The FDA has cleared the MAGNETOM Sola 1.5 Tesla MRI machine from Siemens Healthineers, a device that features the company’s BioMatrix patient-centric technology, previously only available on 3 Tesla scanners. BioMatrix accounts for different patients sizes and body types, helping clinicians to prepare and perform scans so that rescans don&rsq (Read more...)
Tag: Medicine
Body Vision Releases LungVision for Early-Stage Lung Cancer Diagnostics
Body Vision Medical out of Ramat Ha Sharon, Israel is releasing its LungVision platform for planning, navigating to, and targeting small pulmonary nodules within the peripheral regions of the lungs. The product integrates into bronchoscopy suites and provides a step-by-step process that the company claims doesn’t require a large learning curv (Read more...)
Aptar Pharma Releases New Portable Ready-to-Go Upper Respiratory Inhaler
Aptar Pharma, a company based outside of Chicago, is releasing a new portable and easy to use inhaler for upper respiratory conditions. The PureHale device comes ready to use, and the tank can take saline or other solutions designed to clean, soothe, and moisturize the upper respiratory tract. The inhaler creates an even and mist […]
Unique Nebulizer and Drug Combo Approved for MAC Lung Disease
PARI Pharma, a German manufacturer of aerosol delivery products, won FDA approval of its LAMIRA nebulizer along with Insmed‘s ARIKAYCE (amikacin liposome inhalation suspension) drug for treating lung infections caused by the mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), a group of bacteria that are difficult to treat in many patients. The approval (Read more...)
Feed.fm Brings Music to Mobile Health with Launch of Health.fm: Interview with CEO Jeff Yasuda
Studies have shown that listening to music can have clinically-beneficial side effects from lowering cortisol hormone levels that cause stress and anxiety to correlating highly with verbal memory improvement in stroke patients when compared to patients not listening to music. Seeking to leverage its existing music expertise and enter the mobile hea (Read more...)
PureFlow External Counter-Pulsation Therapy System Cleared by FDA
Xtreem Pulse, a company based in New York City, was cleared by the FDA to introduce its PureFlow system in the U.S. as a treatment option for patients with chronic stable angina that is refractory to optimal anti-anginal medical therapy while not being able to receive a revascularization procedure. The company says the device is […]
Glow-In-The-Dark Paper Test Rapidly Detects Infectious Diseases
Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands and Keio University in Japan have developed a paper-based diagnostic test, which can be used to rapidly and inexpensively test for a variety of infectious diseases. A clinician can apply a drop of blood to the paper strip and detect the color of the emitted light […]
SleepScore Lab’s Non-Contact, No Hardware Sleep Monitoring System: Product Review and Interview with CEO
It has been less than a year since Medgadget tried out SleepScore Lab’s SleepScore Max, the company’s second generation of sleep monitoring devices, following the S+ system. Today, we’re onto their third offering: the SleepScore App. While both S+ and SleepScore Max systems paired hardware and software in a combined offering, the (Read more...)
North American Rescue Audio Bleeding Control Kit: Product Review
Trauma is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. To this day, it remains the number one cause of death for individuals under the age of 47. Studies show that blood loss, or the consequences thereof, accounts for nearly 40% of these trauma deaths and about half occur at the scene of the injury […]
Vagus Nerve Stimulator Doubles Movement Recovery in Stroke Patients
Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed and helped to commercialize a vagus nerve stimulator therapy, which significantly enhanced movement recovery in stroke patients undergoing rehab in a recent study. The device, called the Vivistim, is currently being tested and developed by a UT Dallas spinoff company called MicroTransp (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...)
Thromboresistant Hydrogel Materials for Venous Catheters: Interview with CEO of Access Vascular
Access Vascular, based in Massachusetts, has developed a peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) composed of a thromboresistant hydrogel material. The catheter could reduce the incidence of catheter-related thrombi and resulting adverse events. When a catheter encounters blood, blood cells and proteins begin to accumulate on its surfac (Read more...)
Abbott’s New FreeStyle Libre 2 Continuous Glucometer with Level Alarms Cleared in EU
Abbott won the European CE Mark for its FreeStyle Libre 2 continuous glucose monitor that features low and high glucose level alarms, letting patients know in real-time that they’re falling outside of their normal range. The system doesn’t require regular and painful finger pricks, instead relying on an upper arm sensor that regularly m (Read more...)
A SMART Idea: Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria (Interview)
Sickle cell disease and malaria are perhaps the biggest public health challenges in many parts of Africa. Countless organizations are tackling these two diseases, but quantifying and tracking disease burden remains tough. The team behind SMART (Sickle Cell and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing) hopes that they can help. SMART is a point-of-care test (Read more...)
A SMART Idea: Point-of-Care Diagnostic for Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria (Interview)
Sickle cell disease and malaria are perhaps the biggest public health challenges in many parts of Africa. Countless organizations are tackling these two diseases, but quantifying and tracking disease burden remains tough. The team behind SMART (Sickle Cell and Malaria Accurate Remote Testing) hopes that they can help. SMART is a point-of-care test (Read more...)
Science Fiction Inspired Handheld Diagnostic Device
A team of researchers at Glasgow University, UK have developed a portable rapid diagnostic device that could be used to detect a number of conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Inspired by the famous Star Trek medical tricorder, the research team behind the innovation set out to create a “multicorder” device. The (Read more...)
Heidelberg Engineering’s OCT Angiography FDA Cleared for Eye Assessments
Heidelberg Engineering, based in Franklin, MA, won FDA clearance for its OCT (optical coherence tomography) Angiography Module for the company’s SPECTRALIS eye imaging systems. The offering, used to visualize retinal vasculature in 3D, is available not only on new SPECTRALIS installations, but on existing upgradeable systems as well. OCT Angi (Read more...)
Interview with Tobias Pforr of aktiia, an Optical Blood Pressure Monitoring Company
aktiia, a Swiss company that promises to deliver an optical blood pressure monitoring device, just raised $4 million USD in seed funding. We spoke with aktiia’s Tobias Pforr, head of business development and marketing, and Josep Sola, CTO, to learn more. Ben Ouyang, Medgadget: Tell me about aktiia. Tobias Pforr, aktiia: aktiia was (Read more...)
Mobile Clinics for Disaster Zones and Low Resource Communities: Interview with CEO of World Housing Solution
World Housing Solution, based in Florida, specializes in rapidly deployable buildings. Recently, they have focused on providing fully-equipped mobile clinics that can be fabricated and installed very quickly in disaster zones. The clinics are conceived as serving patients who can’t reach a hospital or medical facility. So far, the company has (Read more...)
Modernizing Hospital Drug Management: Interview with Kit Check’s CEO, Kevin MacDonald
Inventory management grows increasingly difficult as a business or institution grows larger. Often, it is viewed as a purely economic problem – better management of inventory (location, expiry dates, etc…) results in better savings for a business. However, hospitals have a particular obligation towards excellent management of their inv (Read more...)