Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have developed a novel robotic cardiac assist device designed to assist patients with one-sided heart failure. The device combines soft actuators with a rigid brace that penetrates into the heart’s intraventricular septum, to provide gentle but robust pumping assistance to just one side of the h (Read more...)
Tag: Cardiology
InterAtrial Shunt Device from Corvia Medical Shows Promising Results in Diastolic Heart Failure
At the recent American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, researchers have announced positive results in a clinical study of the InterAtrial Shunt Device (IASD) from Corvia Medical, which allows blood to travel between the atria of the heart, to safely alleviate the symptoms of diastolic heart failure. Much of the work has been carried out at [ (Read more...)
Usono ProbeFix Introduces Continuous, Hands-Free Ultrasound to The World
Usono, a company based in The Netherlands, has created a new kind of ultrasound accessory that is an important diagnostic tool as well as a way to improve reproducibility of ultrasound images. ProbeFix is a fixation system for transthoracic ultrasound probes that allows doctors to effortlessly image patients’ hearts without having to strain t (Read more...)
High Speed Video Precisely Captures Blood Cell Velocity
Researchers at ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia, have developed a non-invasive high-speed video capillaroscopy system that can precisely measure the velocity of blood cells flowing through capillaries in the skin around a fingernail. The technique could be useful in assessing cardiovascular conditions. Capillaroscopy systems offer a simp (Read more...)
DynamX, a Novel Stent That Turns from Rigid to Flexible While Inside Vessel
With every heart beat, our blood vessels expand and contract, something known as pulsatile motion. When commonly used metal stents are placed within vessels, they prevent those vessels from exhibiting pulsatile motion. This may be a cause of or a compounding factor for restenosis and may even lead to a cardiovascular disease to develop faster. [&he (Read more...)
AcQMap, Now FDA Cleared, Images Heart from Inside Using Ultrasound, Electrical Dipole Density Mapping
Acutus Medical, a company headquartered in Carlsbad, California, won FDA clearance for its AcQMap High Resolution Imaging and Mapping System, as well as the accompanying AcQMap 3D Imaging and Mapping Catheter. The catheter uses ultrasound and more traditional electrical tissue conduction mapping to create a unique live view inside the heart th (Read more...)
Healcerion Receives FDA Clearance for New SONON 300L Wireless, App-based Ultrasound System
Healcerion, based in South Korea, was the first company to receive FDA clearance for their wireless, app-based ultrasound system back in 2015. The groundbreaking work done by South Korean engineers and scientists laid the foundation for the development of an ultrasound transducer that works with most smartphones or tablets. Since introducing the SO (Read more...)
Cheap, Easy to Integrate Technology Converts Any 2D Ultrasound Machine into 3D Scanner
Portable ultrasound technology is improving and becoming more affordable, allowing it to be used in places previously impossible due to size and cost. Full size ultrasound imagers can do some impressive stuff, such as creating 3D reconstructions obtained from 2D probes. Now researchers at Duke University are introducing incredibly cheap and easy to (Read more...)
World’s First MRI Compatible Patient Monitor Cleared by FDA
Traditional vital signs monitors found in most patient hospital rooms can’t be taken into the MRI suite, as that may lead to tragicomic consequences. A patient requiring close monitoring has to be transferred to a specialty monitor attached to a heavy cart that prevents it from being sucked into the bore of the MRI’s magnet, […]
Shift Labs Wins 2017 Global Health Innovator Award at The MedTech Conference
Shift Labs is the winner of the 2017 Global Health Innovator Award. The award was presented at The MedTech Conference which took place last month in Santa Clara, CA. This is the award’s inaugural year and was a result of the conference’s new Innovations in Global Health Program, which puts a focus on medical innovation […]
Butterfly iQ, a Whole Body Ultrasound That Fits in a Pocket
Butterfly Network, a firm based in Guilford, Connecticut, won FDA clearance and is introducing its Butterfly iQ portable ultrasound system. It consists of a portable transducer that connects directly to an iPhone, and an iOS app to display the images and to control settings. The device actually works as three different transducers thanks to an [&he (Read more...)
EluNIR Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent from Medinol Wins European Clearance
Medinol, a company based in Tel Aviv, Israel, has announced that its EluNIR drug eluting stent received the CE Mark of approval in Europe. The device is coated with ridaforolimus to help prevent restenosis and is designed be both highly flexible while maintaining flexibility, making it easier to reach and penetrate difficult lesions. The compa (Read more...)
Abbott’s New XIENCE Sierra Drug-Eluting Coronary Stent Released in Europe
Abbott is introducing in Europe its XIENCE Sierra stent following receipt of the CE Mark of approval. The device is based on the popular XIENCE everolimus-eluting stent platform. The new installment of the XIENCE features a narrower profile, greater flexibility, and available in longer lengths and smaller diameters, compared to previous device gene (Read more...)
Will Phase Space Tomography Revolutionize Cardiac Diagnostics? Interview with Don Crawford, CEO of Analytics 4 Life
Human body emits all kinds of signals that, if analyzed with the proper sensors and computers, can help us develop completely new diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Most medical technology advancements are improvements of existing devices, but some people try for bigger leaps. Analytics 4 Life is a company based in Toronto, Canada, that is deve (Read more...)
University of Michigan’s Hybrid OR: High Tech Surgical Gadgetry Inside One Room
The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor sports one of the finest medical centers in America. We won’t even mention the football team. One of the reasons U of M’s clinics are at the forefront of what they do is because the university gives physicians the freedom to seek new ways of doing things. This […]
Sensoria Health Powered by Genesis Rehab Services, a Partnership to Develop Smart Aging Solutions (Interview)
Another exciting announcement from Health 2.0 is a partnership between Sensoria and Genesis Rehab Services (GRS) to develop smart aging solutions under the name, “Sensoria Health powered by Genesis Rehab Services.” Sensoria is already known as a leading developer of smart footwear and clothing products based on the Sensoria Core microel (Read more...)
OptiScanner 5000 Cleared in U.S. for Continuous Glucose Monitoring in ICU
OptiScan Biomedical, a company based in Hayward, California, won FDA clearance to introduce its OptiScanner 5000 in the U.S. The device is intended for use in intensive care units to continuously monitor blood plasma glucose levels, something the OptiScanner 5000 can do accurately without having to be regularly calibrated. The device works via an i (Read more...)
Esaote Unveils Its Flagship MyLab9 Ultrasound System
Esaote, the Italian ultrasound manufacturer, has just unveiled its brand new high-end MyLab9 ultrasound system. The device is designed for all sorts of diagnostic imaging procedures and clinical environments. The MyLab9 features non-composite single crystal probe technology and “Ultra-engine” platform that together generate high qu (Read more...)
HeartyPatch, an Open-Source ECG for Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability Tracking
Team Protocentral, an open source hardware firm from Bangalore, India, is raising crowdfunds to release its HeartyPatch device. The HeartyPatch is a single lead ECG patch that can track the heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV) when stuck to the chest. Similar devices have been developed and commercialized previously, but the HeartyPatch prov (Read more...)
Remedē Implantable System FDA Approved to Treat Moderate to Severe Central Sleep Apnea
The FDA has granted Respicardia, a company out of Minnetonka, Minnesota, approval to introduce its Remedē implantable sleep apnea treatment system. The Remedē treats sleep apnea by stimulating one of the phrenic nerves that regulates the activity of the diaphragm. People with central sleep apnea exhibit shallow breaths (Read more...)