Thoracic Surgery Archives

Bovie J-Plasma Handpiece Greenlighted in U.S.

bovie j plasma1 Bovie J Plasma Handpiece Greenlighted in U.S.
Bovie Medical received FDA clearance for its J-Plasma handpiece with retractable cutting feature for coagulating soft tissue during surgeries. It is available for both open and laparoscopic procedures.

The device is powered by a previously approved Bovie GS electrosurgical generator.

J-Plasmaâ„¢ is formed by passing an inert gas, such as helium, over a sharp conductive point which is held at high voltage and high frequency, producing a luminous discharge beam. The sharp conductive point can also be in the form of a retractable surgical blade, providing multiple modes of operation in a single instrument. The extended surgical blade can be used for incisions and other cutting procedures, and when retracted, the blade is used to form the J-Plasma beam for coagulation. The extended blade can also be used in combination with the J-Plasma beam, providing an enhanced cutting capability with minimal impact on surrounding tissue.

The Company, assisted by leading surgeons, will introduce J-Plasmaâ„¢ at selected hospital beta sites including several university teaching facilities, in preparation for a market launch later this year by its independent sales distribution network.

bovie icon gs Bovie J Plasma Handpiece Greenlighted in U.S.

Press release: BOVIE MEDICAL CORPORATION RECEIVES 510 K CLEARANCES TO MARKET PATENTED J-PLASMAâ„¢ TECHNOLOGY

Medgadget Q&A About VISIUS Surgical Theatre With Intra-Operative Imaging

Medgadget Q&A About VISIUS Surgical Theatre With Intra-Operative Imaging

Intra-operative imaging has been helping surgeons work on patients with greater confidence and increased precision.

We had a chance to ask Amy Boyle, Executive Vice President, Marketing at IMRIS, about the benefits of intra-operative imaging, and specifically about the company’s VISIUS Surgical Theatre that comes with either CT or MRI scanner that can quickly slide in and out of the OR to image the patient on the table as needed.

Read More

Cardinal Health Releases Smart-Seal Surgical Mask

Cardinal Health Releases Smart-Seal Surgical Mask

Cardinal Health has made available its Smart-Seal surgical mask that improves both its fit and reduces interior fogging while providing a high level of filtration and resistance to liquids.

From the announcement:

Read More

HealthStream and Laerdal Unveil New Clinical Simulator Management Tools

HealthStream and Laerdal Unveil New Clinical Simulator Management Tools

HealthStream and Laerdal Medical launched a couple new products for managing and studying clinical simulations.

SimView allows for recording of simulation video, audio, data logs, and how the virtual patient responds to therapy. SimManager is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application that helps manage simulation routines from scheduling, to progress tracking, to delivering reports while tracking room and equipment availability.

Read More

The Future of InterVapor: Q&A with Uptake’s Chief Medical Officer Steven Kesten

The Future of InterVapor: Q&A with Uptake's Chief Medical Officer Steven Kesten

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 of severe emphysema. This news comes on the heels of Uptake Medical receiving CE mark approval for InterVapor in September, completing the first commercial use of InterVapor in Germany in November, and recently announcing TGA approval for InterVapor to be marketed in Australia.

Steven Kesten, Chief Medical Officer at Uptake Medical, answered our questions about the company and its technology:

Read More

Spiro PD Personal Spirometer for Lung Function Analysis

Spiro PD Personal Spirometer for Lung Function Analysis

PMD Healthcare has released its new portable spirometer that allows people with all kinds of lung conditions, like asthma, COPD and cystic fibrosis, to monitor their lung function.  The device can also provide reminders to take medications and perform tests, as well as to be used to conduct breathing exercises.

Data from the device can be uploaded via a computer for physicians to be able to analyze results over time.

Read More

Nanotech Coating Could Stop Bleeding within Seconds

Nanotech Coating Could Stop Bleeding within Seconds

A nanoscale biological coating could prevent battlefield deaths by halting bleeding nearly instantaneously. Developed by engineers at MIT with the assistance of Ferrosan Medical Devices A/S (Soeborg, Denmark), the coating includes thrombin, a protein involved in blood clotting that has been used clinically for decades for topical hemostasis and wound management. The coating also contains tannic acid, a molecule found in tea.

In a recent study, the researchers developed a biological coating consisting of two alternating layers sprayed onto a material, such as a sponge. The coating forms a film containing a high level of functional thrombin. According to the researchers, sponges coated with the material can be stored stably and carried by soldiers or medical personnel to treat the wounded. Similar sponges could also prove useful in civilian hospitals.

Read More

EndoWrist One Vessel Sealer Debuts for da Vinci Si Surgical System

EndoWrist One Vessel Sealer Debuts for da Vinci Si Surgical System

Robotic surgery developer Intuitive Surgical Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) has received 510(k) clearance to market its EndoWrist One Vessel Sealer. The bipolar electrosurgical sealing and cutting instrument is designed for use with the firm’s da Vinci Si Surgical and a dedicated version of the ERBE VIO 300D electrosurgical generator, sold and supported by Intuitive Surgical, that will only control the Endowrist One vessel sealer instrument. The wristed, disposable instrument is intended for bipolar coagulation and mechanical transection of vessels up to 7 mm in diameter and tissue bundles that fit in the jaws of the instrument. It is not intended for use for tubal sterilization or tubal coagulation for sterilization procedures.

The EndoWrist One Vessel Sealer enables da Vinci Si surgeons to fully control vessel sealing, according to the manufacturer, while providing high surgical precision, control, stability, and 3-D HD visualization.

Read More

Open Source Surgery, a Robot called Raven takes Flight

Open Source Surgery, a Robot called Raven takes Flight

A multidisciplinary team of engineers from the University of Washington and the University of California, Santa Cruz have developed a surgical robot, called Raven 2, for use as an open source surgical robotics research platform. Seven units of the Raven 2 will be made available to researchers at Harvard , Johns Hopkins, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Los Angeles, while the remaining two systems will remain at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the University of Washington.

The Raven 2 is a surgical robot with 7 degrees of freedom, compact electronics and two wing-like arms which end in tiny gripper claws designed to perform surgery on simulated patients. The robot’s software is compatible with Robot Operating System, an open source robotics coding platform.

Read More