CIMIT blog

Smartphone-enabled Prosthetics Keep Amputees Out of Doctors' Office — +MassDevice.com

+MassDevice.com (January 4, 2013) — A "smart" prosthetic foot and ankle system uses microprocessor technology and a smartphone app that allows the device to adjust to a user's needs by responding to the environment or taking orders directly from the patient.

Orthocare Innovations' Magellan Microprocessor Foot Ankle System, a "smart" prosthetic that uses microprocessor computer control to automatically adjust for various types of activities and terrain, also features a smartphone app that allows users to adjust features of the prosthetic without needing to visit their doctors' offices.

The app also records activity that can then be shared with a physician or care provider monitoring the device, according to the video.

View original post on +MassDevice.com >>

Medical Devices Powered by the Ear Itself — MIT News Office

MIT News Office (November 7, 2012) — Deep in the inner ear of mammals is a natural battery — a chamber filled with ions that produces an electrical potential to drive neural signals. In today’s issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology, a team of researchers from MIT, the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) and the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST) demonstrate for the first time that this battery could power implantable electronic devices without impairing hearing.

The devices could monitor biological activity in the ears of people with hearing or balance impairments, or responses to therapies. Eventually, they might even deliver therapies themselves.

The work was funded in part by the Focus Center Research Program, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the Bertarelli Foundation.

Read full story at web.mit.edu >>

New Device Could Allow Your Heartbeat to Power Pacemaker

sciencedaily.com (November 4, 2012) — An experimental device converted energy from a beating heart to provide enough electricity to power a pacemaker, in a study presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2012.

The findings suggest that patients could power their pacemakers -- eliminating the need for replacements when batteries are spent.

Read full story at sciencedaily.com >>

3-D Medical Scanner: New Handheld Imaging Device to Aid Doctors On the 'Diagnostic Front Lines'

science.com (October 2, 2012) — In the operating room, surgeons can see inside the human body in real time using advanced imaging techniques, but primary care physicians, the people who are on the front lines of diagnosing illnesses, haven't commonly had access to the same technology -- until now.

Engineers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have created a new imaging tool for primary care physicians: a handheld scanner that would enable them to image all the sites they commonly examine, and more, such as bacterial colonies in the middle ear in 3-D, or monitor the thickness and health of patients' retinas. The device relies on optical coherence tomography (OCT), a visualization technology that is similar to ultrasound imaging, but uses light instead of sound to produce the images.

Read full story at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121002150035.htm >>

Scientists Make Tiny Medical Devices That Dissolve in Mice

cbsnews.com (September 27, 2012) — As consumers we want our electronic gadgets to be durable. But as patients, we might want them to dissolve - inside our bodies.

Scientists reported Thursday that they succeeded in creating tiny medical devices sealed in silk cocoons that did the work they were designed for, then dissolved in the bodies of lab mice. It's an early step in a technology that may hold promise, not only for medicine, but also for disposal of electronic waste.

The new work is "a remarkable achievement" in combining materials to produce a working device, said Christopher Bettinger of Carnegie Mellon University. He works on biodegradable electronics but was not involved in the study.

Doctors already use implants that dispense drugs or provide electrical stimulation, but they don't dissolve. The new work is aimed at making devices that do their jobs as long as needed and then just dissolved, without need for surgical removal or risk of long-term side effects.

Read full story at http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57521928/scientists-make-tiny-medical-devices-that-dissolve-in-mice/?tag=socsh >>

FDA Approves First Subcutaneous Heart Defibrillator

fda.gov (September 28, 2012) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved a heart defibrillator that helps to restore regular heart rhythms with leads that can be implanted just under the skin (subcutaneously) instead of connected directly into the heart.

An implantable defibrillator is a small battery-powered device that constantly monitors a person’s heart rhythm and can deliver a therapeutic dose of electricity to restore the rhythm when it senses the heart is beating dangerously fast (tachycardia) or chaotically (sudden cardiac arrest).

Other implantable defibrillators on the market require a physician to insert one or more electrical conductor wires, called “leads,” into a vein in the upper chest and guide them into the patient’s heart. X-ray fluoroscopy, a real-time imaging method, helps the physician to visualize the heart and blood vessels to guide the leads to the correct position.

The Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-ICD) System uses a lead that is implanted just under the skin along the bottom of the rib cage and breast bone. Because the lead is placed under the skin rather than through a vein into the heart, a physician can implant the device without accessing a patient’s blood vessels or heart and without the need for fluoroscopy.

“The S-ICD System provides an alternative for treating patients with life-threatening heart arrhythmias for whom the routine ICD placement procedure is not ideal,” said Christy Foreman, director of the Office of Device Evaluation at FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Some patients with anatomy that makes it challenging to place one of the implantable defibrillators currently on the market may especially benefit from this device.”

The S-ICD System is approved to provide an electric shock to the heart (defibrillation) when the patient’s heart is beating at a dangerous level or abnormally fast (ventricular tachyarrhythmias). It is approved only for patients who do not require a pacemaker or pacing therapy.

Read full story at http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm321755.htm >>

Merging Tissue and Electronics: New tissue scaffold could be used for implantable therapeutic devices

web.mit.edu (August 27, 2012) — A team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital has now added a new element to tissue scaffolds: electronic sensors. These sensors, made of silicon nanowires, could be used to monitor electrical activity in the tissue surrounding the scaffold, control drug release or screen drug candidates for their effects on the beating of heart tissue.

Read full story on web.mit.edu >>

Dartmouth Student Develops Biometric Bracelet: A device that measures its wearer's unique electric impedance could make medical procedures more convenient

A computer science student at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire has created a working prototype of a biometric bracelet that can identify who's wearing it and send medical information right to the patient's medical record. Read more at masshightech.com >>

The Velveteen Robot: A robotic modeled on the earthworm takes soft robotics to a new level

Researchers at MIT, Harvard, and Seoul National University have created a robotic worm. “So what?” you ask. They’re also making robotic horses—and robot hummingbirds, for goodness sake. What’s promising about the new robot worm, though—the Meshworm, as it’s called—is that it’s a different kind of robot. Sangbae Kim, a mechanical engineer at MIT who led the Meshworm project, says he believes the technology could be used to make endoscopes and implants, among other devices. Read more at businessweek.com >>

New Medical Devices Get Smart

The concept of medical devices that patients can use themselves is accelerating because consumers are accustomed to using the Internet to gather information. Adjustable prostheses and other high-tech devices may benefit patients who have a tendency to ignore or delay care, but they also raise concerns that they could give patients a false sense of security. Read more at online.wsj.com >>