Patients undergoing a hemorrhagic shock or a cardiac arrest can be aided in many cases by restricting blood flow to the extremities, particularly the legs. Current methods are paintful and can be difficult to administer, while trapping lots of blood within the legs, as with conventional tourniquets. A new device from OHK Medical Devices, an […]
Tag: Cardiology
Vapotherm Releases Latest Precision Flow Hi-VNI Mask-Free Ventilation System
Vapotherm, a company based in New Hampshire, has released the latest version of its Precision Flow Hi-VNI system. The system is used to deliver non-invasive ventilation to spontaneously breathing patients using the company’s Mask-Free NIV technology. The latest version of the system features updated hardware and software, which purportedly improves on reliability and “to comply with […]
Man Receives World’s First Wirelessly Powered Heart Pump
Heart pumps are electromechanical devices that have all kinds of limitations placed on them. One of those is that the pumps needs quite a bit of energy to augment blood output, so a power cable protruding through the skin has always been a necessity. This point of entry is prone to becoming infected, the patient […]
Man Receives World’s First Wirelessly Powered Heart Pump
Heart pumps are electromechanical devices that have all kinds of limitations placed on them. One of those is that the pumps needs quite a bit of energy to augment blood output, so a power cable protruding through the skin has always been a necessity. This point of entry is prone to becoming infected, the patient […]
QT Medical’s Personal Cardiac Assistant Lets Patients Conduct Comprehensive ECGs at Home
A variety of health trackers, including the Apple Watch, offer consumers the ability to record their ECG signals. Though the claims about these offerings are mostly accurate, they may be misleading to those that believe these devices mimic the capabilities of in-hospital ECGs. In reality, wrist-worn and other wearable ECG monitors are only single-lead devices […]
Heart Implant Measures Left Atrial Pressure to Monitor Heart Failure
Vectorious Medical Technologies, a company based in Israel, has announced that it has developed an unusual intra-cardiac monitoring device that has a built-in microchip but no battery. The V-LAP monitoring device allows patients to take measurements of the left atrial pressure at any time, which is done with the assistance of a small external module. The […]
Toilet Seat Automatically Measures Host of Cardiac Parameters to Monitor Heart Health
Getting daily checks of one’s cardiovascular function requires cooperation and commitment on the part of the patient. Monitors have to be put on, the readings recorded, and then shared with physicians or caregivers. While electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors, blood pressure cuffs, and other technologies are readily available for at-home use, they are too often not used […]
Miniaturized Inhaled Nitric Oxide Delivery Units for Use in a Doctor’s Office
Nu-Med Plus, a medtech firm based in Utah, has developed a range of smart delivery devices for inhaled nitric oxide delivery, including a miniaturized unit that can operate in a doctor’s office. The innovation has been possible as parts of the drug patent for nitric oxide have been invalidated, meaning that the cost of the […]
Tyto Care Brings the Doctor’s Visit to Home: Interview with Ophir Lotan
Tyto Care is an on-demand telehealth provider based in Israel that hopes to bring all aspects of a doctor’s visit to the home. Beyond the limits of traditional telemedicine, the platform also allows patients to conduct their own physical exam using a device that combines a camera, stethoscope, otoscope, thermometer, and tongue depressor. The idea […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
ResMed Releases Its First Top-ofHead CPAP Mask for Side and Stomach Sleepers
ResMed, one of the leaders in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) technology, is releasing in the U.S. its first top-of-head CPAP mask. The AirFit N30i provides a different option than the more common design of having the air tube extend from around the face like an elephant’s trunk. The top-of-head design would seem particularly attractive […]
FDA Clears Abbott’s TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter, Sensor Enabled
Abbott received FDA approval for its innovative TactiCath Contact Force Ablation Catheter, Sensor Enabled. The device, cleared in Europe a couple of years ago, is used to ablate cardiac tissue as part of treatment for atrial fibrillation. It features a pressure sensor that provides feedback on the contact force applied to cardiac tissue, helping to […]
3D-Printed Sugar-Based Stent to Aid Vascular Surgery
Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a 3D-printed stent that can aid surgeons in stitching small arteries together. The small tube sits between the open ends of the artery and helps to hold them in place during stitching. The device is 3D-printed using a sugar-based material, meaning that it dissolves and disappears within […]
Tyto Care Brings the Doctor’s Visit to Home: Seen at CES 2019
Tyto Care is an on-demand telehealth provider that aims to bring all aspects of a doctor’s visit to the home. Beyond the traditional video call of telemedicine, the platform allows patients to conduct their own physical exam using a kit with a camera, stethoscope, otoscope, thermometer, and tongue depressor. The platform, which has raised $54 […]
Patch with Non-Toxic Battery Monitors ECG, Blood Oxygen, Physical Activity
At CES 2019, imec, a Belgian organization, and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, presented their latest vitals monitoring patch. The disposable device has a monitoring lifetime of over a week, but since the battery is made of non-toxic materials there’s not a big environmental impact. The device has a basic ECG built-in, can […]
Omron Blood Pressure Measuring Watch at CES 2019
Omron is about to release the first smartwatch that can measure blood pressure directly from the wrist. The Omron HeartGuide sports a band that doubles as a blood pressure cuff, inflating when requested through the buttons on the side of the watch. We got a chance to check out this nifty gadget at CES 2019: Product […]