Ultrasonic therapy, sonogenetics, and ultrasounic modulation are techniques that rely on focused, high precision sound waves to do things like stimulating neural cells to fire, motivating other cells to repair themselves, and killing tumors by damaging their cellular membranes. So-called cavitation bubbles, in which air bubbles rapidly vibrate, are (Read more...)
Tag: Radiology
XableCath Blunt Tip for True Lumen Passage of Lesions Cleared by FDA for PAD
XableCath, a Salt Lake City company, won FDA clearance for its XableCath blunt tip support catheter for crossing calcified lesions in the peripheral vasculature both above and below the knee. It results in a tunnel through the lesion, helping to facilitate the placement of stents or other therapies. “In two clinical investigator-led studies, (Read more...)
480 Biomedical Develops Bioresorbable Stent as Strong as Metal
With every heartbeat blood is carried through the arteries to provide organs with life-sustaining oxygen and nutrients. In patients suffering from diseases such as atherosclerosis, arterial blood flow can be severely restricted, limiting the delivery of oxygen and nutrients. To re-establish blood flow, surgeons may place a stent to mechanically re- (Read more...)
Nanoparticle-Based Imaging of Metastasis Throughout Body
Common radiological tumor detection technique these days is done using contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which can only detect tumors of a certain size or larger. This is a major limitation, as it leaves patients with smaller tumors that grow and spread undetected, preventing early treatment of many cancers. Researchers at Rutgers (Read more...)
Philips IQon Elite Spectral CT Scanner with Unique Dual Energy Detector
Philips has launched a brand new true spectral CT scanner, the IQon Elite Spectral CT. Spectral CT provides a more nuanced look at body tissues, which reveals some information about the composition of anatomy and not only its structure. The different frequencies of X-rays in a spectral CT can be compared to different colors of […]
Seno Medical’s Imagio Combines Optoacoustics with Ultrasound to Diagnose Breast Cancer
At last week’s RSNA conference in Chicago, we got a chance to learn about Seno Medical Instruments, a San Antonio, Texas company, and its imaging technology that combines conventional ultrasound with a new modality called optoacoustic imaging. We spoke with Dr. Tom Stavros, Medical Director at Seno. The company’s Imagio system reli (Read more...)
Ultrasound Imaging Needle Set to Transform Heart Surgery
Researchers in London have published details of a revolutionary new cardiology needle capable of imaging the heart’s soft tissues from within. The team from University College London (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) used the new all-optical ultrasound imaging system for heart surgery in pigs, successfully capturing high-resolu (Read more...)
RICOH MEG Magnetoencephalography System Wins FDA Clearance
Ricoh, a large Japanese industrial company, won FDA clearance for its RICOH MEG magnetoencephalography system. The device is able to detect electrical signals within the brain by measuring the magnetic fields produced as electric currents move within the brain. According to the company, the device was developed to provide “deeper m (Read more...)
Guided Microrobots Made of Algae and Magnetic Particles
Researchers have developed microrobots using algae and magnetic particles that can be guided magnetically to sites in the body and tracked, by spotting the algae’s natural luminescence or using an MRI scanner. The investigators hope that swarms of these tiny robots could help with diagnostics and treatment in areas of the body that are curren (Read more...)
InterAtrial Shunt Device from Corvia Medical Shows Promising Results in Diastolic Heart Failure
At the recent American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, researchers have announced positive results in a clinical study of the InterAtrial Shunt Device (IASD) from Corvia Medical, which allows blood to travel between the atria of the heart, to safely alleviate the symptoms of diastolic heart failure. Much of the work has been carried out at [ (Read more...)
Quick and Easy Deuteration and Tritiation of Potential Compounds to Speed Drug Development
During the development of many drugs, radioactive markers and so-called stable labels, typically deuterium and tritium respectively, are often used to trace the destination of chemical compounds and their metabolites. This is a pretty easy thing to do in lab animals, once you have enough molecules of the compound you’re testing in which (Read more...)
FDA Clears Savi Scout Breast Tumor Localizer
Cianna Medical won FDA clearance for its SAVI SCOUT reflector, a non-radioactive implant for wire-free localization of tumors within the breast. Because the implant doesn’t emit any harmful radiation and is a fairly simple device, the emitter can remain implanted for an indefinite period of time. This gives clinicians greater freedom of sched (Read more...)
China’s Neusoft Medical Gets FDA Clearance for NeuViz Prime CT Scanner
Neusoft Medical, a Chinese firm, won FDA clearance for and is releasing its NeuViz Prime 128-slice CT scanner. The device sports spectral imaging, which uses different energy levels to image the body and attain in many cases sharper, easier to read results. Fast rotation of the gantry (0.259s) and a 25ms temporal resolution help to […]
Stryker’s Neuroform Atlas Stent Gets Humanitarian Device Exemption to Treat Brain Aneurysms
Stryker landed FDA approval for its Neuroform Atlas stent via a humanitarian device exemption (HDE). The nitinol stent is intended for use along with neurovascular embolic coils to treat wide neck, intracranial, saccular aneurysms. The coils are used to pack aneurysms, while the Neuroform Atlas stent is placed across the neck of the aneurysms (Read more...)
CT Scanning at Resolutions Down to 100nm Unveiled by German Researchers
CT scanning technology has become a routine modality in many fields of medicine, and yet the imaging provided by CT scanners is pretty low resolution in a world of $500 4K TVs. Researchers at Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on a potentially revolutionary new way tha (Read more...)
Researchers Break Fundamental Barrier of Photoacoustic Imaging: Can View Capillaries at Super Resolution
Photoacoustic imaging is a way to look beneath the surface of a biological sample at high resolution. A laser is used to excite tissue, expanding it slightly and generating vibrations within it, which results in sound waves. It images better than ultrasound and at depths greater than optical techniques, revealing some pretty small objects (Read more...)
DynamX, a Novel Stent That Turns from Rigid to Flexible While Inside Vessel
With every heart beat, our blood vessels expand and contract, something known as pulsatile motion. When commonly used metal stents are placed within vessels, they prevent those vessels from exhibiting pulsatile motion. This may be a cause of or a compounding factor for restenosis and may even lead to a cardiovascular disease to develop faster. [&he (Read more...)
Healcerion Receives FDA Clearance for New SONON 300L Wireless, App-based Ultrasound System
Healcerion, based in South Korea, was the first company to receive FDA clearance for their wireless, app-based ultrasound system back in 2015. The groundbreaking work done by South Korean engineers and scientists laid the foundation for the development of an ultrasound transducer that works with most smartphones or tablets. Since introducing the SO (Read more...)
Cheap, Easy to Integrate Technology Converts Any 2D Ultrasound Machine into 3D Scanner
Portable ultrasound technology is improving and becoming more affordable, allowing it to be used in places previously impossible due to size and cost. Full size ultrasound imagers can do some impressive stuff, such as creating 3D reconstructions obtained from 2D probes. Now researchers at Duke University are introducing incredibly cheap and easy to (Read more...)
World’s First MRI Compatible Patient Monitor Cleared by FDA
Traditional vital signs monitors found in most patient hospital rooms can’t be taken into the MRI suite, as that may lead to tragicomic consequences. A patient requiring close monitoring has to be transferred to a specialty monitor attached to a heavy cart that prevents it from being sucked into the bore of the MRI’s magnet, […]