Peripheral artery disease (PAD), a circulatory condition in which narrowed arteries reduce blood flow to the extremities, is projected to affect over 21 million patients in the United States by 2020. Common treatments include balloon angioplasty, atherectomy, stenting, and bypass, all of which require physicians to use tools which enter the patient (Read more...)
Tag: Vascular Surgery
Researchers Develop Smartphone App to Measure Arterial Stiffness
The stiffness of arteries is an important indicator of cardiovascular health, but this parameter is somewhat difficult to evaluate and requires a specialist to do it. And yet regular monitoring of arterial stiffness can help to monitor a variety of diseases or help in their diagnoses. Now researchers at University of Southern California (USC) have (Read more...)
Flexitouch Plus Released for Treating Lymphedema Symptoms
Lymphedema is a disease in which fluid is retained in the legs, arms, and other parts of the body, resulting in pain, discomfort, and even disability. A new device from Tactile Medical, a company out of Minneapolis, Minnesotta, is designed to activate the lymphatic system so as to help move fluids away from where they’ve gotten [… (Read more...)
FujiFilm Releases New Minimally Invasive Imaging Systems in U.S.
FUJIFILM is releasing a couple surgical visualization systems that were designed to improve minimally invasive procedures. The FUJIFILM EL-580FN Ultra-Slim Video Laparoscope System uses the firm’s own Super-Honeycomb CCD sensor to produce high quality images that are sharp and reproduce colors accurately. So-called “Chip on the Tip (Read more...)
Siren Diabetic Socks Monitor Temperature of Feet, Detects Early Signs of Injury
Many patients suffering from diabetes and diabetic neuropathy are prone to having foot ulcers that can be remarkably difficult to manage. The best approach is to catch ulcers developing early on and to receive treatment as soon as possible. The Siren Diabetic Socks may be just the thing, as they monitor the temperature of the […]
Ferromagnetic FMsealer Laparoscopic Shears for Faster Vessel Sealing with Fewer Side Effects
Domain Surgical out of Salt Lake City, UT, which is part of OmniGuide, itself based in Lexington, MA, is releasing new laparoscopic shears based on its ferromagnetic technology. The FMsealer Laparoscopic Shears, unlike bipolar electric devices, do not release electric current into the tissues when transecting and sealing. And unlike ultrasonic (Read more...)
Pythagoras Medical’s ConfidenHT System for Precise Renal Denervations
Renal denervation for treating drug resistant hypertension involves severing renal nerves, through ablation. The kidneys play a key role in regulating blood pressure via these nerves, but the functionality goes awry in many hypertensive patients, so breaking the kidneys ability to regulate blood pressure seems to work in many. The problem is that h (Read more...)
Convesaid, a Hemostat Powder Spray That Can’t Cause Embolisms
Team Consulting, a firm based out of an old barn in Cambridge, UK that develops medical devices, one being the EpiPen, has now come up with a hemostat powder sprayer that cannot cause embolisms. When spraying a powder onto a leaking vein, the air that pushes the powder can enter the exposed blood flow and […]
3D Printed Patches with Living Cells Help to Overcome Tiny Blocked Vessels
Thrombotic blockages within blood vessels are a common health problem. When occlusions occur in large vessels, they can be relatively easy to deal with using wires, catheters, balloons, and stents. It is the smaller vasculature, which can be too narrow for intravascular instruments, that is currently nearly impossible to deal with. Researchers at t (Read more...)
Hemafuse for Autotransfusion of Blood from Internal Hemorrhage
Treatment of serious internal bleeding requires replacing lost blood with fresh donor blood, but this is not always an option. In poor areas and those with a lack of healthcare infrastructure donor blood may simply be unavailable. A new device is being launched by Sisu, a young company based in Baltimore, Maryland, that lets clinicians […]
GE’s New Versana Essential Budget Friendly Ultrasound
GE Healthcare is unveiling a new budget conscious ultrasound system, the Versana Essential. GE touts it as having excellent image quality for the price and sees it being used by OB-GYNs, family and general practice physicians, and by clinicians in a number of other specialties. Using it you can view the thyroid vasculature, kidney vessels, [&hellip (Read more...)
HoloLens Augmented Reality Headset Helps Surgeons to Reconnect Blood Vessels
After a traumatic injury, surgeons may need to repair damage using flaps of tissue taken from elsewhere in the body. One of the challenges with this approach is that the blood vessels of the “new” tissue must be connected with those at the injury site. At the moment, surgeons use a handheld ultrasound scanner that […]
Put on Two Surgical Gloves as Fast as One With GAMMEX PI Glove-in-Glove System
Putting on two pairs of gloves is a common occurrence in medicine, particularly among surgeons that work with sharp instruments. It’s frustrating and feels like a waste of time, but that’s reality. Now there are gloves that come already doubled, while being easy to snap on. The GAMMEX PI Glove-in-Glove system from Ansell, a company [&he (Read more...)
Hologic’s New Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm for Extremity Scans
Hologic just launched its new Fluoroscan InSight FD Mini C-Arm, an extremities imaging system intended for specialists such as orthopedists and podiatrists. The user can select between high resolution or low dosage modes, varying between patients as needed. The low-dose mode can produce images with up to half the radiation compared the machine (Read more...)
SANUWAVE dermaPACE System for Diabetic Foot Ulcers Cleared by FDA
SANUWAVE, a company out of Suwanee, Georgia, won FDA clearance to introduce in the U.S. its dermaPACE system for treatment of diabetic foot ulcers. The system, cleared through the agency’s de novo process intended for new types of medical technologies, delivers acoustic shock waves into wound tissue in order to stimulate healing. The com (Read more...)
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...)
Surgical Sealants and Beyond: Interview with Christophe Bancel, CEO and Co-Founder of Gecko Biomedical
Medgadget recently reported that Gecko Biomedical, a biomedical start-up based in Paris, France received CE mark approval for their SETALUM Surgical sealant. The bioinspired polymer sealant is cured on-demand using light and can supplement conventional sutures during vascular surgery. The material is biodegradable, bioresorbable, and biocompatible, (Read more...)
CleanCision System FDA Cleared to Retract and Protect Abdominal Surgical Wounds
Prescient Surgical, based in San Carlos, California, just won FDA marketing clearance for its CleanCision Wound Retraction and Protection System. The device, which combines a retractor with infection control mechanisms, aims to prevent surgical site infections, a common, dangerous, and costly problem. The CleanCision System protects surgical w (Read more...)
Stratasys Releases Line of Custom Built 3D Printed Anatomy Models
Stratasys, one of the big 3D printing companies, has announced the release of its new BioMimics line of 3D printed human anatomy models. The products are designed to be used in clinical training and to help design and test new medical devices. The company is first releasing bone and heart models, with vascular structures expected […]
High Speed Video Precisely Captures Blood Cell Velocity
Researchers at ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia, have developed a non-invasive high-speed video capillaroscopy system that can precisely measure the velocity of blood cells flowing through capillaries in the skin around a fingernail. The technique could be useful in assessing cardiovascular conditions. Capillaroscopy systems offer a simp (Read more...)