Tag: GI

FDA Clears First Completely Disposable Duodenoscope

A few years ago it was discovered that duodenoscopes, which are used in Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography (ERCP) procedures, were bacterial vectors, spreading disease between patients and even causing multiple deaths. This was due to insufficient processing, so some manufacturers put out devices that are easier to clean, while others (Read more...)

FDA Clears First Duodenoscope with Disposable Business End

Pentax Medical won FDA clearance for its ED34-i10T2 duodenoscope that features a disposable elevator end piece, making it easier to guarantee that the scope is properly sterilized between patients. This is the first scope of its kind, although we recently covered the clearance of ScopeSeal, a disposable device that snaps over a scope’s busine (Read more...)

Fidmi Enteral Feeding Device Prevents Dislodgement, Lets Patients Swap Inner Tube Themselves

Fidmi Medical, a company based in Israel, won FDA clearance for its new low-profile enteral feeding device. The product is designed to help overcome many of the challenges presented by percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tubes, especially dislodgements and clogging of the inside. The Fidmi product can be delivered as the initial tube, as well (Read more...)

Ethicon’s New ECHELON CIRCULAR Powered Stapler

Ethicon, a part of J&J, just unveiled the ECHELON CIRCULAR, which the company touts as the first powered circular stapler specifically designed for colorectal, gastric, and thoracic procedures. The device features so-called “Gripping Surface Technology” that is supposedly more tender on the tissues being stapled, distributing forces (Read more...)

Shear-Thinning Gel Makes for Easier Polyp Removals

When removing pre-cancerous polyps from the colon, physicians typically inject saline into the tissue below the polyps to raise them and make them easier to access. However, saline drains away quickly, requiring precise timing and repeat injections, among other difficulties. Now, scientists at MIT have developed an injectable material that can be u (Read more...)

Diagnostic Pill Samples Bacteria While Traveling Inside Gut

The microbiome inside our gut contains a wide variety of bacterial species, some of which are a source of disease. Currently, only the lower intestine can be sampled non-invasively to learn about the bacterial flora within, so there’s actually little knowledge about what goes on higher up the GI tract. Researchers at Tufts University have [&h (Read more...)

Self-Powered Microrobots Deliver Drugs to Tumors in the Gut

Treating tumors within the GI system is often a difficult challenge, frequently requiring invasive surgery. Scientists at Caltech have now developed self-propelled microrobots that can deliver drugs to precise spots within the intestines, and that can let clinicians monitor and control their activity. Besides drug delivery, the microrobots have the (Read more...)

CompCyst Tool Developed to Identify Precancerous Cysts

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a new computational and biomolecular tool, dubbed CompCyst, that can identify precancerous pancreatic cysts. The technology provides a new method for reliably identifying cancer-causing cysts from those that are not cancer-causing. The teams work demonstrates that in over half of pa (Read more...)

Robot Navigates Tiny Ultrasound Pill Through Colon

While endoscopes give physicians a view into the interior of the GI tract, they are limited in the areas that they can reach and the imaging they can provide. Miniaturized imaging devices in the form of swallowable electronic pills have been around for a few years now. They move through the entirety of the GI […]