Ergonomics and Handheld Medical Devices: Five Vital Elements for Design Success

Dexterity, precision, control and comfort — without them, no handheld or hand intensive medical device is a success, for either the medical professional using...

Implantable Islet Cells Come with Their Own Oxygen Supply

Since the 1960s, researchers have been interested in the possibility of treating type 1 diabetes by transplanting islet cells — the pancreatic cells that are responsible for...

Therapeutic Gel Shows Promise Against Cancerous Tumors

Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine and NC State have created an injectable gel-like scaffold that can hold combination chemo-immunotherapeutic drugs and deliver them locally to...

Augmented Reality Helps Surgeons See Through Tissue to Reconnect Blood Vessels

Imperial College London
London, UK
www.imperial.ac.uk

In a series of procedures carried out by a team at Imperial College London at St Mary’s...

Near-Infrared Light May Identify Breast Cancer Patients Who Will Benefit Most from Chemotherapy

A new optical imaging system developed at Columbia University uses red and near-infrared light to identify breast cancer patients who will...

Postoperative Wound Monitoring App Aims to Reduce Readmissions

A new smartphone app called WoundCare enables patients to remotely send images of their surgical wounds for monitoring by nurses.

Rehabilitation Robotics and Prosthetics: Trends and Intellectual Property Considerations

Beyond an ability to merely act, today's medical robotics are increasingly able to sense and “think,” providing for an ever-growing list of...

Making Heart Transplants Obsolete with Small Removable Pump

On the 50th anniversary of the first heart transplant, which occurred in December 1967, a University of Houston biomedical engineer is creating a next-generation heart pump for...

Squirtable Surgical Glue Could Transform Surgeries and Save Lives

Sutures and staples are the traditional methods for closing surgical incisions and wounds in emergency situations. However, these methods can be inadequate in complex...

Small Sensor Array Offers Easier Way to Image Brain

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories want to use small magnetic sensors to image the brain in a way that's simpler and less expensive than the magnetoencephalography system now...

MEG Technology Improves Diagnosis of Epilepsy

Leti, a research institute of CEA Tech, has taken a major step toward development of next-generation magnetoencephalography (MEG) that could significantly reduce the cost of MEG systems and...

New Patch Aims to Turn Energy-Storing Fats into Energy-Burning Fats

A new system combines a new way to deliver drugs, via a micro-needle patch, with drugs that are known to turn energy-storing white fat into energy-burning brown fat. This...

Surgical Sealant Derived from Human Protein Seals Without Sutures

A newly engineered material could become the first suture-less sealant for wound closure. In laboratory tests of the material, known as a MeTro sealant, the team demonstrated...

Soft Robotic Solution Aids in Surgery for One-Sided Heart Failure

Soft robotic actuators have recently emerged as an attractive alternative to more rigid components that have conventionally been used in biomedical devices. However,...

Combining Machine and Nanoparticles for Better Transplant Outcomes

By combining the use of drug-carrying nanoparticles with an organ-preserving machine, researchers have developed a procedure that could help improve long-term outcomes for...

Orthopedics: Springs Provide Precision, Cleanability

When engineers develop orthopedic surgical devices, they must often think beyond the design of the device, and find a way to make its installation easier, safer, and more accurate....

Super-Elastic Surgical Glue Sticks and Seals in Vivo

To repair ruptured or pierced organs and tissues, surgeons commonly use staples, sutures and wires to bring and hold the wound edges together so that they can heal. However, these...

CMOS Imaging Sensors: Direct, Real-Time Color Imaging in Cardiovascular Devices

Advances in CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) imaging sensor (CIS) module technology are shrinking pixel size, allowing more pixels to fit...

Researchers Design Soft, Flexible Origami-Inspired Robot

Researchers have turned origami into a patent-pending soft robot that may one day be used in surgery. The researchers have moved from paper robots to 3D-printed models that bend,...

Quartet H2O LDD Actively Cooled Lateral Surgical Fiber Optic

Infrared surgical lasers, e.g., CTH:YAG @ 2100 nm and TM:YAG @ 2000 nm, are wonderful tools for minimally invasive surgery such as laser vaporization of hyperplastic prostate...

Biopsy Robot Can Be Used in an MRI Scanner

A biopsy robot made from 3D printed plastic can be used in an MRI scanner. The advantage of plastic is that the robot can carry out a biopsy (removing a piece of tissue) during a breast cancer scan...

Nontoxic Adhesive Could Lead to New Surgical Glue

A nontoxic glue modeled after adhesive proteins produced by mussels and other creatures has been found to outperform commercially available products, pointing toward potential surgical glues...

New, More Accurate Tool Helps Surgeons Find Liver Tumors

Surgeons can swab a patient’s exposed liver lightly on the surface with a special stylus, capturing the shape of the organ during surgery, and a computer can match that image with...

MAKING THINGS INTELLIGENT: The Advent of RFID in Medical Devices

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been described as the interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and...

Ultrasound ‘Drill’ Targets Deep Vein Blood Clots

Researchers have developed a new surgical tool that uses low-frequency intravascular ultrasound to break down blood clots that cause deep vein thrombosis. The tool is the first ultrasound...

The Benefits of Magnesium Alloy for Medical Implants

The use of medical devices has hit an all-time high, with the global industry currently valued at $200 million and strong growth predictions through to 2023.¹ These devices...

Sugar-Coated Nanomaterial Excels at Promoting Bone Growth

There hasn’t been a gold standard for how orthopedic spine surgeons promote new bone growth in patients, but now Northwestern University scientists have designed a bioactive...

Drug-Loaded Collagen Scaffolds Prevent Implant Infection

A study led by scientists from the Regenerative, Modular, and Developmental Engineering Laboratory (REMODEL) and the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices,...