Rehab. Google Glass Investigated for Parkinson’s (VIDEO) Google Glass made a big splash as a futuristic consumer device that would change the way we communicate and go about our lives, but it seems that it will have a greater impact in professional and specialty applications. One promising use of Google Glass is being investigated at Newcastle University in England to help people with Parkinson’s disease manage their lives and do things that would otherwise be impossible. The team initially conducted a study to see whether Glass would be accepted by the volunteers, and have moved onto developing new capabilities. Being able to place a phone call without using trembling hands must already be a winner, but Glass can also be used to notify the user when their speech is too quiet or to remind to swallow to prevent drooling.
Here’s a video from Newcastle University with the researchers presenting their work: Newcastle University press statement: Google Glass puts the focus on Parkinson’s… Read More » Rehab. Medicine. Analogic Sonic Window Handheld Ultrasound for Peripheral IV Placement Analogic received FDA clearance and has just unveiled its new Sonic Window handheld ultrasound system to help in placing peripheral IVs.
Devices that use infrared cameras and projectors that help visualize the location of veins, such as VeinViewer, have been around for a few years now, but they don’t help with knowing the depth, nor much about the other anatomy in the vicinity. The Sonic Window resembles a remote control crossed with an iPod, but is actually an ultrasound transducer, computer, battery, and display in one system. It’s operated with one hand and provides a real-time view of the anatomy, allowing a clinician to quickly measure the size and depth of veins before choosing the catheter, and to then help place the needle correctly and achieve vascular access the first time.
From the product page: Product page: Sonic Window… Press release: Analogic Announces FDA Clearance for Breakthrough Sonic Window Handheld… Cardiology. Medtronic Evera MRI VR, World’s First Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator EU Cleared for Full-Body MRI Scans Medtronic received European approval and is launching the new Evera MRI SureScan implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) on the continent. This is the world’s first ICD approved to be compatible during MRI scanning of any part of the patient’s anatomy. The device has an estimated 11 year battery life and uses Medtronic’s Sprint Quattro Secure MRI-compatible leads. It features the company’s SmartShock 2.0 technology that prevents inappropriate shocks caused by electrical noise and arrhythmias not warranting a correction. Press release: Medtronic Announces CE Mark and European Launch of First Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator System to Allow for Full-Body MRI Scans… ECD Esophageal Therapeutic Hypothermia Device Coming to Europe The ECD device is similar to traditional gastric tubes, but has three lumens within.
Read More » Here’s a company video presenting the Impella RP: Nanomedicine. Light Activated Nanoballoons Open Inside Tumors to Release Chemo Cargo Targeted delivery of chemotherapy may help overcome the terrible side effects that injecting poison into the whole body can have. A team of researchers headed by scientists at University of Buffalo have developed new nanoscale liposomes, made out of lipids, that can ferry chemo without spilling a drop until a near-infrared laser illuminates them. The nanoscale vesicles are made of porphyrin-phospholipid (PoP) liposomes, but the mechanism of them popping open to release the cargo is yet to be explained. Nevertheless, the team tested the nanoballoons in laboratory mice and found that they open up inside the animals exactly where the laser was directed, and, once it’s turned off, the liposomes close and sequester a good amount of surrounding molecules that may be related to the progression of the cancer.
From the study abstract in Nature Communications: Press release: Fighting cancer with lasers and nanoballoons that pop… Radiology. Radiation therapy using linear particle accelerators can be a bit a hit or miss process, since imaging of tumors and the therapy are done separately. A new system being installed at University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands aims to bring together magnetic resonance imaging and a linear accelerator. Philips is supplying a 1.5 T MRI that will work with an Elekta linear accelerator. The project is actually led by a consortium of Dutch, American, and Canadian clinical centers. More from a Philips announcement: In the coming months, additional components will be integrated and the system will undergo a program of non-clinical testing, which includes the performance evaluation of MRI sequences, testing of different adaptive delivery methods, establishing quality assurance techniques and defining workflow.
“Since formation of the consortium in 2012, members have been exploring the feasibility of high-field MRI-guided radiotherapy.