Tag: Orthopedic Surgery

Smart Pants Track Physical Activity

Engineers at the Federal University of Espirito Santo in Brazil have developed smart pants that can non-intrusively track physical movements and provide updates to caregivers if the people they’re taking care of are showing signs of distress. This application could be very useful for people who are monitoring elderly patients in healthcare faciliti (Read more...)

Nanomagnet Patch Measures Muscle Movements

Researchers at UCLA have developed a wearable patch that can measure muscle movements in underlying tissues. The patch contains nanomagnets, and movements in underlying muscles can deform the resulting magnetic fields, creating an electric current. This both provides a readable signal for the system, and also means that the system is self-powered a (Read more...)

Stiff and Tough Hydrogel for Cartilage Repair

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have developed a protein-based hydrogel that is highly adapted for articular cartilage repair. A major challenge in creating biomaterial therapies to repair damaged articular cartilage is matching the mechanical properties of this highly specialized tissue. Cartilage is very tough, resisting breakin (Read more...)

Flexible Knee Wearable Tracks Motion

Researchers at the Singapore University of Technology and Design have created a flexible knee wearable that contains integrated circuitry within its knitted structure. The wearable can track joint movement in real time, assisting clinicians in spotting the early signs of movement disorders or allowing them to track the progress of patients undergoi (Read more...)

Printing Bacteria to Make Bone-Like Structures

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland have developed a method to 3D print mineralized constructs with a little helping hand from bacteria. The technique consists of printing a polymer bioink that contains bacteria that will produce calcium carbonate when exposed to a urea solution. The two-step (Read more...)

Implantable Device Adheres to Muscle, Treats Atrophy

Scientists at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard have developed a mechanically active gel-elastomer-nitinol tissue adhesive, otherwise known as MAGENTA. The implantable device functions as a soft robot, and it can be adhered to the outside of a muscle. When an electrical charge is applied to the device, a spring ins (Read more...)

AI-Designed Custom Knee Implants

Scientists at the University of Birmingham in the UK have trialed Generative Design, a design approach that relies on machine learning and artificial intelligence, to create patient-specific knee implants. At present, knee implants are typically created in a limited range of sizes and shapes. While 3D printing has opened some scope for implants tha (Read more...)

AR Headset Helps Surgeons Place Implants: Interview with Louie Vogt of Enovis Surgical

Enovis, a medtech company based in Delaware formerly known as DJO, recently announced the launch of ARVIS (Augmented Reality Visualization and Information System), an augmented reality technology that is designed to assist surgeons during implant placement in the hip and knee. The hands-free technology consists of an eyepiece that is mounted on a s (Read more...)

Ultrasound Sticker for 48 Hours of Imaging

Engineers at MIT have created an ultrasound patch that can provide long-term ultrasound imaging of internal organs and structures. The device contains a rigid piezoelectric probe array and uses an underlying layer of elastomer-covered hydrogel in lieu of the gel applied to the skin during conventional ultrasound procedures. At just the size of a po (Read more...)

Self-Powered Implant Tracks Spinal Fusion Healing

Engineers at the University of Pittsburgh created a self-powered implant that can track spinal healing while also providing mechanical support. The device can be 3D printed so that it fits a given patient perfectly and the mechanical properties can also be easily tuned to customize for each situation. The spinal fusion cage contains a triboelectric (Read more...)

Printing Bone Constructs During Surgery

Scientists at Penn State developed a method to print a ‘bone’ construct during a surgical procedure. The technique is intended to allow surgeons to rapidly fill bony defects that would not easily heal by themselves, and the researchers have turbo-charged the technique by including genes that promote bone formation. Consequently, they de (Read more...)

3D Bioprinted Constructs Change Shape Over Time

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a method to create 3D printed cell-loaded bioink constructs that can change shape over time, just like tissues in the body do. Incorporating crosslinking molecules into the printed hydrogels, some of which are UV light-sensitive, allows the constructs to undergo shape changes after pr (Read more...)

Soundwave Microchip to Grow New Bone Cells

Researchers at RMIT University in Australia built a microchip that can induce stem cells to differentiate into bone cells by stimulating them with high-frequency sound waves. The technique lets the researchers create bone cells using stem cells derived from adipose tissue, which are easier to extract than the traditional bone marrow-derived stem ce (Read more...)

Smart Orthopedic Implant to Enhance Bone Growth: Interview with Ben Hertzog, CEO at Intelligent Implants

Intelligent Implants, a medtech company based in Cork, Ireland, has developed the SmartFuse TLIF cage, a spinal implant intended to enhance bone healing and reduce rates of non-union following spinal fusion surgery. The implant is equipped with electrodes that are designed to enhance bone growth, as well as provide a means of monitoring bone healin (Read more...)

Robotic Spinal Replica for Surgical Planning

A team at Florida Atlantic University has developed a 3D-printed replica of a portion of the human spine, based on patient CT data. The patient-specific construct can be attached and articulated by a robotic platform, and a soft magnetic sensor allows the researchers to gauge intervertebral loads as the spine assumes different postures. The model [ (Read more...)

Piezoelectric Scaffold Boosts Cartilage Regeneration

A team of researchers at the University of Connecticut have developed a biomaterial scaffold that generates small amounts of electricity when compressed. The piezoelectric material is intended to facilitate cartilage regeneration in joints. Normal movement of a joint in which the scaffold is implanted will create repeated small bursts of electricit (Read more...)

Shape-Shifting Microbot to Repair Bones

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden and Okayama University in Japan developed a shape-shifting microrobot that can self-create a bone-like material under the right conditions. The electroactive material responds to low voltage electric current and changes its volume and shape, allowing the researchers to pre-program specific movement (Read more...)