Brainlab, out of Germany, just unveiled its flagship Loop-X mobile intraoperative imaging robot specifically designed for spinal surgical procedures. Developed by medPhoton, an Austrian company, the device is now the core of Brainlab’s imaging offerings. The device offers 2D and 3D intraprocedural imaging, moving as necessary along with the s (Read more...)
Tag: surgery
Apps for Healthcare Monitoring: Interview with Artem Petrov, CEO of Reinvently
Reinvently, a mobile app development company based in Palo Alto, California, has created a number of healthcare apps, including those which collect, collate, and display data from wearable medical devices. The combination of a wearable device and a mobile app allows clinicians to monitor their patients in real-time and identify issues before they b (Read more...)
Ethicon’s New ECHELON CIRCULAR Powered Stapler
Ethicon, a part of J&J, just unveiled the ECHELON CIRCULAR, which the company touts as the first powered circular stapler specifically designed for colorectal, gastric, and thoracic procedures. The device features so-called “Gripping Surface Technology” that is supposedly more tender on the tissues being stapled, distributing forces (Read more...)
Galen Microsurgery System Eliminates Hand Tremor
Galen Robotics, a company based in Baltimore, Maryland, has been working on incorporating robotics and microsurgery. Microsurgery requires a steady hand and a great deal of patience, something that robots can be pretty good at. By creating an innovative interface between the surgeon’s hands and a specially designed robot, Galen’s techno (Read more...)
Minimally Invasive Biopsies Provide Maximum Pathology Data
Current pathology techniques for analyzing biopsy tissues are lacking in their ability to detect cancer in small samples. Being able to rapidly study the distribution of protein expression within cells, gathered from minuscule samples, could be an important tool for early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. Now, researchers at National University o (Read more...)
Smith & Nephew Releases PICO 7Y Negative Pressure Wound Therapy in U.S.
In the United States, Smith & Nephew is releasing its PICO 7Y negative pressure therapy system that can treat two wounds at the same time. The device uses a single pump to support two dressings thanks to a special Y extension. The capability helps to reduce costs and makes it easier on patients. Women undergoing […]
FDA Clears Siemens Artis icono Angiography Systems
Siemens Healthineers won FDA clearance for the ARTIS icono angiography systems that are designed for use in a variety of procedure types. The ARTIS icono 2D/3D biplane system is intended for neuroradiology and abdominal imaging while the ARTIS icono floor has a single fluoroscope and is designed for vascular, interventional cardiology, surgical, an (Read more...)
Plasmapp Making Cool Gas Plasma Sterilization Available to Small Clinics
Many of today’s smaller surgical clinics have to sterilize equipment in-house, and autoclave sensitive instruments are processed using ethylene oxide, a carcinogenic, explosive, and irritating gas. Gas plasma is another low temperature option, but it requires large and expensive equipment that doesn’t make sense for small practices. A n (Read more...)
Light Powered Robot Made from Hydrogel to Operate Inside Body
Engineers at University of California, Los Angeles have come up with a tiny new robot that can be controlled and powered using a beam of light. Called OsciBot, because of its oscillating motion, the robot is made entirely out of a light-responsive hydrogel and doesn’t carry its own power source, relying on an external constant […]
Sacrificial Ink Writing Technique for 3D Printed Organs
Researchers at Harvard have developed a way to 3D print vascular channels in large matrices composed of stem cell-derived organ building blocks. The technique could pave the way for 3D-printed organs. Creating human organs using 3D printing would help to address the current shortfall in available transplants. However, to date, this has proved to be (Read more...)
Injectable Hydrogel for Transcatheter Intravascular Embolization: Interview with Dr. Rahmi Oklu, Founder of Obsidio
Obsidio Inc., a medical device company based in Columbia, South Carolina, has developed an embolic hydrogel (called a gel embolic material: GEM) designed to be delivered minimally invasively through a clinical catheter for blood vessel occlusion. Applications include controlling blood flow in vascular injuries and aneurysms, reducing tumor blood su (Read more...)
Edwards ForeSight Brain Oxygenation Sensors FDA Cleared to Pair with Hemosphere Monitor
Edwards Lifesciences won FDA clearance to integrate its ForeSight brain tissue oxymetry sensors with the HemoSphere monitoring platform. While the clearance is really for a connecting cable, the capability allows anesthesiologists to monitor the oxygen saturation of the brain during surgeries and to correlate it with hemodynamic parameters in real- (Read more...)
Sonavex Secures NIH Grant to Pursue New Vascular Surgery Applications
Last week, Sonavex, a Baltimore-based medical device company, announced receipt of a $3M Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for prospective clinical studies and ongoing research and development of its EchoMark and EchoSure devices. This grant funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will specifically allow Sonavex (Read more...)
Handheld MasSpec Pen for Molecular Cancer Detection During Surgeries
Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a new handheld pen for rapid intraoperative cancer detection. Their work demonstrates that the tool can identify different molecular profiles between cancerous and non-cancerous tissue without harming the sampled tissues. This exciting development can one day improve cancer diagnosis (Read more...)
Lumendi Gets FDA Clearance for New Endolumenal Interventional Knife
Lumendi, an English firm, won FDA clearance to introduce its DiLumen Ik endolumenal interventional knife. The single-use monopolar device is used for surgical dissections, performing cuts, and cauterizing of tissues of the gastrointestinal tract. To help perform many procedures that require a section to be elevated from the surrounding tissue, the (Read more...)
Cold Plasma to be Tested as Killer of Cancer Cells
Cold plasma is an unusual gaseous substance in which only the electrons are heated to thousands of degrees, with the rest of the material remaining at room temperature. Purdue University researchers have advanced this field and have helped to make it ready for clinical applications, since cold plasma has the ability to kill target cells […]
Nexus Ultrasonic Surgical Platform from Misonix Cleared in Europe
Mixonix, a Farmingdale, New York company that focuses on ultrasonic devices for surgical applications, including osteotomies and debridements, landed European CE Mark approval for its Nexus surgical platform. The system was FDA cleared earlier this year. The Nexus combines the capabilities of Mixonix’s three existing products, namely BoneScal (Read more...)
Neurons Grow on Crosslinks of Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes have a host of interesting properties. They are biocompatible and electrically conductive, so have been investigated as a possible material for growing nerve tissues. To make carbon nanotubes cooperate as desired, novel forms are required and researchers at SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) and University of Trieste (Read more...)
Biomaterial Tricks Immune System to Grow New Blood Vessels
Researchers from Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed a new biomaterial that can activate T cells to promote vascularization of ischemic tissues. Their work demonstrates that the biomaterial results in local blood vessel development, increased perfusion, and new muscle growth after ischemia. Various compounds have been tested to try to imp (Read more...)
Magnetically Controlled Soft Robots to Operate on Human Body
Although a myriad of robots is already used in a variety of industries, including medicine, they’re almost exclusively rigid devices using conventional mechanics. To best work with the pliability of the human body, it may be advantageous for medical robots to be soft and not include gears, motors, and metal cables. Researchers at North Caroli (Read more...)