While modern catheters can reach into various parts of the body, navigating there remains a major challenge. Fluoroscopes that emit X-rays are used to constantly keep track of the catheter location, but they emit ionizing radiation and require a great deal of protection to be used by clinicians. Engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital […]
Tag: Cardiology
Low Cost Medical Devices for Low-Resource Regions: Interview with Prof. Saad Bhamla, Georgia Tech
Advances in medical technology continue apace, with sophisticated new medical devices and therapies becoming available on an ongoing basis. However, medical technology often comes at a premium, and for low-resource regions sometimes even relatively basic medical devices, such as hearing aids, are inaccessible because they are too expensive. Similarly, basic equipment, such as centrifuges, that […]
BraveHeart Wireless Announces FDA Clearance of the BraveHeart Life Sensor Cardiac Monitoring System
• The BraveHeart™ Life Sensor Cardiac Monitoring system has been cleared for use in health care settings. • The Life Sensor monitoring system securely captures patients’ heart rate and EKG data, and transmits the data to health care providers in real time. • More than 28 million Americans diagnosed with heart disease may benefit—with this […]
Artis icono Angiography Suite Now Includes Virtual Patients to Practice On
Siemens Healthineers has partnered with Mentice, a Swedish company that specializes in simulation solutions for endovascular therapies, to integrate the Artis icono angiography system with the VIST Virtual Patient offering. Many of today’s advanced interventional procedures require quite a bit of training for physicians to perform them safely and effectively. In the angiography suite, specifically, […]
BIOTRONIK Releases BIOMONITOR III Injectable Cardiac Monitor
BIOTRONIK is releasing a new version of its popular BIOMONITOR injectable cardiac monitor. The BIOMONITOR III is less than half the size of the BIOMONITOR 2, while offering much clearer signal quality. It is designed to be injected under the skin, where it can reside for weeks while continuously monitoring and recording the patient’s electrical […]
Canon Releases Aplio a-series Budget Ultrasounds
Canon Medical is releasing a new line of ultrasounds, called the Aplio a-series. Presented at this year’s American Society of Echocardiography’s annual meeting, the Aplio a450 and Aplio a550 are designed to be competitively priced while offering multi-purpose advanced imaging, including cardiac imaging. Built with some features taken from Canon’s more advanced ultrasounds, the a-series, […]
Contrast Agent Uses Heart’s Electricity to Activate Itself
Imaging the heart for signs of disease is still quite rudimentary. While CT, ultrasound, and PET (positron-emission tomography) scanners generate impressive looking graphics, they’re a long way from giving doctors a true representation of the anatomy and function of the heart and nearby vasculature. Contrast agents are widely used to allow these modalities to produce […]
Stretchable E-Tattoo for Long-Term Heart Monitoring
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a wearable heart monitor which can assess heart health over several days. The research team call the device an “e-tattoo” and claim that its stretchability makes it more comfortable and convenient to wear compared with previously developed devices. The device is the first stretchable, ultrathin […]
AI System Can Identify Cardiac Arrest by Listening to Breathing
Researchers at the University of Washington have used machine learning to teach an AI system to identify when someone is having a cardiac arrest. The system learned to identify agonal breathing, which occurs when someone gasps for breath during cardiac arrest, with a high degree of accuracy. The technology can be embedded into a variety […]
Mimics Enlight Cardiovascular Planning Software Gets FDA Clearance
Materialise, a 3D printing company with a focus on patient-specific parts, has received FDA clearance for its Mimics Enlight cardiovascular planning software suite. The product’s initial application will be in planning complex transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) procedures. Developed with the help of the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, and in particular Dr. Dee […]
EmoGraphy by Philips Monitors and Predicts Stress: Interview with Navin Natoewal
Philips has recently launched EmoGraphy, a stress management technology to measure someone’s stress levels and then predict them an hour into the future. The company worked out the sensing and algorithm calculation methods, and are now licensing their technology to firms that want to expand it into their devices. We met with Navin Natoewal, the […]
Project Moray Developing Robotic Intracardiac Catheter for Complex Interventions
Catheter-based surgical interventions are now routine, so much so that navigating to the heart from an access site in the groin is considered ho-hum. Once there, though, getting a catheter tip to the exact spot within the heart that requires treatment can still be exceedingly difficult. Unlike the vasculature used to get there, the heart […]
Meril Myval Transcatheter Aortic Valve Cleared in Europe
Meril Life Sciences, a company based in India, has obtained the European CE mark of approval for its Myval transcatheter aortic heart valve. This marks the first such approval for an Indian company, highlighting how far the country’s medical device industry has advanced in the past few years. The Myval features a hybrid honey comb […]
Octopus-Inspired Wearable Biosensor Sticks to Wet and Dry Skin
Researchers from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a new waterproof, wearable biosensor that can stick to the skin in a unique way. Their work, recently published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, demonstrates the biosensor adheres to the skin in wet and dry conditions and can monitor […]
GORE CARDIOFORM Approved by FDA to Treat Atrial Septal Defects
The GORE CARDIOFORM Septal Occluder has been approved by the FDA to treat ostium secundum atrial septal defects (ASD) via percutaneous closure procedures. In a clinical study of the device in 125 patients with ASD, ranging in age from 2 to 84, all who successfully received the implant maintained the closure when evaluated six months […]
StethoMe At-Home Stethoscope for Detection of Respiratory Issues in Kids Cleared in Europe
StethoMe, a company headquartered in Poznań, Poland, just won the European CE mark for its eponymous digital stethoscope and accompanying software that analyzes recorded sounds for signs of respiratory problems. StethoMe is intended to be used by parents to check on their kids when there are signs of sickness. Instead of immediately bringing the child […]
WatchPAT One, a Fully Disposable At-Home Sleep Apnea Test, FDA Cleared
Itamar Medical, a firm based in Israel, won FDA clearance for its brand new WatchPAT One system for at-home sleep apnea testing. The system is based on the previously cleared WatchPAT 300 device, but it’s fully disposable and is therefore is not reused between patients, helping to prevent any infections. The WatchPAT One pairs with […]
Patches Made of Heart Tissue Going to Clinical Trials
Stem cell therapies to heal damaged hearts have proven to be lacking so far, probably because simply injecting new cells into afflicted regions isn’t enough. Researchers from Imperial College London have now created patches made of cardiac tissue to sew over damaged areas of the heart. These patches, which can beat on their own to […]
IMPEDE-FX Embolization Plug Cleared in U.S. for Peripheral Arteries
Shape Memory Medical, a company out of Santa Clara, California, won FDA clearance for its IMPEDE-FX Embolization Plug. The new device is to be used as an adjunct to the firm’s IMPEDE Embolization Plug, which is already FDA cleared. The two devices have been developed to cause deliberate obstructions or to reduce blood flow in […]
New Device Monitors Blood Flow Through Radial Artery to Prevent Occlusions Post PCI
Following transradial percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), the radial artery can occasionally occlude, potentially resulting in serious complications. Radial occlusion is treated by applying compression, but clinicians have no idea whether nor how much blood is flowing through the artery. Moreover, once an occlusion happens in the radial artery, it cannot be used again as an […]