Archive for June 2016
Tiny Injectable Camera System for Endoscopes
At the Univesity of Stuttgart in Germany, scientists have created a lens system small enough to be injected through a syringe. It can be attached to the distal end of a fiber optic cable, while at the proximal end a tiny CMOS sensor captures the images. The hope is that the technology will lead to…
Read MoreIs Your Doctor’s Advice Objective on Receiving Robotic Surgery?
Patients often rely on physicians for information about their treatment alternatives. Unfortunately, that information is not always objective. Consider a man with early-stage prostate cancer interested in surgical removal of his tumor, but uncertain whether it is better for the surgery to be performed with the help of robotic technology. He asks his surgeon for…
Read MoreFlexible Robotic System, Developed in Pittsburgh is Centerpiece of Medrobotics
James Jordan half-jokingly said he thought he “might be investing in a sock puppet.” The year was 2005. Mr. Jordan, one of four executives-in-residence at the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse on the South Side at the time, had just volunteered to help Howie Choset, a Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor, and Marco Zenati, then a…
Read MoreDentsply Sirona to Buy MIS Implants for $375 Million
Dentsply Sirona Inc. said it agreed to buy dental implant systems manufacturer MIS Implants Technologies Ltd. for $375 million. The privately held Israeli-based company sells dental implants under its MIS brand and has annual sales of about $80 million. Dentsply said it sees MIS helping to address the value segment of the implant market. Dentsply…
Read MoreDigital Health Company, Reflexion Health, Secures $18 Million for Its Series B Financing
SAN DIEGO, CA– (June 22, 2016) – Reflexion Health, a digital health company dedicated to bringing personalized rehabilitation healthcare into patients’ homes, today announced that it has received $18 million in an insider-led, series B funding round. Reflexion Health will use these funds to complete clinico-economic evaluation of its first FDA cleared product (VERA™), expand its suite…
Read MoreStudy Links Simulation in EMS Training with Improved Prehospital Pediatric Care
With increased emphasis on culture of safety and rising concerns over medical errors, our attention this month turns to this study from Baylor College of Medicine in conjunction with the Houston Fire Department(HFD). As we reported in the March issue, we know that the cognitive load theory (CLT) of education impacts high-fidelity simulation in EMS…
Read MoreTips for Women on Preventing Heart Disease from the FDA
The FDA released a consumer health information update on June 2 that provides women with tips on preventing heart disease. Approximately 25 percent of women die from heart disease, the leading cause of death among women according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Recently, NPR noted that a survey found only…
Read MoreFDA Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Medical Device Amendments
In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple and a gallon of gas was $.59. And in another action that has had long term impact, President Ford signed the Medical Device Amendments that closed the dangerous gap between what he called FDA’s “horse and buggy authority” and “laser age problems.” Unlike the pharmaceutical industry,…
Read MoreTrauma Surgeons Superhuman Efforts at Orlando Health
A 6-year-old boy with abnormal pupils and gasping for breath. A 26-year-old pregnant woman with a gunshot wound to her abdomen. A 54-year-old male with blood pouring from a wound in his thigh. Now add 43 more patients. Imagine you are the paramedic at this scene. Who do you take to the hospital first? Who do you…
Read MoreBaby Bentley Born with Brain Formed Outside of Skull
When Sierra Yoder went with her husband Dustin to get her 22-week ultrasound and find out the sex of their baby, she was shocked when the concerned doctor sent her to a neurosurgeon. Soon after, the baby was diagnosed with encephalocele, a condition affecting 1 out of every 10,000 babies, causing part or all of the brain…
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