Minimally invasive surgery has played a huge role in improving patient outcomes, and reducing morbidity and recovery times compared with traditional surgical techniques. However, it can be a little tricky for surgeons to operate through tiny incisions and use complicated equipment, meaning that there is often a significant learning curve and traini (Read more...)
Tag: Thoracic Surgery
EVA15 Surgical Insufflator and Smoke Evacuator for Minimally Invasive Procedures FDA Cleared
Palliare, a company out of Galway, Ireland, won FDA clearance for its flagship product, the EVA15 insufflator and smoke evacuation system. The EVA15 combines two devices into a compact package that is designed for use in laparoscopic, endoscopic, endolumenal, and robotic procedures. Smoke is a common problem in all kinds of minimally invasive proce (Read more...)
Easily Removable Surgical Tape to Seal Internal Wounds
Researchers at MIT recently developed an adhesive tape that allows surgeons to seal internal wounds and that can readily stick to slippery internal surfaces, as a potential replacement for sutures. However, the adhesive worked a little too well, and was difficult to remove or adjust without causing irritation or tissue damage. Now, the research tea (Read more...)
Magnetic Tracking System for Flexible Surgical Robots
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a magnetic tracking system for surgical robots to operate with dexterity within the body. The technology does not require patient or clinician exposure to radiation, and is much less expensive that pre-existing monitoring techniques. A magnet is embedded in the tip of the robot an (Read more...)
Electric Stimulation Gives Robot-Assistive Surgery a Sense of Touch
A team of researchers at Texas A&M have performed studies evaluating how electrical stimulation can help users control robots, for example helping surgeons steady their movements during robot-assisted procedures. They found, in 11 subjects, that small electrical stimulations to the fingertips can help users control the pinching of a hardwood bl (Read more...)
Xenoscope Disposable 5mm Laparoscope FDA Cleared
Xenocor, a Salt Lake City company, won FDA clearance for its Xenoscope 5mm articulating disposable laparoscope. The device requires no sterilization re-processing between procedures and is thrown away after it’s used, avoiding the necessity for servicing contracts. The entire system being quite compact, it doesn’t need its own large ima (Read more...)
Textiles from Human Cells for Replacement Vessels, Tissues, Organs
Scientists at University of Bordeaux/French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) have developed a completely new biological material, made using human fibroblast cells, that can be turned into sutures, vascular grafts, and many other medical devices and tissue replacements. They showed that their Cell-Assembled extracellular M (Read more...)
New Membranes to Make Extracorporeal Oxygenation More Effective
When lungs fail because of acute respiratory distress and cannot be used to deliver oxygen to patients via conventional ventilation, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has to be employed. ECMOs remove carbon dioxide from whole blood and replace it with oxygen thanks to a membrane oxygenator. While such artificial lungs are effective for sho (Read more...)
LapTrainer Mixed Reality Simulator for Laparoscopy Training Unveiled
KARL STORZ, a German maker of surgical tools and endoscopy products, has partnered with VirtaMed, a Swiss maker of medical simulators, to release a simulator for laparoscopic training. The LapTrainer device is a mixed reality simulator combining real laparoscopic tools with a computer generated representation of what is going on inside the model pa (Read more...)
PENTAX Releases EB19-J10U Ultrasound Video Bronchoscope in U.S.
PENTAX has announced that its new EB19-J10U endobronchial scope, having received FDA clearance, is coming to the United States. The device, intended for minimally invasive procedures such as Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS) and EBUS-guided Transbronchial Needle Aspiration (EBUS-TBNA), is touted by the company as providing “crystal clear visual (Read more...)
Europe Clears RejuvenAir, a New Therapy for COPD with Chronic Bronchitis
Chronic bronchitis can be a difficult disease to live with, but when it’s coupled with COPD it can be truly debilitating. There are medications available that help to reduce mucus production and coughing, but these don’t really help the condition itself. CSA Medical, a Boston-based company, just won European regulatory approval to intro (Read more...)
Siemens Healthineers Unveil SOMATOM X.cite Premium CT Scanner
Siemens Healthineers won FDA clearance and is releasing its brand new SOMATOM X.cite premium single-source CT scanner. The device, along with a high-end X-ray tube and other enhancements, features the company’s new myExam Companion technology that can intelligently adapt each scan to optimize a number of variables. The system asks a number of (Read more...)
XACT Robotic Needle Navigation System Cleared in U.S.
XACT Robotics, an Israeli company, just announced winning FDA clearance for its robotic needle steering and insertion system for percutaneous procedures. Used to perform procedures such as biopsies and ablations, the XACT device provides a great deal of precision when advancing needles towards hard to reach targets. Breathing, for example, greatly (Read more...)
Canon Ultra High-Res Aquilion Precision CT Now Boosted by Artificial Intelligence
Canon has announced that its new Advanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) has been cleared by the FDA to be used on the company’s “ultra high-resolution” Aquilion Precision CT system. The use of the AiCE deep convolutional neural network for image reconstruction, coupled with the Aquilion Precision’s ability to get about (Read more...)
Laser Activated Gold Nanorods Create Silk Seal for Incisions and Wounds
Staples and sutures are currently used to seal soft tissues together in clinical practice, but researchers at Arizona State University have come up with an alternative technique that resembles welding. It may end up being used to seal tissues during surgeries and to treat wounds, and in many cases simply to enhance the effectiveness of […]
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...)
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...)
Breath Analyzer for Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a condition in which fluid leaks into the lungs and builds up in the alveoli within. It is a rapidly progressive condition that often leads to terminal consequences, yet it can be difficult to diagnose and monitor. Now, researchers at University of Michigan have developed a portable device that [&hellip (Read more...)
Ultra-Thin Probe Assesses Tissues Deep Within Lungs
Assessing the health of tissues deep inside the body is a major need and challenge in medicine. Imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and ultrasound provide very little information about the composition and environment of tissues being examined. Now, researchers at the University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, and Bath University, all in the U (Read more...)
Scope Pro-tech Coming Out to Protect Endoscope Tips
Meditech Endoscopy, a company out of Essex, England, just won FDA clearance for its Scope Pro-tech endoscopic tip protector. The device is designed to protect the optics found on the tips of endoscopes while they’re in storage or when they’re moved from place to place. The design of the Scope Pro-tech is such that air […]