Telemedicine has been around for over a decade in various forms, but the COVID-19 epidemic has turned a convenience into a necessity. Clinical practices that never seriously considered using telemedicine are now performing virtual house calls with their patients. However, although it’s possible to do a lot through a video call, many procedures such as […]
Tag: Emergency Medicine
AiRTouch Portable X-Ray Receives FDA Clearance, Can Be Used for COVID Diagnosis
Aspenstate announced that it has received FDA clearance for the AiRTouch, a lightweight portable X-ray system that could be particularly useful for quickly obtaining chest X-rays of COVID-19 patients. The handheld device weighs in at 5.5 pounds (2.5 Kg) and resembles a large digital camera with a touchscreen. AiRTouch acquires images with the push of a […]
Synaptive Evry, an MRI for Any Space, Cleared by FDA
Synaptive Medical is reporting that its Evry MRI scanner has won FDA clearance. The device is designed to make magnetic resonance imaging of the head more accessible, cheaper, and easier to manage than many current systems that require specially-built facilities, safety procedures, and costly regular helium refills. The Evry is a medium power (0.5 Tesla) […]
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 […]
Graphene Biosensor Developed for Rapid COVD-19 Testing
Researchers at the Korea Basic Science Institute, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, and collaborators have published an article on the development of graphene-based test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19, from nasopharyngeal swabs. They have determined it can detect SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples at a concentration of 242 copies per mL. and greater, a […]
Camera Images Blood Perfusion at High Resolution Thanks to Pulse Oximeter
How blood moves throughout the body and into the smallest capillaries is hard to observe using existing imaging methods. Yet, poor blood perfusion can be an indicator for a variety of medical conditions, potentially serving as a diagnostic tool and a way to help manage diseases. Infrared thermography is a decent tool for this, but […]
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 account for the shortfall […]
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 mass-produced at the company’s Monrovia, California […]
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 necessary positive end expiratory pressure that […]
University Converts CPAP Machines into Ventilators
As cities across the United States face ventilator shortages for COVID-19 patients, a group at Auburn University has developed a way to convert continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines into functioning ventilators. CPAP machines are commonly used by sleep apnea patients to help maintain an open airway during recumbent sleep. Engineers at Auburn University’s Department […]
Stryker Emergency Relief Bed to Help COVID Clinics
Stryker, a big name in the medical device space, is releasing its Emergency Relief Bed specifically designed for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company claims it’ll be able to manufacture 10,000 of these per week as the demand for extra beds escalates and facilities are converted to temporary hospitals. The Stryker Emergency Relief Bed is […]
Materialise Breathing System to Help Reduce Need for Ventilators
Conventional mechanical ventilators are the go-to method when patients in severe respiratory distress need help breathing. As things stand, there’s an unprecedented demand around the world for ventilators to help patients acutely affected by COVID-19. Materialise, a leader in custom 3D manufacturing, has now developed and is moving through regulatory approval a technology that can […]
A Look at Tesla’s Prototype Ventilator
As the United States braces for what many think may be most critical weeks in the coronavirus crisis, many companies are temporarily pivoting their manufacturing capabilities to focus on the mass shortages of PPE and medical equipment. Most notably are car manufacturers that are using their expertise in hardware engineering and manufacturing to produce much-needed […]
Oxford’s Emergency Ventilator Project Steaming Ahead
The University of Oxford and King’s College London have teamed up to develop and are now testing a new emergency ventilator that consists of devices that commonly exist in clinical spaces and scientific laboratories, and a few simple parts that can be created through 3D printing. Bringing together these devices allows the team to create […]
Ambulnz’s Software Facilitates Timely Medical Transportion During COVID-19 Pandemic
Ambulnz is a non-emergency on-demand ambulance provider that is working to improve on traditional medical transportation through the implementation and integration of various technologies. The firm describes itself as a “software-enabled medical transportation company”. When a patient needs to be moved to a new facility for treatment out of a hospital, out-patient treatment clinic, doctor, […]
AnapnoGuard Helps Prevent Ventilator Complications
Ventilators are important to maintain patients with severe respiratory distress due to COVID-19, but the machines carry their own risks. An over-inflated endotracheal tube cuff could damage the trachea, while an under-inflated cuff could result in aspiration and pneumonia. AnapnoGuard, developed by Hospitech Respiration, an Israeli firm, is an endotracheal tube plus control unit meant […]
Next-Gen TherOx SuperSaturated Oxygen Delivery System FDA Approved
ZOLL Medical, now a part of Asahi Kasei Group, won FDA approval for the latest version of its TherOx System. The product is designed to deliver SuperSaturated Oxygen (SSO2) therapy to limit heart muscle loss following “widowmaker” heart attacks, aka left anterior descending ST-elevation myocardial infarction (LAD STEMI) chronic total obstruction. The system is used […]
RAPIDPoint 500e Blood Gas Analyzer FDA Cleared to Help Ventilated Patients
To help address the COVID-19 emergency that’s taking over emergency rooms and intensive care units in the United States, the FDA has cleared the RAPIDPoint 500e blood gas system from Siemens Healthineers. The device uses the company’s Integri-sense technology to provide results on blood gas, electrolyte, metabolite, CO-oximetry, and neonatal bilirubin. This is important during […]
Robotic COVID-19 Testing Lab Can Process 1000 Patient Samples Daily
Researchers at UC Berkeley have set up a “pop-up” robotic COVID-19 testing lab that can process up to 1000 patient samples a day, and it could ramp up to as many as 3000 a day, if required. The initiative received donations of high-throughput robotic PCR systems from campus research labs within Berkeley, and the new […]
MIT Emergency Ventilator Submitted for FDA Review
The ongoing COVID-19 emergency affecting nearly the entire globe is making medical ventilators into a hot commodity. During normal times, busy intensive care units can expect to use a dozen or so ventilators at the same time. As a respiratory virus, COVID-19 can make breathing on one’s own impossible, so ventilators are expected to be […]