Critically ill patients with acute respiratory or cardiopulmonary failure who are on long-term mechanical ventilation too often suffer a variety of side effects. These can include ventilator associated lung injury, pneumonia, and diaphragm dysfunction. Moreover, related sedation and lack of movement can aggravate an already difficult situation. To (Read more...)
Tag: Cardiology
VitalConnect Introduces Remote Arrhythmia Detection Using VitalPatch
In a world where cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death (with an estimated 17.9 million annual deaths globally, according to the WHO), the need to accurately and reliably monitor patients following cardiac procedures is ever-growing. This need is highlighted by the frequency of complications that occur following such procedures. For (Read more...)
VOCSN 5-in-1 Portable Ventilator: Interview with Chris Kiple, CEO of Ventec
Ventilators are used by patients who lose lung function due to complications from a variety of diseases such as spinal cord injuries, COPD, stroke, pneumonia, and ALS. In addition to dealing with a debilitating situation, patients tend to be hooked to several machines that perform mechanical ventilation, oxygen delivery, cough assist, suction, and (Read more...)
Artificial Tissue Patches to Heal Damaged Hearts
Post myocardial infarction (heart attack), damaged heart tissue doesn’t tend to heal very well. Not only is the pumping action weakened due to muscle cells dying, but the electrical signaling through the heart can also be impeded. Scientists at Trinity College Dublin have now developed remarkable new patches that mimic the electrical conducti (Read more...)
First AI-Guided Ultrasound Gets Green Light from FDA
Caption Health, a company based outside of San Francisco, CA, won the first authorization from the FDA for an ultrasound software that guides clinicians at capturing images of the heart. The Caption Guidance software should work with any number of ultrasound system from different manufacturers, but currently it can only be used with a diagnostic [& (Read more...)
BIOTRONIK’s Orsiro Mission Drug-Eluting Stent
BIOTRONIK won the European CE Mark for its Orsiro Mission drug-eluting stent. The device is intended for widening coronary arteries at sites of stenotic and in-stent restenotic lesions, and is designed to be delivered through some of the more tortuous vasculature. The device is the next generation of the Orsiro drug-eluting stent and the redesign [ (Read more...)
Onera Bioimpedance Patch to Detect Sleep Apnea
Onera Health, a company headquartered in Silicon Valley but with R&D offices in the Netherlands, has developed a bioimpedance patch, to be worn on the chest, that can detect sleep apnea. It has just been successfully trialed in 25 patients and the results show that it is about as accurate as automatic scoring using a […]
(Read more...)Robotic Phlebotomist Draws Blood, Automates Hematology Analysis
Engineers at Rutgers University have developed a robot that autonomously draws patient blood and immediately performs hematology analysis. Such technology may help to speed up patient care, free clinicians to do other tasks, and even reduce the number of failed IV starts. The device was recently tested in a clinical trial for the first time [&helli (Read more...)
Wireless Lumee Oxygen Platform Cleared in EU
The European Union cleared Profusa’s Wireless Lumee Oxygen Platform, a system designed to measure tissue oxygen levels in patients with diseases such as peripheral artery disease and critical limb ischemia. The wired version of the Lumee was cleared in Europe back in 2016 and the new device fundamentally works the same. It consists of a [&hel (Read more...)
BioSticker FDA Cleared for Month-Long Vitals Monitoring
BioIntelliSense, a Silicon Valley firm, won FDA clearance for its BioSticker wearable sensor and the company is also releasing its Data-as-a-Service platform. The BioSticker can track heart rate, respiratory rate, skin temperature, body position, sleep status, and activity levels, as well as provide a high-resolution gait analysis, fall detection, (Read more...)
Fitbit Health Solutions: Interview with Amy McDonough, GM and Senior VP
FitBit, a well know maker of wearable devices, is rapidly expanding into data-oriented health solution services. That was an overarching theme in our conversation with Amy McDonough, General Manager and Senior Vice President for Fitbit Health Solutions. She sat down with us recently to tell us about the company’s offerings and how its solutio (Read more...)
SELUTION SLR Drug Eluting Balloon Cleared by EU
MedAlliance, a Swiss company, won the EU CE Mark clearing its SELUTION SLR sirolimus-eluting balloon for use in treating peripheral vascular disease. This is the first CE Mark that the company has received and the clearance applies to SELUTION SLR devices in sizes from 2.0 x 20mm to 7.0 x 150mm. MedAlliance’s technology allows sirolimus, [&he (Read more...)
Biorobotic Hybrid Heart to Help Develop New Cardiac Implants
Prosthetic heart valves, ventricular assist devices, and other cardiac implants go through an extensive research and development process, followed by testing on animals before human trials. There is no machine that simulates the function of the heart with any sufficient accuracy for comprehensive use by device designers, but researchers at MIT are (Read more...)
EU Clears Medtronic’s Smart Cobalt and Crome Cardiac Implants
Medtronic has announced that its Cobalt and Crome implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) and cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillators (CRT-D) won EU CE Mark clearance, allowing their introduction to the continent. The devices feature Medtronic’s OptiVol fluid status sensors that allow the introduction of the company’s new (Read more...)
Wearable Monitor Provides Continuous Blood Pressure Data
Researchers at Monash University in Australia have developed a wearable device that can continuously monitor blood pressure during a variety of activities including while exercising and during sleep. The technology does not require uncomfortable inflatable cuffs or invasive measurements, and uses continuous wave radar and photoplethysmogram sensors (Read more...)
Liquid Metal Biosensors for Healthcare Monitoring
Flexible biosensors are a popular new field of research. Soft pressure sensors are of particular interest because there are many applications for them in healthcare. Most flexible pressure sensors are based on solid-state components that tend to rely on carbon nanotubes and graphene. Carbon nanotubes or graphene flakes are seeded through a stretchy (Read more...)
Abbott’s Tendyne First Transcatheter Mitral Valve to Win EU Clearance
Abbott just announced that it is the first company to receive European regulatory approval to introduce transcatheter mitral valve replacement procedures on the continent. The Tendyne Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation (TMVI) system is intended for mitral regurgitation patients for whom open-heart surgery is too risky and in cases where transc (Read more...)
Imricor’s MRI-Compatible Ablation Catheters Cleared in Europe for Cardiac Arrhythmia Treatment
Imricor Medical Systems, based outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has won the European CE Mark for its Vision-MR Ablation Catheter and Vision-MR Dispersive Electrode. These devices allow for cardiac ablation procedures to be performed within MRI-equipped operating rooms, thereby utilizing the accuracy of intraoperative MRI to target sources of arrh (Read more...)
Eko’s AI-Powered Stethoscopes Detect AFib, Heart Murmurs
Eko, a maker of high-end digital stethoscopes, has just received the first FDA clearance for its devices to use AI algorithms to automatically detect atrial fibrillation (AFib) and heart murmurs. Using this capability, primary care physicians, who are not nearly as extensively trained at spotting heart issues, will be able to identify potential cas (Read more...)
Nanoparticles Direct Immune System to Scrub Atherosclerotic Plaques
The buildup of plaques within blood vessel walls is the underlying cause of strokes and heart attacks. These plaques contain many dead or dying cells that are not flushed out by the immune system fast enough. Now, researchers from Stanford are reporting on a new drug-carrying nanoparticle that can seek out atherosclerotic plaques and stimulate [&he (Read more...)