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...)
Tag: Neurosurgery
Leica’s Augmented Reality Surgical Microscope Combines Fluoroscopy and Natural Color Vision
Leica Microsystems won FDA clearance to introduce its GLOW800 augmented reality surgical fluorescence system for vascular neurosurgery. The system provides provides simultaneous, natural color view of the surgical field overlaid with real-time vascular flow, all with full depth perception and without any misalignment between the two images. Previou (Read more...)
Spinal Cord Epidural Stimulation Lets Paralyzed Walk Again
While paralysis is common following a serious spinal injury, it seems that many patients may be treated with a new therapy that has already proven to restore walking and standing in a few study volunteers. Researchers at University of Louisville in Kentucky, reporting in New England Journal of Medicine, combined spinal cord epidural stimulatio (Read more...)
Paladin Carotid PTA Balloon with Embolic Protection Filter Cleared by FDA
Contego Medical, out of Raleigh, North Carolina, won FDA clearance for its Paladin carotid PTA (Percutaneous Transluminal Angioplasty) balloon catheter. The device, used to open up narrow arteries and to post-dilation of self-expanding stents, has a built-in embolic protection filter that traps any debris that may become dislodged and forced to flo (Read more...)
Focused Ultrasound and Intranasal Drug Delivery for Brain Cancer Therapy
Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a new method to bypass the blood-brain barrier and deliver drugs to the brain, which could be particularly useful in difficult-to-treat brain tumors. The technique involves administering drugs through an intranasal spray, meaning that the drug can travel directly into the brain a (Read more...)
Seizure Control Device Delivers Drugs Inside Brain
A collaboration between researchers at University of Cambridge in the UK and École Nationale Supérieure des Mines and INSERM in France has developed a device that can sense electrical brain activity and deliver a pre-loaded drug dose in response. It has already been tried on mice undergoing seizures, releasing a native brain chemical (Read more...)
Two New Penumbra Catheters to Suck Out Stroke Causing Clots
Penumbra, a company famous for its suction-based stroke clot removal devices, is releasing what it says is its “most advanced technology,” the Penumbra JET 7 and Penumbra JET D Reperfusion Catheters. The devices work with the company’s Penumbra ENGINE system provides the vacuum aspiration that’s necessary to pull a thro (Read more...)
RightEye Vision Tests for Eyes and Brain: Interview with Co-Founder and CSO Dr. Melissa Hunfalvay
Medgadget recently demoed RightEye’s vision tests with Dr. Jennifer Kungle, a provider at The Center for Vision Development, and worked with the beta version of the company’s at-home EyeQ Trainer. It was a great experience that this editor would recommend for patients going through vision rehabilitation or individuals seeking a more viv (Read more...)
Draper’s Wireless Brain Implant to Make New Therapies Possible
Draper, an engineering firm in Cambridge, MA, has developed a tiny wireless neuromodulation device that may be small enough to implant into the interior of the cranium right against the brain. Current brain stimulators are placed, like pacemakers, under the skin in the chest, with electric leads reaching out through the vasculature into the brain. (Read more...)
Training Athletes’ Dynamic Vision with System Originally Designed to Detect Concussions
SyncThink is a company known for making eye tracking devices that can help to diagnose brain concussions. Their FDA-cleared EYE-SYNC technology is already being used by a number of university sports programs, as well as by major hospitals. Now the same technology is being adapted to help athletes in demanding sports to improve their dynamic [&helli (Read more...)
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Highly Effective at Treating Drug Resistant Depression
Drugs have been the go-to therapy for psychiatrists treating depression, but implantable neurostimulators have been making substantial impact lately. A national study headed by a team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis wanted to find out how well this drug-free technique can control serious depression. The team evaluated abo (Read more...)
7D Surgical’s Machine-Vision Image Guidance for Cranial Surgery FDA Cleared
7D Surgical out of Toronto, Canada won FDA approval to introduce its Machine-vision Image Guided Surgery (MvIGS) system for cranial surgery. The system uses cameras and computer vision algorithms to map the external anatomy without requiring any markers to be placed on the body. Typically, fiducial markers are placed on the skin that identify (Read more...)
RightEye Vision Tests with Contextualized Results: Review and Interview
Many readers will be familiar with visiting an eye doctor to receive a range of exams to evaluate attributes such as visual acuity, color blindness, eye movement, depth perception, or the presence of glaucoma. These vision tests focus on the eyes themselves and how well they are functioning. Perhaps less familiar to our readers are […]
Hospital Introducing HoloLens Augmented Reality into the Operating Room
Alder Hey, an important children’s hospital in Liverpool, England, is working on integrating Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality technology into its operating theaters. The HoloLens is a headset that is able to overlay digital images onto a person’s field of view, essentially mixing virtual reality with the real world. The hospita (Read more...)
Genotype-Specific Microparticle Treatment for Brain Cancer
Researchers from Harvard and MIT have developed microparticles that can treat a specific genetic subtype of glioma, a brain cancer. The microparticles slowly release a drug that specifically targets cancer cells that rely on a particular enzyme. During surgery to remove the brain tumor, clinicians can conduct a rapid (30 min) genetic test on a [&he (Read more...)
TIGERTRIEVER 13, World’s Smallest Clot Retriever for Strokes, Cleared in Europe
Rapid Medical, based in Yokneam, Israel, won European regulatory approval to introduce its TIGERTRIEVER 13, the narrowest clot retriever now available for use in treating ischemic stroke. The device can be used in vessels as small as 1 millimeter in width and up to a maximum of 2.5 mm, where larger retrievers would be appropriate. It work (Read more...)
EMBOTRAP II Clot Retriever Now Saving People from Ischemic Strokes in U.S.
CERENOVUS, a part of Johnson & Johnson, is reporting that its EMBOTRAP II clot retriever has been used commercially for the first time in the U.S. to reverse an ischemic stroke. The catheter-delivered device is able to securely grab onto the clot without squeezing it too hard, allowing the physician to manipulate the thrombus as a [&hellip (Read more...)
First Blood Flow Diverting Stent for Large and Giant Brain Aneurysms Approved in U.S.
Stryker won FDA pre-market approval for its Surpass Streamline Flow Diverter, a device indicated for treatment of large and even giant unruptured intracranial aneurysms. This is only the second flow diverting stent to be approved in the U.S. and the first one for large and giant wide neck aneurysms. “Surpass Streamline is the first flow (Read more...)
Medtronic Releases Tablet Based Deep Brain Stimulation Clinician Programmer
Medtronic won FDA approval and is releasing its Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) Clinician Programmer and Activa Programming Application. The app, loaded on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 tablet, lets neurologists and neurosurgeons program the stimulation using intuitive controls. One significant feature of the new programming capability is that it will (Read more...)
Neurosurgery at Mount Sinai Now Using 4K, 3D Robotic Zeiss Microscope
The Department of Neurosurgery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is now the proud owner of a rare new ZEISS KINEVO 900 surgical microscope. The robotic-powered device sports 4K resolution and 3D visualization, giving doctors an impressively realistic and detailed view of the surgical scene. The live imagery is displayed both (Read more...)