A seven-year study comparing outcomes from robotic and open cystectomy procedures showed no statistically significant difference in complications or survival rate between the two methods. The randomized open versus robotic cystectomy study, known as the Razor trial, is touted as the first comprehensive study to compare outcomes between robotic and traditional open surgeries in any […]
Study: No difference in complications, survival rate between robot-assisted and open bladder surgeries
June 22, 2018 By Leave a Comment
This wireless system powers devices inside the body
June 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers and Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have developed a wireless, ingestible system that can power and communicate with devices that are implanted deep within the body. The researchers suggest that the system could be used to deliver drugs, monitor conditions inside the body or treat diseases by stimulating the brain
Data Sciences International launches inhalation exposure system
June 21, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Data Sciences International, a subsidiary of Harvard Bioscience, recently launched a new inhalation and exposure system called the DSI Buxco Inhalation Exposure System. The new inhalation exposure system is designed for ease-of-use for researchers while also giving them flexibility. It features remote sensors and hardware control system that are linked by a microprocessor-based feedback loop.
Hey, Google! When will I die?
June 20, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Google’s AI capabilities can predict with greater accuracy than a hospital’s computers when a critically ill patient will die, according to a new study. Using a patient’s entire chart, Google’s deep learning methods were able to predict, 24 hours after admission, the risk of that patient’s death at 19.9% while the regular hospital’s computers predicted
SetPoint Medical touts 2-year relief from rheumatoid arthritis
June 19, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Startup SetPoint Medical has demonstrated “significant, sustained improvement” over two years in a first-in-human study using bioelectronic therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Seventeen subjects with moderate to severe symptoms were implanted with a vagus nerve stimulator in the European study. At three months, the therapy was shown to have significantly reduced RA symptoms
These nanorobots clear bacteria and toxins from blood
June 15, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Researchers at the University of California at San Diego have created tiny ultrasound-powered nanorobots that are designed to swim through blood and remove bacteria and toxins. The UCSD researchers built the nanorobots using gold nanowires coated with a hybrid of platelet and red blood cell membranes. The hybrid coating meant the nanorobots can perform two
Medtech companies need to expand their philosophy: Here’s why
June 12, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Medtech companies should expand their notion of who their customers are and dig deeper to discern what those customers want, according to health provider- and insurer-connected experts at the recent DeviceTalks Minnesota in St. Paul. Artificial intelligence and the proliferation of healthcare data have made it possible for medtech to consider not just individual patients
How you can control lab-grown heart cells with a remote control light
June 11, 2018 By Leave a Comment
University of California San Diego researchers have created a technique that speeds up and slows down human heart cells that are being grown in a dish on command by shining light on them and varying the intensity. The heart cells are being grown in graphene which turns light into electricity, a more realistic environment that
Big medical device companies are able to innovate, too: Here’s how
June 8, 2018 By 1 Comment
Startups and smaller firms outnumber the big medtech companies, but they haven’t cornered the market on research and development. The major players are always working on new devices and use their scale to quickly assemble teams to develop them. R&D executives from Abbott and Boston Scientific explained how their processes work and dispelled some myths
How researchers are 3D printing sugar scaffolds for tissue engineering and device manufacturing
June 7, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Engineers at the University of Illinois built a 3D printer that makes a delicate network of thin ribbons from isomalt, the same type of sugar alcohol that is used to make throat lozenges. Since the material is a water-soluble, biodegradable glassy sugar structure, the engineers suggest it could be used in multiple applications, including biomedical
More information out about One Discovery Square near Mayo Clinic
June 6, 2018 By Leave a Comment
A new website is providing more details — including a new anchor tenant —for One Discovery Square, the roughly 90,000-square-foot biotech research, collaboration and innovation space under construction near Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Slated to open in April 2019, the four-story building is meant to be the first step in the creation of an innovation
Abbott is developing a dual-chamber leadless pacemaker
June 4, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Even before its acquisition by Abbott, St. Jude Medical had begun developing a dual-chamber leadless pacemaker, which would be a first if it succeeds. Abbott and Medtronic are the only companies that have developed single-chamber leadless pacemakers; St. Jude recalled its version, Nanostim, in October 2017 after receiving 7 reports of lost telemetry and pacing
These medical gloves are antimicrobial and prevent infections
June 4, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Scientists at the University of Nottingham have created antimicrobial medical examination gloves that help prevent the spread of infection. The gloves are the world’s first non-leaching antimicrobial medical gloves and the scientists on the project expect to sell billions of them to healthcare organizations around the world to help fight infection and combat antimicrobial resistance.
MIT researchers send drug-ferrying nanoparticles across the blood-brain barrier
May 29, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology demonstrated in an animal study that nanoparticles shuttling two different cancer drugs could effectively cross the blood-brain barrier and target tumor cells. The team of scientists evaluated the drug combination in mice that had gliobastoma – an aggressive form of brain cancer that is notoriously hard to treat. […]
How ingestible bacteria-on-a-chip could diagnose gastrointestinal diseases
May 25, 2018 By Leave a Comment
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed an ingestible sensor that has engineered bacteria that can diagnose bleeding in the stomach and has the potential to diagnose other gastrointestinal problems. The system, being called bacteria-on-a-chip, uses sensors with living cells and ultra-low power electronics that can convert a bacterial response into wireless signals that can
