Archive for the ‘Medical Instruments’ Category

Telcare, the maker of the Telcare BGM cellular enabled blood glucose meter, has released an iPhone app that can gather data from the meter even if they’re physically apart. This not only allows you to watch your own glucose, but a parent of a diabetic child can make sure the kid takes regular readings and almost immediately ... Full story

MicroCHIPS, an MIT spin-out company out of Waltham, MA, has announced results of a clinical study evaluating its wirelessly controlled implantable drug releasing electronic microchip. The device features controllable reservoir arrays that can contain a drug or a microsensor.  The reservoirs can be opened and closed either based on a preset program, activated wirelessly through a transmitter, or based on readings of the embedded sensors.... Full story

Having received European CE Mark approval in September, Cellnovo out of London, UK has launched its diabetes management system that looks like a smartphone system, but is actually an integrated glucometer, wirelessly connected insulin pump, activity monitor, and cell phone-based data transfer system to share readings with family and clinicians. To kick off the release of the ... Full story

Researchers from Joint Quantum Institute (National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland, College Park), the Neils Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Harvard University have described a theoretical system that may allow the detection of very small electrical signals by utilizing laser light. The technology framework uses a nano scale mechanical ... Full story

Researchers from Singapore have developed a small robot designed to remove stomach cancer in its early stages. The mini robot resembles a crab, because it incorporates a pincer and a hook to do the job. The robot is mounted on an endoscope which reaches the stomach via the patient’s mouth. Next to its size, another advantage of the robot is that it doesn’t leave an ... Full story

Edwards Lifesciences has announced that a recent clinical trial studying its Sapien transcatheter heart valve found reduced mortality rates in high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. A recent press release explains that patients in the trial were treated with transapical transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) during the continued access period of Cohort A of The PARTNER Trial From ... Full story

Ultrasound has been a welcome tool for many years to break up kidney stones, but finding the stones still requires radiograph or CT imaging. Researchers from the University of Washington and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) believe they developed a method of detecting renal calculi using a modified diagnostic ultrasound equipment found in every modern hospital. Moreover, once detected, they are able to ... Full story

InterVapor, from Uptake Medical (Tustin, CA), is a non-surgical endoscopic lung volume reduction procedure that uses thermal ablation without leaving foreign materials in the lung. In clinical studies of patients with severe emphysema, InterVapor has demonstrated clinically meaningful improvements in breathing function, exercise capacity and quality of life. The company has now closed a Series C funding round, which will support commercialization of InterVapor for treatment ... Full story

Electronic cigarettes have become a big business as many smokers have opted to choose them over the traditional variety. Lack of actual smoke and tar is a major positive, but being able to “smoke” them even where smoking is not allowed may lead to a greater overall intake of nicotine. Nevertheless, many people bought e-cigarettes as a smoking cessation tool that takes away some of ... Full story

Stanford’s decade old biodesign program is partnering up with FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health to help the agency adapt the way it screens new medical technologies. The parties have reached a “memorandum of understanding,” rather than a formal agreement to specific projects, but the framework creates a method by which cooperation can now take place. From the announcement: “This agreement is the first step in a ... Full story