At Harvard University a team of scientists and engineers developed an exosuit that uses ultrasound to measure muscle activity. The capability allows for rapid calibration of the suit for users’ needs. The soft wearable device continuously assists when walking or running, reducing the energy required to perform these tasks, which could be very (Read more...)
Tag: Radiology
A Handheld X-Ray System: Interview with Evan Ruff and Gregory Kolovich, Co-Founders of OXOS Medical
OXOS Medical, a medtech spin-off out of Georgia Tech, has created the Micro C, an FDA cleared handheld X-ray system that is designed to image the distal extremities, from the shoulder to the hand and from the knee to the foot. The device is intended to prevent situations in which clinicians have to handle and […]
Swoop Portable MRI: Interview with David Scott, President and CEO of Hyperfine
Hyperfine, a company based in St Guilford, Connecticut, created Swoop, a portable MRI scanner. The device received FDA approval as the first bedside MRI scanner in 2020, and a recent study has shown that it can help to accurately spot hemorrhagic stroke, detecting 85 of 88 blood-negative cases (96.6% specificity). Rapid detection is important for [ (Read more...)
Cracking Calcium in Arteries Using Sound Waves: Interview with Shockwave Medical’s Scott Shadiow
Shockwave Medical, a medtech company based in California, has developed a technique called intravascular lithotripsy, which involves delivering sonic waves to calcified plaque in an artery in much the same way that sound waves have been used to treat kidney stones for many years. The idea is to safely crack the calcified deposits so that […]
(Read more...)Steerable Catheter to Navigate Tortuous Blood Vessels in Brain
A team at University of California San Diego invented a way to make steerable catheters that can more precisely navigate the tortuous architecture of the brain vasculature. The device was bioinspired by delicate structures found in nature, including flagella and insect legs, and uses principles from soft robotics to create a hydraulic steering syst (Read more...)
Virtual Reality System to Entertain During MRI Scans
Researchers at King’s College London developed a virtual reality system that is intended to distract and calm patients who find MRI scans challenging, including children and other vulnerable individuals. The patient wears a specialized VR headset during the scan and can interact with the system merely by moving the eyes, allowing them to play (Read more...)
Photoacoustic Carbon Nanotubes Reveal Dangerous Atherosclerotic Plaques
Researchers at Michigan State University have developed a system that allows the imaging and identification of inflamed atherosclerotic plaques, which are considered to be at risk of rupture. Their system involves administering carbon nanotubes that are preferentially taken up by macrophages and monocytes, which tend to accumulate at inflamed plaqu (Read more...)
Ultrasound Patch Monitors Blood Flow
Researchers at the University of California San Diego created an ultrasound patch that can measure blood flow in vessels as deep as 14 cm within the body. The stretchy patch can be applied to the skin and may help clinicians to monitor and diagnose various conditions, including blockages that could cause an infarct. The patch […]
Nanoparticles for Tumor Imaging and Cancer Urine Testing
Scientists at MIT have announced that they developed novel nanoparticles to detect cancer in urine samples. As well as detecting the presence of tumors, the nanoparticles can also accumulate at tumor sites and function as an imaging agent, helping to identify their location. These multifunctional particles could be very useful for routine cancer sc (Read more...)
AI and Multispectral Photoacoustic Imaging to Diagnose Thyroid Cancer
Researchers at Pohang University of Science & Technology in South Korea are reporting on having developed a technique for minimally invasive diagnosis of thyroid cancer. The method combines multispectral photoacoustic imaging and machine learning, and is conceived as a replacement for invasive and occasionally inaccurate fine-needle aspiration (Read more...)
AI System Spots Prostate Cancer During Routine CT Scans
Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, created an AI system that can identify prostate cancer during routine CT scans. It is typically difficult to spot prostate cancer in CT images, and the radiation makes CT unsuitable as a screening modality. However, if men are undergoing abdominal or pelvic scans for other reasons, this latest (Read more...)
AI System Spots Prostate Cancer During Routine CT Scans
Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, created an AI system that can identify prostate cancer during routine CT scans. It is typically difficult to spot prostate cancer in CT images, and the radiation makes CT unsuitable as a screening modality. However, if men are undergoing abdominal or pelvic scans for other reasons, this latest (Read more...)
AI System Spots Prostate Cancer During Routine CT Scans
Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, created an AI system that can identify prostate cancer during routine CT scans. It is typically difficult to spot prostate cancer in CT images, and the radiation makes CT unsuitable as a screening modality. However, if men are undergoing abdominal or pelvic scans for other reasons, this latest (Read more...)
Cell Cloaking to Reduce Foreign Body Response to Medical Implants
Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology have developed a technique to coat implantable materials, such as stents, with extracellular matrix components and cells. The new approach could lead to implantable devices that suffer fewer adverse events, such as fibrosis, inflammation, and clotting, because of the foreign body response (Read more...)
Anti-Restenotic Drug Delivery with the AGENT Drug-Coated Balloon: Interview with Dr. Ian Meredith, Global CMO, Boston Scientific
Boston Scientific recently announced a clinical trial of its AGENT drug coated balloon. The device is coated with paclitaxel, an anti-restenotic drug, and aims to deliver the medication to the affected vessel wall during a percutaneous procedure. Coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR) is caused by occlusive scar tissue that develops in the stented port (Read more...)
PerQseal+ for Large Diameter Arterial Closure: Interview with Andrew Glass, CEO of Vivasure Medical
Vivasure Medical, a medtech company based in Galway, Ireland, has developed the PerQseal device, a synthetic implant designed to seal large bore blood vessel punctures. The implant has utility in a wide variety of transcatheter endovascular procedures, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEV (Read more...)
Mantis Shrimp-Inspired Camera to Detect Tumors During Surgery
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have developed a hexachromatic camera that can assist with tumor imaging during surgical removal. The device is inspired by the mantis shrimp which can perceive twelve colors, compared with just three colors that can be perceived by the human eye. The new camera can visualize tumors in the (Read more...)
Phonon Probe to Image Tissues Ultrasonically at Nanoscale
Visual signs of disease can often be spotted within affected tissues, and advances in histopathology have provided clinicians with powerful diagnostic tools to spot those signs. Microscopes are the cornerstone of this trade, and although they have proven to be extremely useful, they do suffer from some limitations. They are effectively 2D imaging d (Read more...)
3D Printed Shields Protect Guts During Radiotherapy
Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MIT have developed 3D printed shields to protect the gastrointestinal tract from the side effects of radiotherapy. Using CT scans, the devices can be custom printed to suit each patient’s anatomy. The materials they’re made of contain high atomic number elements that help to shield t (Read more...)
Ultrasonic Biopsy Needle for Larger Tissue Samples
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have developed an ultrasonically actuated needle that can retrieve a large amount of tissue during a biopsy, without the pain and complications associated with using bigger needles. The technique could be very useful when clinicians need to obtain tissue samples for molecular tumor diagnostics, since obtai (Read more...)