Surgical robots are becoming widespread in operating theatres, delivering accuracy and safety. An overview of the main systems, principal operators, the market and European initiatives in this field.
Monitoring the proper blood supply to the brain could be used to prevent or even treat neurological diseases. A new technique called πNIRS aims to do just that.
In the future, many types of open surgeries will be replaced with minimally invasive interventions, predicts Kevin Cleary, PhD, engineering lead at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation at Children’s National Hospital, and Professor of Pediatrics and Radiology at George Washington University, both in Washington, D.C. Surgeons and interventional radiologists will be able…
The development of a simple blood test for glioblastomas could mean earlier diagnosis and more effective and personalised treatment options against the most common type of malignant brain cancer.
Copper exposure in the environment and the protein alpha-synuclein in the human brain could play an important role in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, researchers found.
A brain-computer interface array featuring microneedles affixed to a flexible backing allows arrays of micro-scale needles to conform to the contours of the brain.
Connecting the brain with a machine has been a powerful dream of mankind. What used to be science fiction, from the Borg in Star Trek to the Matrix, has become mainstream thanks to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg who have put their entrepreneurial commitments into the area of neurotechnology. Recently, Professor Surjo R. Soekadar outlined current and upcoming applications of brain-computer…
A 'new technology shows promise by analyzing images of suspicious-looking lesions and quickly producing a detailed, microscopic image of the skin, bypassing several standard steps typically used for diagnosis - including skin biopsy, tissue fixation, processing, sectioning and histochemical staining.
Claustrophobia or anxiety can overwhelm small children and people with cognitive difficulties, especially in a confining and noisy MRI scanner tube. Their restless reactions can then render scan images useless. To help such patients to relax during scanning, a team from King’s College London (KCL) has designed an immersive environment with a special virtual reality (VR) headset for use with MRI…
Dr. Hayder Amin and Dr. Caghan Kizil from the DZNE’s Dresden site aim to speed up developing drugs against brain diseases through cutting-edge technology. To this end, they are generating an innovative technology platform, termed “i3D-Markers”, based on high-density microelectrode arrays and 3-dimensional networks of human neurons. Compounds to be tested will be dripped onto this setup, and…
Someone has a stroke every 40 seconds in the US, resulting in death every 4 minutes. Stroke is the leading cause of disability from a medical condition. When it happens, blood clots or bleeds kill a part of the brain – it goes dark – and can no longer control part of the body. People stop being able to walk, see, talk, or control their hand or arm the way they once did. Although treatments…
Childhood neuroblastomas display extreme differences in the way they develop: they can shrink spontaneously or spread aggressively to healthy tissue. It is molecular super-enhancers that activate the regulatory circuits that steer the tumor down one path or the other. These are the findings of research conducted by scientists from the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German…
Phantom-limb pain is as mysterious as the name implies. The vast majority of amputees experience “phantom-limb” sensations that make them feel their missing limb is still part of their body. The cause is still unknown, and 50% to 80% of the cases, the sensations are painful. With no established treatments or medication, phantom-limb pain can have a large impact on the quality of life.
Thanks to a four-limb robotic system controlled by brain signals, a patient with a cervical spinal cord injury could walk and control both arms for the first time in a proof of concept. Developed by CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission), the system is driven via the long-term implant of a semi-invasive medical device to record brain activity.
Brainlab recently unveiled its flagship Loop-X mobile intraoperative imaging robot that is specifically designed for spinal surgical procedures. Developed by medPhoton, an Austrian company, the device is now the core of Brainlab’s imaging offerings. The Loop-X robotic architecture introduces a new standard in flexibility, adding additional degrees of freedom to any surgical procedure: By…
The need to effectively address HCI – Human-Computer Interaction – is emerging as the key challenge in creating a productive and efficient laboratory of the future. The subject was examined in detail by Andreas Schuller from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering, during a conference in Barcelona, which brought together more than 1,000 scientists and technologists.
A world where machines can be controlled by thought alone – such is the promise of so-called brain-computer interfaces (BCI). BCIs are both hardware and software communication systems that read brain and nerve signals, convert those into electrical signals and translate human thoughts into machine commands. Developers of BCIs rely on artificial intelligence, neural network models and big data…
Biomedical engineers at Columbia Engineering have discovered a new fundamental feature of brain oscillations: they actually move rhythmically across the brain, reflecting patterns of neuronal activity that propagate across the cortex. The coordination of neural activity across widespread brain networks is essential for human cognition. Researchers have long assumed that oscillations in the brain,…
Ethicists from the University of Basel have outlined a new biosecurity framework specific to neurotechnology. While the researchers declare an outright ban of dual-use technology ethically unjustified, they call for regulations aimed at protecting the mental privacy and integrity of humans. The journal Neuron has published the study. The term “dual-use” refers to technology that can be used…
University of Adelaide researchers have shown that it is possible for stroke patients to improve motor function using special training involving connecting brain signals with a computer.
A physician has basically two possibilities to look inside a body: putting a scalpel to the patient’s skin or using an imaging device. Both options have advantages and disadvantages.
Neuroscientists from the University of Chicago have developed a computer model that can simulate the response of nerves in the hand to any pattern of touch stimulation on the skin. The tool reconstructs the response of more than 12,500 nerve fibers with millisecond precision, taking into account the mechanics of the skin as it presses up against and moves across objects.
Bill Kochevar is the first recipient of implanted brain-recording and muscle-stimulating systems reanimates limb that had been stilled for eight years.
An algorithm based on levels of metabolites found in a blood sample can accurately predict whether a child is on the Autism spectrum of disorder (ASD), based upon a recent study. The algorithm, developed by researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is the first physiological test for autism and opens the door to earlier diagnosis and potential future development of therapeutics.
Agfa HealthCare aims to tap the IBM-Watson super-computer to bring big data analytics to medical imaging. To find out how Watson can be harnessed to help deliver information useful for patient care, European Hospital spoke with James Jay, the Global Vice President and General Manager for Imaging IT at Agfa Healthcare.
Bioengineers and cognitive scientists have developed the first portable, 64-channel wearable brain activity monitoring system that’s comparable to state-of-the-art equipment found in research laboratories.
A research team from the University of Houston has created an algorithm that allowed a man to grasp a bottle and other objects with a prosthetic hand, powered only by his thoughts.
At last year’s ECR Toshiba introduced the Vantage Elan 1.5 Tesla system with a lot of innovative features and new techniques, making it a pleasant and helpful new workhorse for small and large clinics. Since this introduction, the Vantage Elan has seen fantastic success in Europe because of the outstanding clinical and economic benefits it brings with advance technologies. The Elan offers…
Medicine as a profession has held a superior aloofness for many centuries, wary of losing its unique distinctiveness and esteem if ‘tainted’ with other professions.
In the meantime, the Compamed Spring forum has become as much a part of the furniture as the Compamed in Düsseldorf - the leading international specialist trade fair for suppliers to the medical technology industry which has been held every year in November since 1992.
European doctors and scientists are working on the StrokeBack project, a medical system aimed at supporting stroke patients in their rehabilitation. Modern technology helps affected patients to practise their mobility at home.
European doctors and scientists are working on the StrokeBack project, a medical system aimed at supporting stroke patients in their rehabilitation.
This week, university hospital Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich, Germany, is the first hospital in the world to operating Brainlab’s Curve Image Guided Surgery system. Curve is Brainlab’s latest generation of image-guided surgery systems. The new technology provides surgeons with better guidance and control during surgery enabling faster, more precise and safer interventions.
Interfaces between the brain and electrical circuits in technical devices or computers open new perspectives for basic research and medical application, e.g., for therapeutic brain stimulation and neuroprosthetics. The new EU project CORONET will develop the technological and theoretical foundations for such future “bio-hybrid” interfaces between biological and artificial nervous tissues.
This is imaging with a ‘wow’-effect: The Swedish Centre for Medical Image Science & Visualisation (CMIV) in cooperation with the Norrkoping Visualisation Centre has developed a ‘Virtual Autopsy Table’ that allows a unique look inside the human body and takes interaction with volumetric medical data to a new level.
Ziosoft, Inc. a leader in advanced visualization and analysis software for medical imaging will feature its next generation of workflow enhancements and new clinical functionality for the Ziostation system during the 95th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) at Booth #8353 (North Hall).
Researchers at Canada's largest children's rehabilitation hospital have developed a technique that uses infrared light brain imaging to decode preference — with the goal of ultimately opening the world of choice to children who can't speak or move. Using optical brain imaging, the scientists decode preference with 80 per cent accuracy.
Most professionals will recognise issues that call for consideration in a wider context, a context that does not merely consider strictly professional issues, i.e. issues based upon facts and figures, write Johannes Gossner MD and Joerg Larsen MD FRCR, of the Institute for Roentgendiagnostics, Braunschweig Teaching Hospitals, Germany.
Trotz der Einschränkungen, die ein hohes Alter mit sich bringt, eigenständig und selbstbestimmt leben: Der Kombination modernster Technik, Pflegedienstleistung und Hilfpersonal macht dies möglich. Die geschickte Verbindung von Pflegedienstleistungen, Hilfspersonal und moderner Technik bietet vielfältige Chancen, derartige neue Wohnkonzepte und Versorgungsmodelle zu…
From November 26 to December 1, 2006, the Windy City - Chicago, Illinois - was the destination for radiologists from all over the world.
Are the benefits of the IT invasion those we actually perceive?