Cancer of the esophagus is often related to chronic heartburn, something patients too often end up ignoring. The onset of the potentially deadly disease can be detected, though, given good enough imaging and regular screenings. The imaging component, that we’re particularly interested in, relies on physicians to take biopsies of random bits o (Read more...)
Tag: GI
Mauna Kea’s Cellvizio AQ-Flex 19 Miniprobe FDA Cleared for Analyzing Lung Nodules
Mauna Kea Technologies, based in Paris, France, won clearance from the FDA for its Cellvizio needle-based AQ-Flex 19 confocal miniprobe for use in sampling and imaging of peripheral lung nodules. The product allows physicians to image lung nodules directly through existing bronchoscopes and accompanying accessories. Additionally, in some marke (Read more...)
Microrobots Take Minutes to Detect C. diff in Stool Samples
Detecting bacterial infestations within the GI system, particularly using low cost methods, takes so much time that treatment is often administered too late. Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a particular nasty nuisance that kills many frail patients, and even with a hospital lab it can take up to two days to get the results. Researchers (Read more...)
Ingestible Pill Stays Inside Stomach, Monitors Digestion
There are a variety of gastrointestinal conditions that may be better treated if clinicians had an idea of what’s going on inside the stomach. But, the stomach is full of acid and it eventually expels whatever drops into it, making it difficult to have sensors operate inside for long periods of time. Researchers at MIT […]
Weight Loss Implant Simulates Food Inside Stomach
There are millions of clinicians fighting on the front lines of the obesity epidemic every day, but there doesn’t seem to be a winning strategy. The population of seriously overweight people around the world is rising and will soon reach one billion. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers may have a technological, drug-free soluti (Read more...)
Bluetooth-Powered Smart Electronic Pill Releases Drugs on Demand
Researchers at MIT, Draper, an engineering firm, and Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an electronic wireless device that can stay inside the gut for long periods of time while releasing drugs into the body and measuring various parameters. The device has Bluetooth connectivity built in, and it can share its rea (Read more...)
Artificial Intelligence Automatically Spots Polyps During Colonoscopies (Interview)
Artificial intelligence is making big strides in a variety of medical fields, including radiology, oncology, and even ophthalmology. Now a company called Wision AI, based in Shanghai, Cina, is adapting artificial intelligence vision software to help doctors spot polyps during a colonoscopy. The technology is meant for real-time use and the procedur (Read more...)
E-Motion System for Stimulating Esophagus Helps Restart Digestive System, Cleared in EU
E-Motion Medical, an Israeli company, won the European CE Mark for its E-Motion System that stimulates the esophageal peristalsis in order restore failing motor activities of the digestive system. Patients suffering from acute gastrointestinal dysmotility (GID), which includes many, if not most, of the critically ill, require a great deal of c (Read more...)
MRI Helps to Optimize Vagus Nerve Stimulation for GI Conditions
Vagus nerve stimulation to address various gastrointestinal conditions is already an approved FDA therapy. While effective in many people, it is hard to understand the mechanism of such treatment and to tune it well for each individual patient. Researchers at Purdue University are now utilizing MRI scanning to actually see what effect nerve s (Read more...)
MRI Reveals How Neurostimulation Can Treat GI Disorder
Though it may come as a surprise to some, there are a number of gastrointestinal conditions that can be treated using electrical nerve stimulation. The stomach, for example, can be motivated to empty by neurostimulating the vagus nerve to treat gastroparesis in patients with diabetic autonomic neuropathy and others. While this has been known for [& (Read more...)
Obalon Touch Automated Inflator for Intragastric Balloons
Obalon Therapeutics, a company that makes swallowable, gas-filled intragastric balloons that are an option over bariatric surgeries, won FDA approval for the Obalon Touch automated inflation system. The new product is used to inflate the Obalon Balloon and is going to be made available along with the new Obalon Navigation System (pending FDA approv (Read more...)
FDA Clears Pure-Vu Slim Sleeve to Clean Out Colons Using Slim Colonoscopes
Motus GI, a company out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, won FDA clearance for its Pure-Vu Slim Sleeve, an extension that allows the Pure-Vu System to be used with slim colonoscopes. The Pure-Vu System allows for cleansing of the colon and may even let patients skip on fasting in preparation for a colonoscopy. It delivers […]
Olympus Gets FDA Clearance for EZ Shot 3 Plus 25 G Endoscopic Ultrasound Needle
Olympus won FDA clearance for its EZ Shot 3 plus 25 G single-use endoscopic ultrasound needle for fine needle aspiration and fine needle biopsy procedures. The company also won added indications for the entire EZ Shot 3 Plus product range. The EZ Shot 3 Plus is intended to be used with Olympus’s endoscopic ultrasound system […]
Pills to Safely Deliver Therapeutic Micromotors Inside Stomach
A number of researchers around the world are developing tiny micromotors to perform highly targeted tasks within the body. Researchers at University of California San Diego, for example, have developed micromotors that have an antibiotic coating to treat stomach ulcers. Though the technique works great, getting the micromotors to the ulcers wi (Read more...)
New Smaller Flexible Robotic Surgical System from South Korea
At KAIST, a major South Korean science and technology university, researchers have developed a flexible robotic surgical system that is designed to work on difficult to reach places. The K-FLEX endoscopic surgical robot has arms that are only 3.7 mm in diameter, allowing them to work through standard 4.2 mm internal channels of an endoscope. [&hell (Read more...)
New Implant for GERD Avoids Swallowing Complications
A new implantable device has been approved for use in Europe to help treat acid reflux disease. The IM RefluxStop device from Implantica, a company based in Zug, Switzerland, is designed to avoid some of the limitations of current minimally invasive reconstructive acid reflux procedures, such as difficulty swallowing, burping, and vomiting. The com (Read more...)
Nano-Optic Endoscope Allows High-Resolution Imaging
Researchers at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital have developed a new type of endoscopic imaging catheter. The catheter uses metalenses, which contain nanostructures to focus light, to achieve higher resolution imaging than conventional catheter imaging systems. So far, the researchers have used the new system to image deep into (Read more...)
FUJIFILM’s New Endoscopes Offer Improved Imaging and Ergonomics
FUJIFILM Medical Systems is releasing a line of new endoscopes (700 Series) that were designed to improve visualization, user comfort, and procedural efficiency. The devices feature CMOS “chip-in-the-tip” technology that places the imaging sensor close to the objects to be observed. The new endoscopes are compatible with the& (Read more...)
DiLumen Stabilizes Scopes Within Large Intestine to Help Avoid Surgeries: Now Approved in Europe
Lumendi, a company based in Buckinghamshire, England, won European regulatory approval for its DiLumen Endolumenal Interventional Platform (EIP). The one-time-use device fits over typical endoscopes to provide stability when visualizing, diagnosing, and treating conditions within the large intestine. It works by inflating two balloons that squ (Read more...)
MedCline Sleep System for Acid Reflux Cleared in Europe
The MedCline sleep assist device from Amenity Health, a San Diego, CA firm, won European regulatory approval to be marketed as a medical device for preventing acid reflux. We at Medgadget tried the MedCline ourselves and wrote a comprehensive review of the innovative product. The MedCline positions the sleeper in an inclined position, and thanks [& (Read more...)