boston Scientific’s WATCHMAN, a device that’s used to close the left atrial appendage, has done wonders for preventing the formation of clots that lead to stroke in many patients. Now the company has announced that its WATCHMAN FLX, a new and much improved version of the implant, won FDA approval. Already cleared in the European […]
Spinal Cord Stimulators Give Robotic Prostheses a Sense of Touch
Upper arm prostheses that give their users a sense of touch have been developed in the past (see flashbacks below). These require careful surgical placement of electrodes near the remaining nerves within the stump and precise stimulation of said nerves. Now researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have achieved a remarkable feat of using existing […]
Nanogenerators Harvest Energy from Body, Monitor Heart Health
Wearable medical devices such as continuous heart rate monitors, insulin pumps, and neural stimulators usually need access to an electric power source in order to function. While there’s a great deal of wasted energy that our body emits that can be harvested to power such devices, making it actually happen using biocompatible materials has proven […]
Mechanically Stimulating Neurons Using Magnetic Nanodiscs
Electrical stimulation and chemical pharmaceuticals are the two ways that doctors and scientists routinely use to manipulate neural cells. Chemicals have their side effects, are slow to take effect, and are usually systemically delivered, while electrical stimulation usually requires invasive wires, is limited in its resolution, and is nearly impossible to administer within certain parts […]
Medical Training, on Your Phone: Interview with Ariella Salimpour, CEO of Thumbroll
Effective training is crucial for medical students if they are to become competent and successful clinicians. Much of this training is performed in person, where medical students will first observe medical procedures and then perform them under supervision. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted this training architecture, making it more difficult for students to access […]
Vitls Platform Cleared in U.S. for Remote Patient Monitoring
Vitls Inc., a company out of Houston, Texas, won FDA clearance for its Vitls Platform, a combination of a vitals monitoring patch, cloud storage, and an app that lets clinicians monitor multiple patients wearing such a patch at once. The patch, which is called Tégo, keeps track of a patient’s heart and respiration rates, heart […]