The FDA has granted Philips 510(k) clearance for its ultrasound systems to be used to address lung and cardiac complications that arise in COVID-19 patients. The clearance encompasses the firm’s EPIQ series, Affiniti series, Lumify, CX50 and Sparq diagnostic ultrasounds, and for offerings such as the QLAB Advanced Quantification Software. Ult (Read more...)
Tag: Critical Care
A Multinational Effort to Reduce Neonatal Mortality: Interview with Dr. Maria Oden, Co-director of Rice 360° Institute for Global Health
According to the World Health Organization, 47% of childhood deaths worldwide occur in the first four weeks of life. This neonatal mortality rate is particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly one million newborns die every year. Many of these deaths can be prevented with medical devices that more developed countries often take for g (Read more...)
Aquadex Ultrafiltration for Critical COVID Patients: Interview with John Erb, CEO at CHF Solutions
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many healthcare facilities around the world are inundated with critically ill patients, and resources such as equipment and staff are stretched thin. Shortages of critical equipment, such as ventilators, can mean the difference between life and death for patients, and the need to keep critically ill patients comf (Read more...)
Stanford Bioengineers Innovate Multiple Solutions to Tackle COVID-19
The current pandemic is revealing the level of commitment needed from multiple sectors to deliver innovative solutions to tackle severe shortages of personal protective equipment, ventilators, and raw materials. Researchers at the Prakash lab at Stanford University are no stranger to taking up extreme challenges, and they have kept up their reputat (Read more...)
VentFree Respiratory Muscle Stimulator Gets FDA Emergency OK for COVID-19
Liberate Medical, a company based outside of Louisville, Kentucky, won FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its VentFree Respiratory Muscle Stimulator that aims to reduce how long patients stay on ventilators. It works to keep the abdominal muscles from atrophying by delivering electric stimulation to the relevant muscles in tune with mechanical ven (Read more...)
Flexible Throat Sensor Powered by AI to Track COVID-19 Symptoms
As COVID-19 continues to infect more people around the world, there are still few reliable ways to spot the early onset of the disease and to monitor its symptoms in detail, particularly at a distance and while patients are at home. Now, researchers at Northwestern University have partnered with the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation (Read more...)
Smart, Low Cost Ventilator Tunes to Patient’s Own Breathing
Because of the common expectation that ventilators would be in dire shortage during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many teams around the world have developed simple ventilators that utilize bag valve masks (AmbuBags) to pump air in and out of the lungs. Most of these do not provide nuanced control of ventilation settings such as the […]
Lungpacer Diaphragm Pacer Gets FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19
Lungpacer Medical, based in Vancouver, Canada, announced that its Diaphragm Pacing Therapy (DPT) System received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for use in weaning COVID-19 patients off of ventilators. Patients on prolonged mechanical ventilation may experience diaphragm disuse atrophy and ventilator-induced diaphragmatic dysfunction (VIDD), which (Read more...)
NASA JPL Ventilator Goes From Development to On-Site Testing in 37 Days
Add the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the list of groups that have re-focused their efforts to help combat the global coronavirus pandemic. The same organization that put men on the moon has now developed a prototype ventilator that passed simulated human testing last week at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount [… (Read more...)
PVA Emergency Ventilator Ready for Production
PVA, a company based outside of Albany, New York that normally provides automation services to a wide variety of industries, has developed and is about to start producing its own emergency ventilator to help address the COVID-19 epidemic. The design is based on one that was approved by the United Kingdom’s Department of Health & [… (Read more...)
Yale’s Ventilator Splitter Receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization
Vent Multiplexor LLC announced that it received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for its device that can split a single ventilator so that it can be used by two patients simultaneously. The Vent Multiplexor device was developed by a team of students and faculty at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital. It is a patent-pending […]
Low-Cost Ventilator from Home Depot Components: Interview with Glen Meyerowitz, UCLA Biodesign Fellow
The current shortage of ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic has sparked significant innovation, including novel designs to split one ventilator into two, repurposing of existing devices to function as ventilators, and new solutions to reduce the need for ventilators. However, perhaps all of these innovations, and more, will be needed to accoun (Read more...)
B. Braun Infusion Pumps with Nebulizers Get FDA Emergency Authorization for COVID-19
Combining infusion pumps with nebulizers has been shown to help deliver nebulized medication to patients suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has just issued Emergency Use Authorization for B. Braun’s Perfusor Space Syringe Infusion Pump, Infusomat Space Volumetric Infusion Pump, and (Read more...)
TransAeris Diaphragm Pacing System Gets FDA Emergency Use Authorization for Quicker Ventilator Weaning
As hospitals face the possibility of ventilator shortages for COVID-19 patients, Synapse Biomedical announced that it received FDA Emergency Use Authorization for a device that helps wean patients off ventilators quicker. This, in turn, could free up ventilators for use by other patients. Weaning off of mechanical ventilation is a constant challeng (Read more...)
Rapid Medical Device Manufacturing for COVID-19 Response: Interview with Vicki Holt, CEO, Protolabs
The COVID-19 pandemic rumbles on, and the response to contain and delay the virus is astronomical, with billions of dollars and enormous levels of labor and material resources being deployed to meet the challenge. One of the major bottlenecks in combatting the virus is a lack of testing supplies and essential equipment, such as respirators, [&helli (Read more...)
Blood Filtering Device Wins FDA Emergency Use Authorization for COVID-19
The FDA has issued the first Emergency Use Authorization for a device to help treat COVID-19 patients currently in the ICU. Terumo BCT’s Spectra Optia Apheresis System, combined with Marker Therapeutics’ D2000 Adsorption Cartridge, is now indicated for adult patients with COVID-19 udergoing respiratory failure. The device is intended to (Read more...)
Researchers Turn One Ventilator into Two
A group of clinicians, medtech researchers, and companies based in Galway, Ireland, has developed a system that allows two patients to use one ventilator, essentially doubling the effectiveness of existing ventilator stocks during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Called the Galway VentShare system, the technology consists of viral filters, valves, tu (Read more...)
Aranet Multi-Patient Temp Monitoring System Unveiled for COVID Clinics
Hospitals addressing the COVID-19 epidemic are worried about being short on ventilators, personal protective equipment, and appropriate bed space where patients can be treated. The biggest hurdle may be having enough staff to monitor large numbers of patients. To help address this matter, Aranet, a company that normally makes environmental monitori (Read more...)
Electric Car Manufacturer Switches to Making Emergency Ventilators
Mullen Technologies, a company that’s aiming to soon start producing a high-performance electric car, has directed its engineering and manufacturing efforts into releasing an emergency ventilator for the current COVID-19 pandemic. The Mullen 8 ventilator, named for oxygen’s atomic number, is based on easily obtainable parts and will be (Read more...)
Breast Pumps Converted Into Ventilators to Help COVID-19 Response
A team of engineers working at University of Maryland’s TechPort, typically a drone startup incubator, are converting breast pumps into rudimentary ventilators. Breast pumps create significant suction to pull milk out of a woman’s breast. Turns out the pressure, if reversed, can probably provide enough assistance to deliver the necessar (Read more...)