Technology Solutions
Researchers Bring Sense Of Infrared Sight To Rats
February 14, 2013 1:46 pm | by Gene Ostrovsky | Articles | CommentsExtra-sensory systems for the blind have the potential to replace eyes with another sense, and some have been built that essentially turn video into sound or tactile sensation. Now researchers at Duke University Medical Center are reporting in Nature Communications that they were able to create a system that combines an infrared camera and a brain implant to let rats sense infrared light, which they otherwise don’t perceive.
Robotic Assisted Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery
February 14, 2013 11:32 am | by YouTube | Videos | CommentsThe following video shows a robotic assisted coronary artery bypass surgery performed at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, CT by Dr. Albert DiMeo, Director of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Cardiothoraic Surgery. This minimally invasive surgery uses the Da Vinci robot to harvest the left internal mammary artery (LIMA) which is then anastomosed to the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) using off-pump techniques.
Simulator Helps Students Practice Brain Surgery
February 14, 2013 11:00 am | by CBS News | Videos | CommentsA new technology is helping brain surgery residents improve their skills before they practice on patients. The machine actually simulates the sounds, feelings, and tactile feedback surgeons would experience in the OR.
Plasma Treatment Shows Potential For Knee Pain
February 13, 2013 12:04 pm | News | CommentsA study by researchers from Hospital for Special Surgery has shown that platelet-rich plasma (PRP) holds great promise for treating patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Kinect Game Controller Could Cut Healthcare Costs
February 13, 2013 11:54 am | News | CommentsThe Microsoft Kinect game controller could cut U.S. healthcare costs by up to $30 billion by allowing providers to interact with patients remotely, reducing the number of hospital visits and the associated risk of infection.
Embracing An Integrated OR
February 13, 2013 11:42 am | by Mike Schmidt, Editor, Surgical Products | Articles | CommentsA strong desire to dramatically improve OR efficiency led one South Carolina hospital to purchase and implement a real-time process management solution.
Why We Need EMR 3.0
February 13, 2013 10:24 am | by David Nash, M.D., MBA | Blogs | CommentsEMRs are essentially electronic charts, but what we need going forward is a tool to promote accountability and measurement of quality and safety.
da Vinci Simulation Technology
February 13, 2013 9:57 am | by Mimic Technologies | Mimic Technologies Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsMSim 2.0 is the new simulation technology for the dV-Trainer, the surgical simulator designed to recreate the look and feel of the da Vinci Surgery System. The technology is designed to allow today's surgeons to more quickly and accurately advance their skill in robotic surgery with the help of important upgrades.
Endoscopic Approaches Improve Success Rates For Barrett's Esophagus
February 12, 2013 12:54 pm | News | CommentsA new study from researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania reports that endoluminal (endoscopic) therapies, combining resection and ablation techniques, for patients with Barrett's esophagus and high-grade dysplasia or early mucosal cancer have a high success rate, with durable results and a low risk of complications.
Strokes Associated With Surgery Can Be Devastating
February 12, 2013 12:27 pm | News | CommentsStrokes that occur during or shortly after surgery can be devastating, resulting in longer hospital stays and increased risks of death or long-term disability. However, prompt identification and treatment of such strokes can improve neurologic outcomes.
Suits Target Mesh Manufacturers, Surgeons Disagree
February 11, 2013 12:01 pm | by Kate Brumback, AP | News | Comments"The innovation — and the skill sets to use the innovation — is outpacing the skill sets that the surgeons have, and no one is trying to close that gap." Dr. Vincent Lucente believes there should be a credentialing process to ensure expertise, as there is for other surgical procedures.
IBM Offers Watson's Medical Expertise
February 11, 2013 11:43 am | by Jim Fitzgerald, AP | News | CommentsThe Watson supercomputer is graduating from its medical residency and is being offered commercially to doctors and health insurance companies, IBM said.
Implants Could Make Light Work Of Fixing Broken Bones
February 8, 2013 10:48 am | News | CommentsThe use of bone stem cells combined with a degradable rigid material that inserts into broken bones and encourages real bone to re-grow has been developed at the Universities of Edinburgh and Southampton.
Clot-Busting Drug Yields Better Results After Stroke
February 8, 2013 10:34 am | News | CommentsPatients who randomly received the minimally invasive surgery to deliver a drug designed to dissolve their golf ball-sized clots went home from the hospital an average of 38 days sooner and saved an estimated $44,000.
Treating Nerve Compression Disorders In Athletes
February 8, 2013 10:11 am | by Julia Evangelou Strait | News | CommentsTwo new studies from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest ways to improve surgical treatment for a debilitating condition caused by compressed nerves in the neck and shoulder.
Renaissance
February 8, 2013 9:49 am | by Mazor Robotics | Mazor Robotics Inc. | Product Releases | CommentsMazor Robotics’ Renaissance is designed to transform spine surgery from freehand procedures to highly-accurate, state-of-the-art robotic procedures, with less radiation—even for minimally invasive surgery (MIS), scoliosis, and other complex spinal deformity cases. It is powered by clinically validated technology and meant for a wide range of clinical applications.
SynTrack OR-Max
February 8, 2013 9:43 am | by IBSS | Product Releases | CommentsSynTrack OR-Max from IBSS is designed to dramatically increase efficiency in the OR. Use the new-found efficiency to increase case throughput, adding another case per O.R. daily using current resource levels; or substantially reduce costs of current caseloads.
Hospital Robot Helps Doctors Connect With Patients
February 7, 2013 10:02 am | by CBS News | Videos | CommentsWith more and more patients in need of specialized care, doctors are turning to technology to help them be in more than one place at a time. Some are calling it one of the best advances in tele-medicine.
Medical GPS Helps With Heart Surgeries
February 7, 2013 9:55 am | by CBS News | Videos | CommentsDoctors at Massachusetts General Hospital are using cutting-edge technology to treat a the common heart condition known as atrial fibrillation. Surgery to treat the condition often leads to several x-rays during the procedure. That may no longer be necessary.
Video Game Lets Anyone Be A Heart Surgeon
February 7, 2013 9:43 am | by ABC News | Videos | CommentsA surgical simulator recently created by a group of young men allows "players" to perform a heart transplant. It's not quite a video game, and it's not quite a training tool. See for yourself...
FDA Clears Sculptor Robotic Guidance Arm For Unicompartmental Knee Replacement Surgery
February 6, 2013 12:59 pm | News | CommentsPartial knee resurfacing only replaces the parts of the knee that are worn out and painful rather than cutting away the entire joint. This preservation technique retains the natural ligaments around the knee, reduces surgical damage to tissue, and is less invasive compared to total knee replacement. Sculptor RGA utilizes a robotic guidance arm to assist the surgeon's operation of a cutting tool, limiting the removal of bone to a pre-defined safe area using 'Active Constraint' technology.
Blood In, Blood Out
February 6, 2013 9:35 am | by David Mantey, Executive Editor, PD&D | Articles | CommentsA new device is designed to recover blood spilled during open-heart and major trauma surgery and concentrate the blood cells for transfusion back to the patient.
Workflow Management Software
February 5, 2013 10:06 am | by Steris | Steris Corporation | Product Releases | CommentsThe RealView Visual Workflow Management Software from Steris is designed to help create Lean, highly efficient perioperative environments. According to the company, improvements include an increase of up to 85 percent in OR utilization and a 146 percent improvement in surgical volume without adding ORs or overtime.
The Ethics Of EMR: How Unproven Technology Affects Patients
February 5, 2013 9:35 am | by Wes Fisher, MD | Blogs | CommentsWe should acknowledge that there might be cause, ethically, to deploy a technology that truly benefits patients at some cost. After all, you have to break a few eggs to make a good omelet. If interoperability of EMR systems between facilities were commonplace and clinical data were shared with ease while patient privacy was vigorously upheld flawlessly, the cost of these systems might be ethically justified.
Some Abdominal CT Scans Unnecessary, Avoidable For Children
February 4, 2013 2:01 pm | News | CommentsA study of more than 12,000 children from emergency departments throughout the country in the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) has identified seven factors that can help physicians determine the need for a computed tomography (CT) scan following blunt trauma to the abdomen.
