Siemens Healthineers has partnered with Mentice, a Swedish company that specializes in simulation solutions for endovascular therapies, to integrate the Artis icono angiography system with the VIST Virtual Patient offering. Many of today’s advanced interventional procedures require quite a bit of training for physicians to perform them safely and effectively. In the angiography suite, specifically, […]
Tag: Neurosurgery
Ultrasound and Microbubbles Used to Penetrate the Blood-Brain Barrier
While the blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the brain from infections, it also makes it difficult to get drugs that treat neurological conditions to where they’re needed. Now, researchers at Columbia University have shown that their ultrasound technique can open up the BBB and allow for the delivery of therapeutic proteins and genes into the brain. […]
Severely Disabled People Mind-Control a Robotic Arm via EEG
Scientific collaborators from Carnegie Mellon University and University of Minnesota have created a way for people to control a robotic arm using a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI). Previously, electrode array implants in the brain have been necessary to give severely disabled people the ability to manipulate an external robot. That is because implants can gather […]
Protecting Implantable Neurostimulators With Graphene to Enhance Device Longevity
Surgically implanted neurostimulators are presently used for many diseases, ranging from movement disorders, like Parkinson’s, to chronic pain. But as current research efforts suggest, their use will potentially expand to mood disorders, such as depression, and memory enhancement for Alzheimer’s. Contemporary neurostimulator technology relies on platinum in its material design, given the element’s excellent conductivity […]
Microrobot Developed for Delivery of Stem Cells to the Brain
Researchers from Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) in South Korea have developed a new microrobot that can precisely deliver therapeutic cells to very specific parts of the brain. Their work, recently published in Science Robotics, demonstrates that neural stem cells can be cultured and differentiated on their robot and that the device […]
New AI Tool, HeadXNet, to Help Detect Brain Aneurysms
Researchers from Stanford University have developed a new AI tool, dubbed HeadXNet that detects brain aneurysms from computed tomographic angiography (CTA) scans. Their work, recently published in JAMA Network Open, demonstrates that their AI tool helped radiologists identify 6 more scans with aneurysm for every 100 scans already diagnosed with aneurysm. This is an exciting […]
Neuroform Atlas Stent System FDA Approved to Treat Brain Aneurysms with Embolic Coils
The FDA has issued Stryker with approval for the company’s Neuroform Atlas Stent System. It is indicated for treatment of wide-neck, intracranial aneurysms in conjunction with embolic detachable coils, so far only the second stent approved for such procedures. The nitinol Neuroform Atlas stent is used to hold tiny metal coils inside an aneurysm, working […]
World’s First Surgical Vending Machine
Xenco Medical, a company that makes disposable spinal tools and implants, is unveiling a vending machine for tracking and dispensing these devices. Clinicians have a huge touchscreen display to choose what they’d like to retrieve out of the machine. The same display can be used to get some specs on the various devices and watch […]
Scorpion Protein Used to Help Visualize Brain Tumors
Clinicians at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Institute, along with scientists at Blaze Bioscience, Inc., have developed a new way to visualize brain tumors. The new imaging technique utilizes a special, high-sensitivity near-infrared camera developed at Cedars-Sinai, along with tozuleristide, or BLZ-100, the tumor-cell binding imaging agent developed by Blaze. The imaging agent contains a synthetic version […]
IRRAS Rolling Out New Irrigating Cerebrospinal Fluid Catheter System for Hydrocephalus
Swedish medical device company IRRAS is attempting to change the way neurosurgeons and neurointensivists handle the problem of acute hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is the abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain, and is often caused by hemorrhage, tumor, infection, or traumatic brain injury. Traditionally, surgeons use an external ventricular drain (EVD) catheter, that is […]
Looking to the Future of Neuro Devices: Exclusive Interview with Alcyone Lifesciences CEO PJ Anand
Alcyone Lifesciences is a medical technology company based out of Lowell, MA, which specializes in central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery platforms for targeted infusions of the brain or spinal cord. Their Thecaflex DRx System was recently awarded Breakthrough Device designation by the FDA, for spinal infusion of therapeutic medications. Medgadget had the opportunity to […]
Technique Combines Tumor Scans with Math Algorithms to Create Comples Tumor Models
Tumors can have a great deal of internal complexity, something which plays a central role in how cancer grow and protects themselves from attack. Understanding the structure of different types of tumors and how they come about may give researchers a way to address tumor growth. Currently, tumor models are fairly basic and don’t really […]
Rice Students Develop Non-Invasive Intracranial Pressure Sensor to Monitor Infants
Infants that experience injury or that have hydrocephalus may have swelling or fluid build-up, which can result in a high intracranial pressure (ICP). Because there are serious, life-long consequences that may result, monitoring the ICP may help doctors monitor infants, diagnose hydrocephalus, and help decide when to take interventional measures. The only methods in existence […]
UC Davis First to Get Canon’s Ultra-High Resolution CT
Clinicians at the University of California, Davis Health are now scanning patients using an Ultra-High Resolution CT scanner, the only of its kind in the United States. The Aquilion Precision from Canon Medical Systems is able to resolve things down to the 150 micron level, allowing for diagnostic insights previously impossible. The capability is made […]
CleanCase Device-Specific Smart Sterile Covers Going on Sale
SteriDev, a Lansing, Michigan firm, is releasing the first device-specific sterile mobile device coverings. The CleanCase coverings are FDA-compliant and allow surgeons, technicians, and other clinical staff to use smartphones and tablets even in the operating room (OR). These days, it can be quite a hassle to bring a smartphone in the OR, making it […]
Imperative Care Gets FDA Clearance for ZOOM Stroke Clot Remover
Imperative Care, a company based in the Silicon Valley area, won FDA clearance for its ZOOM Aspiration System for removing stroke-causing clots. The system is designed to work particularly well with Imperative’s access catheters, which are long and highly flexible devices made to reach deep into the brain. The ZOOM is comprised of the ZOOM […]
Brain-Machine Interface Can Create Synthetic Speech Based on Brain Activity
Researchers at UC San Francisco have a developed a brain-machine interface that may allow speech-impaired patients to “speak” through the device. The researchers have described the system as a stepping stone to neural speech prostheses. The system monitors the brain activity of a user and then converts this to natural sounding speech using a virtual […]
Synaptive Medical to Release MRI for Head Scans in Emergency Rooms
Synaptive Medical, a company based in Toronto, Canada, will soon be releasing its Evry device, an MRI machine dedicated to performing head scans in the emergency room. The first installation of this unique device will be at the QEII Health Sciences Centre (QEII) in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At QEII it will be used as part […]
A Visit to The applied Medical Device Institute at Grand Valley State University
Good ideas for new medical devices are a dime a dozen. Getting from an idea to an actual product is the true challenge. There are many factors to manage during the early stages of developing an idea into a product, financial potential, electronics, materials, regulatory issues, ergonomics, and clinical significance. There are now dozens of […]
Maquet PowerLED II Smart Surgical Lights Coming to America
Getinge has announced that its Maquet PowerLED II surgical lights are now available for purchase in the United States. The devices are applicable to general, as well as hybrid operating rooms, offering features that help illuminate all sorts of procedures. The lights are powered by high-end LEDs, which can be tuned to deliver light of […]