Biomechanics is complex. The body moves in a three-dimensional space, pulling and rotating. We see athletes perform stunning movement combinations on TV in a variety of sports. A basketball player pivots, fades back, and fires a three-pointer. A badminton player jumps, twists, and snaps their arm and racket like a whip onto a shuttlecock. A […]
Author: Medgadged
New Biosensor Accurately Measures Glucose in Saliva
The iQ Group Global, an Australian consortium, has announced that it developed a biosensor capable of accurately measuring glucose in a person’s saliva. The technology, originally acquired from the University of Newcastle in Australia, uses modified organic thin film transistors, which work in combination with glucose oxidase, to measure the concentration of glucose in a sample. […]
Silicon Photonics Device to Screen for Arterial Stiffness: Interview with Roel Baets and Patrick Segers, Imec and Ghent University
Imec, a research and innovation hub for nanoelectronics and digital technologies based in Belgium, in collaboration with numerous partners, has developed a new medical device to screen for arterial stiffness, a risk-factor for cardiovascular disease. Routine screening of arterial stiffness in a doctor’s office is currently impossible, meaning that this risk-factor is underused in the […]
Knee Implant Sensor Generates Its Own Electricity
Total knee arthroplasties can be very effective at restoring comfortable, pain-free walking in many patients. One of the downsides of such procedures is that the implants that are used tend to wear out over time, particularly when exposed to too much use. While there are sensors able to provide information about the status of a […]
BD Unveils Nano Pen Needle for Accurate Subcutaneous Insulin Injections
BD is releasing its new Nano pen needle designed for achieving consistent depth during subcutaneous injections, particularly for diabetic patients on insulin. Intramuscular injections can occur when a patient applies too much force to many of the existing injection devices. The new BD Nano compensates for this by spreading the load across the injection site […]
Computational Model of Heart’s Mitral Valve to Predict Surgery Outcomes
Mitral valve repairs are complex surgeries that require particular attention to each patient’s unique anatomy, type of regurgitation such as in Carpentier’s classification, and other factors. Recently, transcatheter mitral valve implants have started to become popular, but they’re very difficult to place so as not to obstruct nearby blood flow. Bioengineers at The University of […]
MediPines Gas Exchange Monitor Cleared by FDA for Comprehensive Lung Function Analysis
MediPines, a company based in California’s Orange County, obtained FDA clearance for its MediPines Gas Exchange Monitor. The device is used to measure and monitor a variety of respiratory parameters and indices of patients presenting with lung conditions. It can help to quickly triage patients and make decision making easier by providing parameters such as PIO2, PETCO2, and […]
Siemens Healthineers Powerful MAGNETOM Lumina 3 Tesla MRI Cleared by FDA
Siemens Healthineers won clearance from the FDA to introduce its MAGNETOM Lumina 3 Tesla MRI scanner in the United States. The device features a large 70 cm bore, which can fit some of the wider patients that today’s clinicians have to work with, and artificial intelligence technologies to speed up exams. An optional audio/video system […]
Cook Medical’s Zenith Dissection Endovascular Stent for Aortic Tears FDA Approved
The FDA has given approval to Cook Medical‘s Zenith Dissection Endovascular Stent for treatment of symptomatic aortic dissection distal to the left subclavian artery. It is intended to be used along with the company’s Zenith TX2 Dissection Endovascular Graft with Pro-Form Straight Component or Tapered Component Zenith Dissection relies on the Z-Trak Plus Introduction System for delivery and […]
Elevo Kit Snoring Intervention Device Cleared in United States
Cook Medical and Zelegent, a company out of La Jolla, California, announced that the FDA cleared the Elevo Kit Snoring Intervention Device. The Elevo is used to position special sutures so as to lift the soft palate, the rear roof of the mouth. Alexander K. Arrow, MD, the CEO of Zelegent, which developed the Elevo, […]
Sony Unveils New Microsurgery HD Video Camera
Sony is releasing a new two-piece full HD surgical video camera intended for a variety of settings, including surgical centers and exam rooms. The device is particularly effective in low-light applications, such as ophthalmic posterior surgical procedures and other situations where direct light is hard to place within the depths of a surgical scene. The […]
MightySat Rx Cleared by FDA to Measure Breathing Rate from Fingertip
Masimo won FDA clearance for its MightySat Rx fingertip pulse oximeter to be used to spot check the respiration rate. A similar clearance was issued by the European Union regulatory authorities in 2017. These days the breathing rate is still counted manually more often than not. Though there are devices in existence, even contact-free ones, that […]
FDA Approved a Record High of 106 New Medical Devices in 2018
It’s an unprecedented time for innovation and regulation in medical devices. The Food and Drug Administration announced that 2018 was their most successful year in approving medical devices. 106 devices received the FDA’s marketing green light, breaking the record of 99 in 2017. These devices included automated insulin dosing systems for children as young as […]
Arbutus Medical’s New Low-Cost Surgical DrillCovers: Interview with CEO Lawrence Buchan
Arbutus Medical is a company that aims to improve access to surgical power tools for surgeons around the world. Their flagship product, the DrillCover, is a sterilizable enclosure that allows surgeons to use an off-the-shelf hardware drill for orthopedic surgery. Four years ago, we interviewed Lawrence Buchan, Arbutus’ co-founder. We caught up with him again […]
Scientists Translate Brain Signals Into Speech
Our brain signals are a window into our souls. More broadly, brain-computer interfaces that read those signals and accompanying algorithms that process the signals are the windows. Researchers at Columbia University have been working on trying to understand what our brains are thinking about, and in particular interpreting the signals produced by the auditory cortex […]
New Microscopy Technique for Nanoscale Imaging of Living Brain
Scientists collaborating on both coasts of the United States have developed a new technique for imaging the brain that provides an incredible new look at the detailed functionality of the organ. The technique combines expansion microscopy and lattice light-sheet microscopy, two techniques that on their own can provide impressive imaging of living tissues. The new approach […]
Medtronic Releases Mazor X Stealth Edition Robot for Spinal Surgeries
Medtronic, having recently acquired Mazor Robotics, an Israeli spinal surgery firm, just announced the launch of the Mazor X Stealth Edition in the United States. The system provides planning, workflow, procedural execution, and confirmation capabilities to accurately place instruments and tools during spinal surgeries. “It is rare that huge sectors of technology such as robotics and […]
Handheld Photonic Device Measures Arterial Stiffness
A collaboration between nine different European research organizations, including the medical device giant Medtronic, has developed a prototype device for quick and easy measurement of arterial stiffness. This is an important development, as arterial stiffness is a biomarker for high blood pressure, but there are no reliable ways of measuring it without a cardiologist bearing […]
Painless Microneedle Skin Patch Accurately Senses Glucose
Microneedle patches are a promising way to easily and painlessly deliver a variety of drugs into the body. Yet there’s also a lot of potential to use microneedle patches to sense important biochemicals, glucose being probably the most important target. Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden have developed a prototype glucose sensing […]
Reinforcement Learning System Automatically Trains Prosthetic Legs
Powered leg prostheses can give amputees the ability to walk for long periods of time and to do so briskly. The reality is that these devices are pretty clunky and programming them to operate smoothly to produce a natural gait takes hours, and the results are rarely perfect. Scientists at North Carolina State University, the […]