Medgadget » Ob/Gyn

UCSD Electronic Wireless Tattoo Receives Grant from the Gates Foundation

Scott Jung — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:20:51 +0000

Last week, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its latest round of grant winners for its Grand Challenges Explorations initiative. Among the recipients is a team from the University of California, San Diego and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that is developing a tiny, flexible fetal monitor. We wrote about the technology behind the device back in August and were able to hear from David Icke, CEO of MC10, the company helping to commercialize it, at both FutureMed in February and at last month’s TEDMED conference.

Described as an electronic “tattoo”, the device is a wearable patch of circuits, sensors, and wireless transmitters that sticks to the skin like a temporary tattoo and is able to stretch and flex with the skin. The researchers hope that the final product will continuously measure and monitor uterine contractions, fetal heart rate and oxygen, and maternal heart rate and body temperature.

Olive Medical’s HD Rigid Endoscope Provides High Resolution Visualization

Gene Ostrovsky — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:54:49 +0000

Olive Medical out of Salt Lake City, Utah unveiled its HD rigid endoscope for use with the company’s fully HD camera. The endoscope is autoclavable and the company is now offering a rigid endoscope repair program that promises to repair the devices within 48 hours.

Some stated features of the endoscope from the announcement:

GE Upgrades Its Portable Vscan Ultrasound

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 11 May 2012 23:37:13 +0000

GE Healthcare has unveiled the new and improved version of its popular Vscan pocket-sized ultrasound. The Vscan 1.2 sports a longer lasting battery, a new interface, and improved data export capabilities to help with reporting and sharing info about patients.

Full list of new features in the Vscan 1.2 according to the GE announcement:

Harmony Prenatal Test, a New Simpler, Cheaper Screening Tool for Fetal Trisomies

Gene Ostrovsky — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:22:42 +0000

Ariosa Diagnostics (San Jose, California) is releasing in the U.S. and Canada its Harmony Prenatal Test for detecting fetal trisomies in maternal blood. To be distributed through Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp), the test analyzes cell-free DNA (cfDNA), which are free floating DNA fragments, some of which that are in the mother’s blood come from the fetus.

Harmony utilizes directed DNA analysis, which is cheaper and more precise than random sequencing, aka shotgun sequencing, to spot aneuploid chromosomes.

Welch Allyn’s New Extra Small Disposable Vaginal Speculum

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:43:29 +0000

At the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Annual Clinical Meeting in San Diego, Welch Allyn has announced a release of a new extra small disposable vaginal speculum.

The device accepts the company’s new cordless and disposable illumination system, which is basically a small LED flashlight that automatically turns on once the device is inserted.

MScore Analyzes Robotic Surgery Simulator Performance

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 08 May 2012 13:41:41 +0000

Mimic Technologies, a company that builds the dV-Trainer, a da Vinci surgical robot simulator, recently released a software product to help assess how novice surgeons are using the simulator. The company has been collecting data from experienced surgeons performing various tasks on the simulator, and the MScore application is able to compare a novice user of the dv-Trainer against this data set to provide an overall performance score.

The hope is that with better in-silico training coupled with performance feedback, fewer animals will be sacrificed for this task, and patients will have better skilled surgeons working on them.

Mammotome elite Biopsy System from Devicor Released

Gene Ostrovsky — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:29:47 +0000

Devicor Medical Products out of Cincinnati, Ohio is releasing its Mammotome elite Biopsy System for ultrasound-guided biopsies of breasts and axillary lymph nodes. The device features 360-degree needle rotation, allowing the physician to point the aperture at the exact angle required, as well as a removable cannula and a grip that allows for a choice of three different hand positions.

The device received FDA clearance last month and is already CE marked in Europe.

OmniGuide FELS-25A Surgical Laser Now Available

Gene Ostrovsky — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 18:19:48 +0000

OmniGuide out of Cambridge, MA is releasing its new FELS-25A Intelliguide surgical laser for minimally invasive surgery. The CO2 laser system has a relatively small footprint, a touchscreen for controlling various parameters like the cooling gas supply, and the ability to supply continuous, single pulse, and repeated pulse energy for cutting, cauterization, or ablation.

The device already has FDA approval.

Caiman Seal and Cut Tools from Aesculap Now Available

Gene Ostrovsky — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:01:16 +0000

Aesculap, a subsidiary of B. Braun, has announced it is making available its Caiman line of surgical tools.

The devices feature unique jaw articulation for control and the company’s own algorithm that controls the energy applied to ensure a proper tissue seal.

DistalMotion’s Surgical Tool Combines the Best of Robotic and Endoscopic Surgery

Scott Jung — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:33:30 +0000

The advantages of endoscopic surgery are many. However, there are also drawbacks, especially for surgeons. Consider the following. Endoscopic surgery lacks fine precision due to the rigid nature of the tools. Moreover, because the surgeon is basically operating a lever (the beam being the surgical instrument and the trocar being the fulcrum), the surgeon’s movements are actually operating in opposite direction, which necessitates extensive training.

Robotic surgery has been developed concurrently with the advancement of electronic and computer technologies with a specific goal of solving some intrinsic problems of endoscopic approach. Surgical robots, such as the da Vinci, allow a surgeon to not only work remotely, but to also be able to effortlessly perform delicate procedures with his or her hands because of the robot’s ability to translate large movements by the surgeon into small movements in the corresponding instruments. However, the surgeon does not have any haptic feedback when instruments come in contact with tissue. Moreover, available surgical robots are very expensive and require a lot of space, a luxury that few hospitals have.