Long-term medical wearables are often limited by the adhesives that are used to stick them to the skin. The skin needs to breathe and glues can prevent that, remaining in the skin’s pores even after removal of a bandage or stick-on ECG electrode. The materials have to be biocompatible and non-irritating, as well as avoiding […]
Tag: Vascular Surgery
New Nuclear Tracer to Help Better Manage Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms
An abdominal aortic aneurysm can have a number of related causes, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are one of those potential causes. MMP matrix enzymes have a useful role in a healthy body of breaking up the extracellular matrix during tissue growth, but sometimes they’re overproduced and are related to various connective tissue disorder (Read more...)
Laminate Medical’s VasQ Fistula Supporting Device Gets FDA Investigational Device Exemption
Laminate Medical Technologies, an Israeli firm, won an Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) from the FDA to begin a clinical trial of its VasQ device designed to support arteriovenous fistulas. The technology will hopefully benefit patients that receive hemodialysis via AVF in the upper extremity. In many dialysis patients the fistulas that (Read more...)
Stellarex Drug-Coated Balloon for PAD Approved by FDA
Spectranetics, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado, won FDA approval to bring to the U.S. market its Stellarex drug-coated balloon catheter. The device is designed and indicated for helping to restore and keep open the lumen of superficial femoral and popliteal arteries in patients with peripheral artery disease. The device features the compan (Read more...)
BIOTRONIK’s Pulsar-18 Stent with Thin Delivery System for Superficial Femoral Arteries Now Available
BIOTRONIK is releasing its new Pulsar-18, a self-expanding stent designed for placement within the superficial femoral artery (SFA). This is the only FDA approved device of its kind to fit inside a 4 French sized delivery catheter, making it easier to get it through difficult lesions and place it accurately at the target location. The dev (Read more...)
Tiny Forward Facing Ultrasound Drill to Bust Through Blood Clots
Intravascular ultrasound devices are used on a regular basis to break up blood clots. These devices deliver high frequency ultrasound energy from a side facing transducer, shaking up clots and opening up blood vessels. Because of engineering limitations that have resulted in ultrasound being emitted laterally, the clots don’t break up as well (Read more...)
DABRA Laser Ablates Blocked Arteries
Ra Medical, a company out of Carlsbad, California, received FDA clearance and is reporting the first commercial use of its DABRA laser-based arterial blockage ablation system. Unlike most other intravascular tools used for removing arterial plaque that rely on mechanical methods, the DABRA is an excimer laser that emits at a wavelength of 308 nm, [ (Read more...)
3D Printed Pediatric Stents That Grow With Patient’s Vessels
Sadly, it is not only old people that receive cardiac stent implants. Often young children with certain cardiovascular conditions can benefit significantly from stent implantations and conduits, but because vasculature grows along with the rest of the body, the stents’ benefits can be short lived and not fully realized. Now researchers at&nbs (Read more...)
Parable Technology for Wound Care: Interview with Nathan Ie, Founder of Parable Health
Parable is a software platform that allows doctors and home health workers to collaboratively monitor wound healing and to flag any issues. The technology has been designed by Parable Health and allows doctors to assess wound parameters and healing progress from “smart” photos taken using a phone’s camera. The doctor can schedule (Read more...)
PREVENA DUO Negative Pressure Wound Therapy Treats Two Incisions at Same Time
Acelity, based in San Antonio, Texas, is releasing the PREVENA DUO Incision Management System, a disposable negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) system that can be used to manage two surgical incisions at the same time. The company expects the PREVENA DUO to be used post vascular harvesting, breast reconstruction, and ortho trauma procedures (Read more...)
Contego Medical’s Vanguard IEP Cleared in Europe for Safer Balloon Angioplasties
Contego Medical of Raleigh, North Carolina won the European CE Mark to introduce its Vanguard IEP peripheral balloon angioplasty system. The product features the firm’s Integrated Embolic Protection (IEP) technology that captures embolic debris coming off occlusions being treated within the superficial femoral artery. The (Read more...)
ARTIS pheno, Siemens’ New Flagship Angiography C-arm Cleared by FDA
Siemens won FDA clearance for its new ARTIS pheno robotic angiography C-arm. The system is essentially an upgraded version of the company’s Artis zeego (even the capitalization of the name has changed), sporting a zen40HDR flat panel detector and GIGALIX X-ray tube. The system features automatic dose selection to minimize radia (Read more...)
Ethicon’s Brand New ENSEAL X1 Large Jaw Tissue Sealer Promises More Comfort, Less Bleeding
Ethicon, a part of Johnson & Johnson, today announced the release of its new ENSEAL X1 Large Jaw Tissue Sealer for working on vessels and soft tissues in open surgical procedures. This device is a competitor to Medtronic‘s LigaSure Impact, and Ethicon claims it leads to significantly reduced bleeding in thick tissues and le (Read more...)
Serranator Alto PTA Serration Balloon Catheter Cleared by FDA
Cagent Vascular, a company based in Wayne, Pennsylvania, won FDA clearance for its Serranator Alto PTA Serration Balloon Catheter. Unlike other balloon catheters designed to dilate blood vessels, the Serranator Alto PTA has a series of teeth-like ridges on four sides of the balloon. As the balloon is pumped to push open a constricted vessel, [&hell (Read more...)
FlexDex Minimally Invasive Surgical System Used in Real Operations (video)
FlexDex, a new minimally invasive surgical tool system that we’ve grown quite fond of, has now been used for the first time in a number of operations at Michigan Medicine. We tried the FlexDex ourselves during a visit to the company’s offices last year and, hoping not to exaggerate, we felt that the system really is […]
This (Read more...)
New Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold from Meril, an Indian Multinational
Meril, a large Indian medical device firm, has developed a drug-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffold, which looks like a stent but that eventually and slowly degrades is washed away by the body. The MeRes100 is made of PLLA coated with PDLLA, both biodegradable polymers, while Sirolimus (rapamycin), the immunosuppressant common in drug elut (Read more...)
Clarius Wireless, Handheld Ultrasounds Cleared in Europe
Clarius, a company based in British Columbia, Canada, received European CE Mark approval for its wireless C3 and L7 ultrasound scanners. These devices are highly portable, battery powered, and use an Android or iOS smartphone or tablet for displaying the scans. They’re even water resistant, so can be used in a wide variety of in-clinic a (Read more...)
Medtronic’s Signia Surgical Stapler Measures Tissue Strength to Perfect Staple Lines
Medtronic is releasing a new advanced surgical stapler, the Signia Stapling System, which sports sensors that detect the tissue being worked and adjust its speed to produce optimal staple lines. The company’s Adaptive Firing technology measures how much force it takes a staple to penetrate through tissue, controlling in real-time the spe (Read more...)
Simulating Blood Flow from Tomo Scans to Prep for Complex Surgeries
Modern CT and MRI scanners can provide a moving image of the heart, but they don’t show the complicated patterns of blood flow in and around the organ. Seeing the dynamic nature of patients’ hemodynamics may help surgeons prepare for complicated operations. At Stanford researchers are developing a pre-surgical tool that can ta (Read more...)
Gore VIABAHN VBX Balloon Expandable Stent Graft First to Get FDA Approval for Iliac Arteries
Gore won FDA approval for its VIABAHN VBX endoprosthesis to be used in the iliac arteries, making it the only balloon expandable stent graft having such an indication. It can be used on new or restenotic lesions within the iliac, including at the aortic bifurcation. Previously, vascular surgeons were only able to do such procedures […]
This (Read more...)