Clinical researchers at Nagoya City University in Japan have tested an AI-powered surgical robot in its ability to assist with percutaneous nephrolithotomy, which is a minimally invasive procedure to remove large kidney stones. The technique involves accessing the kidney through the skin, and typically requires a highly experienced surgeon. The rob (Read more...)
Tag: Radiology
Automated Wearable Breast Ultrasound System: Interview with Maryam Ziaei, CEO of iSono Health
iSono Health, a medtech company based in San Francisco, has created the ATUSA System, a wearable 3D ultrasound breast scanning system. The device is worn on the breast, and does not rely on operator experience or skill to obtain consistent, high quality breast scans. As the scanning takes place automatically, it can be used by […]
Smart Stent Monitors Hemodynamics
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a smart stent that can monitor hemodynamic parameters. The wireless and battery-free device can transmit the data to the outside of the body, and is powered through a wireless energy transfer system that uses magnetic fields, similar to wireless chargers that are available for many s (Read more...)
Wireless Implant for Anti-Cancer Photodynamic Therapy
Researchers at Texas A&M University created a wireless device that aims to illuminate and destroy residual tumor cells left after cancer resection. The device can be used by surgeons to illuminate the tumor bed after resection. It works in combination with a photosensitizer drug that is administered before the procedure and accumulates in tumor (Read more...)
Excitable Nanoparticles Destroy Endometriosis Lesions
Researchers at Oregon State University developed a nanoparticle system that can aid with the removal of endometrial lesions in a minimally invasive fashion. In endometriosis, endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus, causing pain and affecting fertility. Surgery to remove these lesions is often unsuccessful and repeat surgeries are often requ (Read more...)
Wireless Data Transfer for Implanted Devices Using Ionic Communication
Researchers at the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science have developed a new method for implanted devices to communicate with the outside world that exploits the ions that are naturally present in our tissues. Ion-rich tissues store potential energy, and in this paradigm an implanted device would alter this stored energy wi (Read more...)
Telerobotic System Uses Magnets to Perform Endovascular Procedures
Researchers at MIT have developed a telerobotic surgical system that allows a surgeon to remotely treat patients who are suffering a stroke or aneurysm. The system could be very useful, as achieving treatment as soon as possible after a stroke is crucial, but the endovascular surgeons who specialize in treating such patients may not be […]
vMap Mapping Technology for Cardiac Arrhythmias: Interview with Mike Monko, CEO of Vektor Medical
Vektor Medical, a medtech company based in San Diego, created the vMap system, a mapping solution for cardiac arrhythmias. The system is the first to identify arrhythmia sources anywhere in the heart, including the septal wall, outflow tracts, and all four chambers. The company reports that the technology takes less than three minutes to provide [& (Read more...)
vMap Mapping Technology for Cardiac Arrhythmias: Interview with Mike Monko, CEO of Vektor Medical
Vektor Medical, a medtech company based in San Diego, created the vMap system, a mapping solution for cardiac arrhythmias. The system is the first to identify arrhythmia sources anywhere in the heart, including the septal wall, outflow tracts, and all four chambers. The company reports that the technology takes less than three minutes to provide [& (Read more...)
Device Makes Diffuse Ultrasound Waves for Intracranial Applications
Researchers at the University of California San Diego created an ultrasound transducer that is intended to provide safer ultrasound treatment when working inside the brain. Ultrasound has significant therapeutic potential for various ailments that originate in the brain, including epilepsy, and next-level sonogenetics involves targeting various cel (Read more...)
Magnetic Tentacle Robot Travels Deep into Lungs
Researchers at the University of Leeds in the UK have created a magnetic “tentacle robot” that is just 2 mm in diameter, which they hope will be able to navigate through some of the smallest airways in our lungs. At present, a bronchoscope is used to investigate the lungs, but this cannot pass into very […]
New Vascular Contrast for Clearer Blood Vessel Imaging
Researchers at Johns Hopkins developed a new imaging technique that allows them to view the vasculature of experimental animals in great detail. Research into a variety of conditions, from vascular disease to cancer, relies on acquiring images of the vasculature in animals, with a variety of imaging techniques available. These researchers have crea (Read more...)
Funky Helmet Enhances MRI Brain Scans
A team of engineers and radiologists at Boston University created a helmet that can dramatically improve MRI scans of the brain. The device consists of a series of magnetic metamaterial resonators that significantly boost MRI performance. This results in crisper images that can be obtained at twice the speed of a normal scan. The breakthrough [&hel (Read more...)
MRI-Guided Magnetic Seeds Heat and Destroy Tumors
Scientists at University College London have developed a highly targeted anti-tumor treatment. The approach involves guiding ferromagnetic thermoseeds to the site of a tumor using the magnetic fields generated by an MRI scanner. The magnetic seeds can then destroy the tumor through localized heating that is induced by an MR-compatible thermoablativ (Read more...)
Low-Field MRI for New Imaging Possibilities, Fewer X-rays
Researchers at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center are using a new low-field MRI system that may expand the capabilities of MRI for patients with implanted devices, patients who require lung imaging, and obese patients. The system, which was developed in a collaboration between Siemens and Ohio State, has a magnetic field strength of [& (Read more...)
Wearable Helmet for Non-Invasive Optical Brain Imaging
Kernel, a medtech company based in California, has developed the Kernel Flow, a wearable helmet that can perform time domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) imaging of the brain. The system has a smaller footprint, is less expensive and less complex than benchtop TD-fNIRS systems, but has demonstrated similar imaging performance. T (Read more...)
Soft X-Ray Tomography for Quick 3D Imaging of Cell Organelles
Researchers at Heidelberg University in Germany used an imaging technique called soft X-ray tomography to obtain highly detailed 3D images of the interior of cells, including changes that occur when the cell is infected with SARS-CoV-2. The approach can provide a high-resolution 3D image in minutes, which is much faster than other microscopy techni (Read more...)
Giant Cell Arteritis Fast-Track Clinics Make Inroads into US
Fast-track clinics are using vascular ultrasound to streamline diagnosis of giant cell arteritis, but the United States has a way to go to catch up to Europe. Medscape Medical News
3D Blood Vessel Map Reveals Location of Stem Cells
Scientists at Johns Hopkins used a combination of molecular labeling and imaging techniques to create a three-dimensional map of the blood vessels in the mouse skull. Their approach also reveals niches where stem cell populations lurk, which could help researchers to understand how blood vessels and cells behave in various states of disease or inju (Read more...)
Fish-Shaped Microrobots to Deliver Chemotherapy to Tumors
Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China, working with outside collaborators, have developed shape-shifting microrobots that are designed to be guided to a target area in the body using magnets, and then release a drug cargo in response to the local environment. The application that the researchers have pursued involves gu (Read more...)