People suffering from lung disease not only have to put up with constantly carrying an oxygen cylinder to survive, but they also have to deal with the staring gaze of strangers. Unsurprisingly, this can result in a very stressful situation, amplifying the moral pain: the feeling of “being sick” can hardly be forgotten by those suffering such a condition. Knowing that lea...
Spanish-based Neuroelectrics is cresting a wave of interest at the moment with its soft helmet device that interprets brainwaves to help analyze and treat illnesses, including depression and strokes. It is not the first product of its kind, Emotiv’s EPOC headset offers out-of-the-lab EEG, but is more often associated with playing World of Warcraft. Neuroelectrics’ high-t...
Covidien’s Puritan Bennett™ 980 Ventilator has had a good 2014; since the beginning of the year, the device has received both the CE mark and FDA-approval. The acute care ventilator is designed to allow patients to breathe more naturally by harnessing some truly innovative technology. The device integrates software developed by researchers at the University of Manitoba i...
Nowadays it is becoming more common to own a wearable device. Catching every breath you take, every move you make, every step you take, fitness bands and smartwatches will be watching you. Avantari Medical Technologies designed a new kind of monitoring device, a bejeweled biometric wearable. More discrete and comfortable, you will forget that you’re even wearing it! ...
During the summer we wrote about the Serenity System (developed to help tinnitus sufferers) which is undergoing clinical trials in the US. The Serenity System uses an implanted transmitter to retrain the brain by stimulating the vagus nerve. Now, an Apple-based system from tech company Otoharmonics has been apporved by the FDA. The new technology is known as the Levo sys...
Diabetics‘ daily life have certain limitations. Maintaining their health is an everyday battle, between following a specific diet, their medication and taking their injection at precise hours. That’s why Cho Sang Eun and Yang Soon Young developed a color coded device, it makes it simple, fast and easy to use. The software applications are even capable of synchronizing...
Ouailty of healthcare remains a serious issue for many low-income countries. People living in these countries are some of those most in need of medical check-ups, as even small abnormalities or infections may lead to very serious conditions Sight is the main issue here. The project got started during a study in rural Kenya. A team of ophthalmologists, developers a...
An ongoing trial in the US could lead to the introduction of a new goggle technology into operating theaters. The goggles work in conjunction with a special dye that sticks to cancerous cells in the body. When surgeons operate to remove cancerous tumors it is often difficult to distinguish where the tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. Therefore, they often remove ti...
Ever wanted to own a device that can tell you how many calories are in a food, without having to spend forever poring over a tiny label. Maybe you have a nut-allergy and feel left out at parties, not daring to try the food for fear of eating something that may cause a reaction. Well now, the SCiO, a molecular sensor developed by Consumer Physics, may be just the thing...
If we had to classify the concepts that caught our attention this year, Google Glass’ use in hospitals would surely score high. Doctors here know how intense, yet essential, collecting their patients’ real-time data can be, especially for the purpose of conducting a surgery. Philips and Accenture collaborated to elaborate a futuristic solution, showing the potential of G...
Medtronic has received the European CE Mark of approval for its Micra pacemaker. The Micra, reputedly the smallest pacemaker in the world, doesn’t require cardiac leads as it is housed completely inside the heart. The deceive is directly connected to the heart via tines and can be repositioned as required. In the US, the Micra is still viewed as an investigational device...
Medtronic has just released the smallest implantable cardiac monitoring device currently available on the market. The compact Reveal LINQ monitor is also the only implantable cardiac monitor that collects data continuously and wirelessly for up to three years; not only can the device store data, but it communicates remotely with a MyCareLink patient monitor, which taps M...
Big news for Medtronic: US patients implanted with SureScan pacing systems can now undergo MRI scans in any position, including the chest area. This is the first pacemaker to receive FDA clearance for compatibility with full body MRI scans. Clinical data and computer simulations showed that patients with SureScan pacemakers could safely undergo chest scans, allowing p...
Meet your personal diabetes coach, BlueStar. It is an app by WellDoc that is meant to help patients manage type 2 diabetes, is FDA-approved and one of the many mHealth product offerings expected for release in 2014. What makes this app different? It is the only app on the market that you need a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider to access. Patients en...
What if your thermometer could do more than simply take a temperature reading? What if it could track your temperature over time, save data to be shared with health professionals and contribute to community health-watch? Enter the Kinsa Smart Thermometer, a streamlined device that plugs into the earphone jack of an iPhone to take your temperature. Rather than discard...
Abbott recently announced that it has secured CE Mark for the latest version of its Absorb stent system, Absorb GT1, which combines its dissolving stent with a next generation catheter to help doctors treat people with coronary heart disease (CAD). Abbott Vascular Medical Affairs chief medical officer Charles Simonton, believes the Absorb GT1 system could help doctors im...
An update to the plaster cast is long overdue, and the Comfort Cast concept by Song Kyuho might just fit the bill. Clearly a product of its times, this orthopedic device is a piece of wearable tech. The basic concept is an air pressure cast made out of plastic that can be adjusted to suit the amount of stability required during any point throughout recovery. The not so b...
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University have joined together to create a skin worn patch that serves as a wireless health monitor. The device is wirelessly powered, and has the ability to send high-quality data about a patient to a computer, in real time! The engineers at the two institutions set out to create a device th...
Abbott recently received FDA-approval for their Supera Peripheral Stent System, used to treat peripheral artery disease and relieve leg pain in patients. Designed to “mimic rather than resist” artery movement, the stent effectively and safely maintains blocked vessels open, allowing patients to take part in physical activity. Following very promising clinical trials alon...
Ziehm Imaging’s Ziehm Vision RFD Hybrid Edition is the first C-arm to offer 4-axis movement on the medical imaging market. Remotely steered, the RFD Hybrid Edition not only ensures accuracy to enhance precision and time efficiency during surgery, but also one of the most powerful generators on the market as well as clear, sharp images. Compact, mobile and flexible, th...
An automated system for managing the daily toll of checking blood sugar levels and injecting insulin is often seen as the holy grail for diabetes sufferers. This medical breakthrough has so far evaded researchers, but now a group of scientists from the University of North Carolina and NC State has suggested its smart insulin patch could be a ‘game changer.’ The thin patc...
Giving up smoking is good for your health and your wallet but is certainly no easy task, anything that can help you quit can be of great benefit. With the invention of apps and connected devices companies have come up with new ways to help smokers to give up their killer addiction. The recently launched iCO Smokerlyzer by Bedfont is the world’s first Smokerlyzer breat...
Designed to combat the focusing problems, headaches and neck pains of Digital Eye Strain brought on by squinting to focus on smartphones and tablets and frequently changing focus between near and far, Zeiss Digital Lens features a zone that magnifies close objects to reduce the strain that we put on our eyes. The lens is well suited for both those with normal vision and ...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), when performed with Kora 100 SR and DR Pacemakers, associated to the Sorin BEFLEX pacing lead, is undeniably a safe experience for patients. Pacemakers wearers are usually more than 65 years old and require MRI examinations for perfect diagnosis and treatment. Kora 100’s strength is that it was designed both for patients and medical s...
View your patients ECG or SpO2 waveforms on a large color screen with an easy to read graphic display. You will be able to read up to four leads of ECG along with the heart rate. AriaTele’s main characteristic is its handiness. Firstly, power is delivered via standard AA alkaline or NiMH batteries. Secondly, the wires needed to have the device operate are placed in a ...
The next generation of dog wheelchairs, designed to help them run and play again! Particularly convenient, the device folds flat and fits any dog between 8 and 200 lbs thanks to its adaptable straps. It also comes fully assembled and requires no extra tools to adjust on the dog. The wheelchair is available overnight. Handicapped pets are given the chance to get th...
Get moving! No more excuses to avoid fitness, this sleek wristband is with you all the time, giving you the motivation boost you need. Steps taken, distance traveled, calories burned? Your level of activity won’t be a secret anymore as Force delivers real-time stats right on your wrist. The device can also be worn overnight to track how long and how well you sleep. A...
What is the ideal choice for vessel support, following angioplasty? The spontaneous answer would be AMS (Absorbable Metal Scaffolds), an element Biotronik had in mind when designing its latest release, DREAMS (Drug Eluting Absorbable Magnesium Scaffold) . DREAMS guarantees no foreign part will remain in the vessel following the absorption and that excellent results c...
Swiss manufacturer, Phonak, specialised in hearing aid technology, has released a line of hearing devices exclusively designed for children with hearing loss considered as medium to profound. Knowing how children can be reluctant to wear their hearing aids, Phonak has transformed this moment into a playful one. Indeed, they can create their own personal look and consequ...
French medical device company Carmat made an announcement on Monday that the second patient to be fitted with its fully artificial heart has died. The unnamed 69 year old man passed away nine months after receiving the transplant. At the time, Carmat had introduced a news blackout in response to the media scrum over the death of the first patient, however, the Wall Stree...
More older patients are receiving implants than ever before and this is partly thanks to the increasing quality of the implants used. New materials and advances in device design are extending the life of implants. This is certainly true in the area of hip replacements. Larger femur heads are a better fit for older patients whose muscles maybe thinner, but previously larg...
For the first time, an amputee was able to feel again and it is thanks to a robotic prosthetic hand packed with cutting-edge technology. The success of the LIFEHAND 2 is an exciting development in the field of neuroprosthetics that will hopefully translate to continued R&D and eventually the availability of sensory rich prosthetics to amputees worldwide. LIFEHAND 2 pr...
In this incredible video, a paralyzed woman is able to control a robotic arm– with only her thoughts. A tiny sensor implanted into the surface of her brain reads electrical impulses from numerous neurons; the information is then relayed to a computer that converts the electrical signal to a command. Watch the video to learn about the BrainGate neural interface system ...
Researchers at the University of Illinois have come up with a sustainable replacement for batteries to power medical implants: the organs themselves. The team has found a way to harness the energy created by the natural motion of the heart, lungs and the diaphragm to provide power to implanted medical devices. In essence, the implant captures the motion of a heartbeat an...
The first 3D printed eye cells were successfully created by researchers at Cambridge, and the potential implications this research carries are huge. Researchers used a piezoelectric inkjet printer to reproduce retinal cells of adult rats; the study demonstrated that the printing process does not produce adverse effects on the viability or survival rate of the cells in cu...
Multiple sealant technologies have been popping up since the start of 2014. This comes as no surprise according to a 2013 Frost & Sullivan report outlining on the growth of the tissue sealant industry, following increased surgical volumes due to aging populations. From glue that can mend a broken heart to the first ever FDA-approved ocular sealant, 2014 is posed to be a ...
