Implants & Prosthetics

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If a prosthesis is not fit or aligned correctly, it can affect a patient's walking patterns, resulting in an asymmetric gait. These abnormal gait patterns can increase the stress on the healthy limb, leading to problems later in life such as arthritis. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Brooke Army Medical Center are now working to improve prosthesis performance for young soldiers returning from war by perfecting a portable, wearable system that could improve prosthesis fitting. The system can measure walking patterns and can be applied to real-world activities in a variety of settings. Next, they hope to develop a gait analysis system that can be utilized outside of a confined laboratory setting.

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The road to better, longer-lasting hip implants may be paved with better lubricants. A team of engineers and physicians recently discovered that graphitic carbon is a key element in a lubricating layer for longer-lasting metal-on-metal hip implants. The ability to extend the life of implants would have enormous benefits, in terms of both cost and quality of life. More than 450,000 Americans undergo hip replacement each year, and the numbers are growing.

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This technique could help semiconductor makers create key components of long-lasting micro-electromechanical systems for medical implants.

A new method developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a precise way to engineer microscopic cuts in a diamond surface, yielding potential benefits in both measurement and technological fields.*
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A team of researchers co-led by the University of Pennsylvania has developed and tested a high-resolution, ultra-thin device capable of recording brain activity from the cortical surface without having to use penetrating electrodes. The device could open the door to a new generation of brain-computer interfaces for treating neurological and psychicatric illness and research.
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In 2009, the first wireless pacemaker was implanted in a patient in the U.S., but there is still a lot of work that remains to be accomplished. About a year ago, Medtronic offered a sneak peek of a leadless pacemaker under development, and other medical device firms and startups have also announced similar intentions. Advancements in this technology extend to our friends across the pond as well — today, Cambridge Consultants announced its collaboration with EBR systems to develop the first leadless pacemaker to be successfully implanted in early human clinical trials in Europe.

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Researchers at Tel Aviv University were recently able to implant a robotic cerebellum into the skull of a brain-damaged rodent — and effectively restore its capacity for movement. Could robotic cerebellums benefit humans with motor control disorders, too? That's the plan, researchers say.

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This system offers advantages over traditional optical comparators, including the ability for multiple operators to compare parts to the CAD file at any one time.

Manufacturers of orthopedic implants take great care to ensure that their products are of the highest quality. One way they do this is by performing numerous inspection operations at various stages throughout the manufacturing process. These have great value — however, they also represent considerable expense. Until recently, implant manufacturers reaped only a small fraction of the potential benefits of these efforts mainly because, in the end, few records of the inspection operations remained. Those that did exist were of poor and irregular quality. This is reasonable, considering in-process inspections are performed on the shop floor by system operators, whose primary function is to manufacture parts. Most inspection records consisted of a few checkmarks on a paper report indicating that the required inspection had indeed been performed successfully. These records do not do justice to industry-wide, high-quality standards.

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