Even though many implants such as artificial joints and pacemakers are made of titanium, they occasionally break – but why? A researcher is investigating implant failure and how to prevent it.
Smaller than a grain of rice: US engineers have developed a pacemaker so tiny that it can fit inside the tip of a syringe — and be non-invasively injected into the body.
To diagnose prostate cancer, an MRI-guided biopsy is often performed. Now, a study shows that micro-ultrasound is just as effective, cheaper and easier to use. This could help free up MRI capacities.
Cyberhealth threats such as the hacking of a medical implant are of real concern as technology moves toward smart, wirelessly connected implants. A new security protocol aims to protect these devices.
A pacemaker designed for babies could fill an unmet need for newborns with congenital heart defects and other heart conditions, finds a new study.
HighlightsOrthopaedic: Hip and femur nailing, Tibia and Humerus fractures, Pelvis, Small objects.Head & Column: Spine fixations, Pain treatment, Neuromodulation Hyperphysectomy, Laser nucleolysis.Thorax: Pacemaker connections, Electro-Physiology Biopsies, Ventricular-abdominalAbdomen: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL), Urethroscopy, Cystoscopy, Cholangiography, E.R.C.P.Vascular peripheral:…
Scientists have now discovered that the heart has its own complex nervous system – a 'mini brain', if you will – that is crucial to controlling its rhythm.
As pharmacological options for subclinical Atrial Fibrillation and atrial high-rate episodes continue to run into challenges, new research suggests more physiological pacing solutions can help reduce risks of progression to clinical AF.
Treatment options for diastolic heart failure are very limited. Using a 'virtual heart' model, researchers now found that speeding up the heart rhythm with a pacemaker could be a solution.
A new, large-scale study from Sweden underlines the importance of vaccination against Covid-19: The research shows that an infection raises the risk of heart rhythm disturbances.
Scientists have developed an ingestible device that can safely monitor vital signs like breathing and heart rate from inside humans, providing accessible and convenient care for people at risk of opioid overdose.
A new approach to treating kidney failure could one day free people from needing dialysis or having to take harsh drugs to suppress their immune system after a transplant.
A new device could monitor and treat heart disease and dysfunction in the days, weeks or months following traumatic heart-related events — and harmlessly dissolve afterwards.
A new review has shown how medical professionals in cardiology can help reduce healthcare's carbon footprint, by making small, low-cost changes in how they work.
Do you feel like time sometimes flies, or can drag on when you're bored? A recent study by academics at Royal Holloway shows how our heartbeats can lead to distortions in our perception of time.
Glioblastomas march to the beat of a different drum: researchers discovered a type of cells that act as pacemakers, driving the growth of the brain tumour and increasing its resistance.
COVID-19 pandemic has caused “global collateral damage” by disrupting cardiac services . Across the world problems with heart health will “...continue to accrue unless mitigation strategies are speedily implemented”.
Wireless bioresorbable pacemaker bypasses need to extract non-biodegradable leads, eliminating additional risk to the patient.
Hospital-acquired infections are dangerous for patients and costly for clinics. A novel surface treatment could help improve the safety of medical devices and ease the economic burden.
Glucose is absorbed from the foods we eat and fuels every cell in our bodies. But could it also power tomorrow’s medical implants? According to a team of engineers, it might.
More than 15 billion batteries are sent to landfill sites every year – technology that converts glucose and oxygen into electricity has the potential to reduce this waste and serve as a sustainable alternative power source for medical devices.
An anti-inflammatory drug incorporated into the coating around an implantable electronic medical device – such as a pacemaker – can reduce the body’s "foreign body" reaction.
Researchers pinpoint a sound-sensitive mammalian protein that lets them activate brain, heart or other cells with ultrasound.
Remote monitoring devices and pacemakers supporting patients with conditions such as heart failure could be vulnerable to cyberattack, according to a leading cardiology expert.
Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Pulmobiotics S.L have created the first ‘living medicine’ to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria growing on the surfaces of medical implants. The researchers created the treatment by removing a common bacteria’s ability to cause disease and repurposing it to attack harmful microbes instead.
It is still elusive to what extent interactions between different cell types of the heart influence the normal heart rhythm and possibly trigger life-threatening arrhythmias. A new measurement method developed at the University of Bern combines for the first time optical and electrical recording of cardiac ventricular activation which, in conjunction with optogenetics, will permit finding…
Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have examined long-term outcomes in patients who received pacemaker implantations after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) through their groin. The result showed no significant difference in mortality for the patients with pacemakers compared to those without. The study is published in the journal JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.
Until recently, TAVI, the minimally invasive procedure in which a replacement valve is inserted inside a diseased valve has been mostly prescribed for patients too weak to face open heart surgery – largely involving those in the 80-plus age group. Today, due to greater longevity plus advancing skills that result in risks reduction, TAVI is increasingly prescribed for patients in their 70s and…
Artificial intelligence (AI) will fundamentally change medicine and healthcare: Diagnostic patient data, e.g. from ECG, EEG or X-ray images, can be analyzed with the help of machine learning, so that diseases can be detected at a very early stage based on subtle changes. However, implanting AI within the human body is still a major technical challenge. TU Dresden scientists at the Chair of…
Researchers at Northwestern and George Washington (GW) universities have developed the first-ever transient pacemaker — a wireless, battery-free, fully implantable pacing device that disappears after it’s no longer needed. The thin, flexible, lightweight device could be used in patients who need temporary pacing after cardiac surgery or while waiting for a permanent pacemaker. All components…
Brown University researchers have developed a technique that could allow deep brain stimulation devices to sense activity in the brain and adjust stimulation accordingly.
Researchers at The University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust have discovered a backup natural pacemaker, which is able to generate a pulse and control the heart rate. The British Heart Foundation funded study ‘completely changes our understanding’ of the heart’s anatomy and has important implications on the work of cardiologists and heart surgeons. As part of…
A new type of ultra-efficient, nano-thin material could advance self-powered electronics, wearable technologies and even deliver pacemakers powered by heart beats.
An up-and-coming gene therapy for blood disorders. A new class of medications for cystic fibrosis. Increased access to telemedicine. These are some of the innovations that will enhance healing and change healthcare in the coming year, according to a distinguished panel of clinicians and researchers from Cleveland Clinic. In conjunction with the 2020 Medical Innovation Summit, Cleveland Clinic…
A pioneering new generation of wireless mini-pacemaker is set to benefit many more patients than before. Following a successful first-in-Europe implantation procedure at the University Hospitals of Leuven, the advance has been described as ‘the beginning of a new paradigm of cardiac pacing’ with the development of the next-generation mini-pacemaker regarded as a major step forward in this…
Researchers hope combining a dual-chamber pacemaker with a Closed Loop Stimulation algorithm could lead to a change of emphasis in clinical practice and help reduce unexplained fainting in more patients with recurrent episodes due to skipped heartbeats.
For cardiology patients fitted with an implantable cardiac monitor, cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) or pacemaker, home monitoring is a blessing. The system also has many advantages for medical staff, as Kristina Rauholt reports. The nurse and Certified Cardiac Device Specialist for Allied Professionals (CCDS) at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, in Sweden, has worked with home monitoring…
Is my heart beating slightly fast? Is a heart attack coming? I didn’t sleep as much as I thought I had last night – is that bad for my heart? Health apps and fitness watches can shed considerable light on how our bodies work and make recommendations for a healthy lifestyle. However, self-measuring can have a downside too, according to a new study that examined the experiences of 27 heart…
New coatings on implants could help make them more compatible. Researchers at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) have developed a new method of applying anti-inflammatory substances to implants in order to inhibit undesirable inflammatory reactions in the body. Their study was recently published in the "International Journal of Molecular Sciences".
It started as a fairly typical case: The 79-year-old patient had suffered unexplained dizziness for years. To diagnose why, the cardiology team at Sweden’s Kalmar Hospital performed echocardiograms, Holter ECGs and other tests. However, these tests showed normal sinus rhythm and thus were inconclusive. Dr Hendrik Schreyer, Dr David Olsson and Professor Jörg Carlsson decided to use…
A remarkable number of studies and innovations were presented at the 30th anniversary of Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting in San Diego, California. TCT 2019 will take place in San Francisco, CA between 25-29-Sep-2019. On the clinical side, the long-expected results from COAPT trial studying MitraClip device in patients with secondary mitral regurgitation and heart failure…
It is still a mystery why a blow to the chest can kill people by inducing cardiac arrest yet save others that are in cardiac arrest. We may be one step closer to an answer, however, thanks to a device developed by researchers of the University of Bern and the EPFL that can replicate the experience in the laboratory. A hefty blow to the chest can have entirely opposite outcomes. While, for…
The heart's motion is so powerful that it can recharge devices that save our lives, according to new research from Dartmouth College. Using a dime-sized invention developed by engineers at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth, the kinetic energy of the heart can be converted into electricity to power a wide-range of implantable devices, according to the study funded by the National…
A new neurostimulator developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, can listen to and stimulate electric current in the brain at the same time, potentially delivering fine-tuned treatments to patients with diseases like epilepsy and Parkinson's. The device, named the WAND, works like a "pacemaker for the brain," monitoring the brain's electrical activity and…
Experts outlined approaches to ischaemia imaging during the recent British Cardiovascular Society conference. In a ‘Detection of ischaemia by cardiac imaging in 2018’ session, comparisons were made between solid state SPECT cameras, whether spatial resolution or visual assessment was of the greater importance, if CT-FFR offered advantages over CT perfusion, and the challenges in defining a…
An all-female satellite symposium during the Europace-Cardiostim Congress (EHRA 2017) in Vienna managed to turn quite a few heads. In the panel, the women discussed a very special alliance.
Which CRT patients can be ‘downgraded’ from a CRT-D device with defibrillator function to a CRT-P with just a pacemaker function? This, with two further current CRT issues – chronotropic incompetence and telemonitoring of CRT patients – featured prominently at the Europace-Cardiostim Congress in Vienna.
Biotronik’s Home Monitoring is an award-winning remote cardiac monitoring system that automatically collects data from a patient’s cardiac device, enabling the physician to review cardiac function independently of in-office visits.
Laboratory medicine delivery, regulation and accreditation vary between countries, e.g. Norway, Serbia and France recently aired at FiLM 2017. Leading figures explained the shape, scope and funding of healthcare and lab services and roles played by different professionals and challenges they face.
Thanks to advances in MRI-compatible cardiac device technology, pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are no longer absolute contraindications for MRI exams. The devices remain relative contraindications for MRI, however, and their presence in MRI patients calls for radiologists and cardiologists to work closely together in order to both ensure patient safety and minimize…
A study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine offers the most in-depth assessment yet of the safety and effectiveness of a high-tech alternative to brain surgery to treat the uncontrollable shaking caused by the most common movement disorder. And the news is very good.
Greater sensitivity and versatility of devices, as well as more patient-friendly implantation options, were issues outlined at the CardioStim 2016 EHRA Europace world congress on cardiac electrophysiology, held in Nice, France.
The Medtronic CoreValve Evolut R System received its CE Mark of approval this August to treat aortic stenosis in patients with an intermediate risk for undergoing conventional surgery for a valve replacement. This is a controversial indication for transcatheter aortic valve implantations (TAVI) – one that has been eagerly sought by some clinicians but resisted by others. Younger patients will…
Jersey Shore University Medical Center, part of Meridian CardioVascular Network, is the first hospital in New Jersey to implant the Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) – the world’s smallest pacemaker – since the device gained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in April 2016.
The prostate remains the only organ where random biopsies are performed to find cancer, notes Jean-Michel Correas MD PhD, from the Necker University Hospital in Paris. If we proposed this approach to a woman to search for breast cancer, it would be outrageous, he said.
Researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and EPFL, Lausanne have succeeded in restoring motor function following spinal cord injury. The researchers were able to show that coordinated muscle movement is the result of alternating activation patterns emanating from the spinal cord. Newly-developed implants, which use electrical stimulation to mimic these signals, were used to…
Directly from the factories, PrimaX offers a complete range of interventional and radiological units available worldwide. 30 years experience in the field of medical imaging will convince you.
Whether they are wireless pacemakers or catheter-guided heart valve implants, new, really innovative products must reach patients – somehow. Thus manufacturers need to ensure that the hospitals that buy their products will be reimbursed. New diagnostic and treatment methods are not captured by a system based on the analysis of older methods. Holger Zorn spoke with Nicole Eisenmenger, Director…
In the world of technology, the term Industry 4.0 is already well known. Univ-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Bernhard Wolf has reveals a comparable development in medicine. Smart systems and personalisation have enormous potential, the Professor for Medical Electronics at the Technical University of Munich is convinced.
Every year, worldwide, over a million patients have a pacemaker or defibrillator implanted. Home monitoring systems can significantly improve the safety and quality of life for these patients, says Professor Gerhard Hindricks, head physician in the rhythmology department at Leipzig’s Heart Centre. Report: Sascha Keutel
In the battle against cancer, which kills nearly 8 million people worldwide each year, doctors have in their arsenal many powerful weapons, including various forms of chemotherapy and radiation. What they lack, however, is good reconnaissance — a reliable way to obtain real-time data about how well a particular therapy is working for any given patient.
Whether for individual micro-implants or for micro-implants with medicine depots – additive processes are ideally suited for manufacturing such components. In the project “REMEDIS”, scientists at the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) have established a highly automated laser melting process to produce or coat implants made of platinum, nickel-titanium (NiTi) or stainless steel.
The ageing of society needs new, more cost-effective solutions to improve the life quality of patients and cut the burden that is placed on the social welfare system. In modern western societies the fitting of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) is growing rapidly.
With the new version of the Somatom Definition Edge, Siemens Healthcare has created the basis for establishing the dual energy procedure in clinical routine. The innovative X-ray tube concept in the new CT scanner, enables simultaneous imaging at two different energy levels for the first time in single source computed tomography.
A cardiac surgeon, Wolfgang Goetz MD once stitched together custom aortic valves in the operating room. Today he is CEO of Transcatheter Technologies in Regensburg.
This summer the world’s first implantations of Biotronik’s new ICD and CRT-D series (implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and cardiac resynchronisation therapy defibrillators) took place at the Spedali Civili Hospital, Brescia, Italy.
Biotronik, a leading manufacturer of cardiovascular medical technology, announced CE approval for its new Eluna pacemaker series. The new generation of pacemakers includes single and dual-chamber as well as cardiac resynchronization (CRT-P) devices.
The number of patients treated with implants – from cardiac pacemakers, heart valves and vascular implants to artificial hips and knees – is rising worldwide.
Okan Ekinci, Global Director of Cardiology at Siemens Healthcare, is convinced that, ultimately, ultrasound will remain the ‘entry level’ imaging procedure for patients. European Hospital met up with him at this year’s ESC congress to hear his thoughts on the potential of ultrasound – and particularly its fusion with other imaging modalities.
The highly-anticipated and positive results from the IN-TIME study of home monitoring technology were recently presented in a hotline session at this year’s European Society of Cardiology (ESC) congress by coordinating investigator Professor Gerhard Hindricks MD, from the Heart Centre, University of Leipzig, Germany.
A new procedure may help people with persistent hypertension. By burning or ablating the nerves in the renal arteries, blood pressure levels can be reduced significantly.
The potential of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) is still largely untapped. One novel application might be ablation follow-up. The first MRI-guided cardiac interventions were performed at Herzzentrum Leipzig, but, as far as coronary imaging is concerned, MDCT remains superior to MRI
Computed tomography (CT) is the modality of choice for many diagnostic issues. Whilst currently its major strength is the visualisation of anatomical detail, future technological improvements may also reduce radiation exposure.
The 2013 ESC Guidelines on Cardiac Pacing and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy¹ developed in collaboration with the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), have created a new classification system for bradyarrhythmias according to mechanisms rather than aetiology.
Not such a rare situation: A patient is due for an MRI scan to clarify a diagnosis. However, it transpires that this patient is fitted with an implant, say an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), which is contraindicated for MRI examinations.
Patients with cardiac implantable electric devices (CIED) need ongoing and lifelong follow-ups. Due to the growing number of CIEDs, the demand for follow-up visits is increasing rapidly and already pushing clinics to maximum capacities.
Procedures, financing and cultural philosophies can shape the difference, Michael Reiter, Mark Nicholls, Eduardo de la Sota, Jane MacDougall report
A new generation of cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) includes the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Defibrillator (CRT-Ds) and Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Pacemakers (CRT-Ps). Professor W R Bauer at University Hospital Würzburg has been significantly involved in their development, EH Editor Ralf Mateblowski to ask him about…
One heart – One Team, the motto for this year’s German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Congress emphasises that cardiac surgeons and cardiologists must now work more in tandem for their mutual patients. This is not just a short-lived three-day slogan, but a daily reality at the University Heart Centre Hamburg, as EH correspondent Holger Zorn reports
In a paper published in ”Nature Biotechnology” on the 22nd of July of 2012 Harvard researchers explain how making a jellyfish from rat DNA can help to solve cardiac problems.
More and more patients with lung cancer are being treated with thermo-ablation techniques, and radiologists are increasingly being confronted with images from these patients that may be difficult to interpret.
Much has changed for medical device manufacturers. Take scanner development; whereas the aim has long been to increase multi-slices, produce higher field strengths and sharper images, optimise the ergonomics and then launch the new product at a specific group of customers, in recent years this approach became insufficient.
Researchers in Sheffield have been given an mportant grant to trial state-of-the-art computer modelling systems that could provide a breakthrough in the treatment of patients with heart failure.
From guidelines to daily clinical practice: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy is increasingly important in heart failure treatment. The therapy is complex, the demands to medical technology high. Holger Zorn reports
Royal Philips Electronics provided clinicians from across the globe with a glimpse of future innovations designed to advance cardiac care, including the current management of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and associated cardiac conditions, during the 2011 Congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
‘Sacrilegious meddling with divine providence’ was the charge brought against New York cardiologist Alfred Hyman in the 1930s when, after successful animal experiments, he applied the first cardiac pacemaker – then still a cumbersome external device – in human patients. A quarter of a century later the first cardiac pacemaker, mounted in a shoe polish tin and covered by epoxy resin, was…
An international team of molecular scientists have discovered that star ascidians, also known as sea squirts, have pacemaker cells similar to that of the human heart. The research, published in the JEZ A: Ecological Genetics and Physiology, may offer a new insight into the early evolution of the heart as star ascidians are one of the closest related invertebrates to mammals
Morbid obesity is a chronic, lifelong, multifactorial, constitutional disease with negative medical, psychological, physical, social and economic side-effects. Obesity-related secondary diseases are Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension or sleep apnoea. Report: Holger Zorn
This April the 77th Annual Meeting of the German Cardiac Society (DGK) presented over 300 events with 1,800 speakers, covering the entire spectrum of cardiovascular diseases, from fundamental research to clinical routine. Professor Gerd Hasenfuss, Director of the Department of Cardiology and Pulmonology and Chair of the Heart Research Centre in Gottingen, particularly requested a focus on …
Cold is not only a winter topic. Cold is also applied medicine: Moderate to deep hypothermia made cardiac surgery possible and mild therapeutic hypothermia improves survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. By Holger Zorn
Every year thousands of patients with less than one year to live are denied a heart valve replacement because they are too frail to undergo surgery. These patients tend to be over 75 years of age and suffering from multiple health problems, such as respiratory conditions that preclude general anaesthesia, end-stage failure of liver or kidneys, or a history of coronary surgery. Two years ago they…
After years of go-slow adoption and cautious optimism, European cardiologists are now embracing remote monitoring of cardiac electrophysiology devices. ‘We are at the dawn of a new era,’ concluded Dr Philippe Ritter, Chairman of the Cardiostim 2010 congress, after reviewing findings of studies that delivered unequivocal evidence that remote monitoring is not only a safe alternative to clinic…
Not only is heart failure one of the single biggest causes of morbidity and mortality in man, but the incidence of the condition is steadily increasing. Rising to this challenge, innovative medical diagnostic techniques with ever greater performance are constantly being introduced so that early, unambiguous detection of the underlying condition is now possible, enabling the prompt initiation of…
In Switzerland, they say, the clocks tick a little slower than elsewhere in the world. Not at Schiller AG in Baar, however: The company remains forever ahead of the times. Since 1971, physicist Alfred E Schiller, the company’s founder and managing director, has successfully shown competitors in the tough intensive and emergency care market what innovative progress really means.
The teaching hospital in Olomouc aims to become a national centre for telemedicine. A telemedicine system is currently used by the hospital’s Internal Medicine Department 1 for cardiac patients and almost a hundred patients are remotely monitored via a telesystem implemented by the hospital.
‘There are few reasons to deny a patient an MRI scan, and nearly all of them are having a pacemaker,’ said Pierre Bordachar MD at the Centre Hopitalière Universitaire (CHU), Bordeaux, France. Yet one-in-five pacemaker patients will require an MRI scan within the first year of receiving a pacemaker, while more than half of all pacemaker patients will need such a scan at some later point in…
When we organised the first Diagnostic Week in Karlsruhe, in 1969, no one could have known that this event would one day turn into the annual highlight in the world of medicine, reflected Dr Wolfgang Albath, laboratory medicine pioneer and one of the founding fathers of MEDICA the world`s largest medical trade show. Initially planned as a moving exhibition, the show has been based in…
Cardiology centres worldwide experience an almost exponential rise in the number of in-hospital follow-ups of patients with implantable devices or heart failure (HF).This not only strains the available personnel resources, it also means a rapidly increasing cost to healthcare payers, especially in fee-for-service reimbursement situations.
CS-200: SCHILLER´s complete Diagnostic Solution has been redesigned, offering now even more added value. Discreet but important external modifications encompass a large, swivel-mounted 19`` monitor, as well as an ergonomic design. A new, simplified user-interface as well as various new holders and mounting kits for external devices such as gel bottles, bar code scanners, spirometry sensors and…
Breast-specific gamma imaging (BSGI) is a promising new technology designed to supplement mammography and breast ultrasound examinations when these show suspicious findings. By helping to detect early stage breast cancer it may reduce significantly the number of negative biopsies performed. Dilon Technologies (Newport News, Virginia), pioneer of this technology, received the CE Mark to sell its…
The latest statistics regarding the use of pacemakers and implantable cardiac devices in Europe was presented at EUROPACE 2009, the meeting of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA)1 which takes place in Berlin, Germany from 21 to 24 June. The data show that there is a disparate coverage of diseases and treatments within the EU and the European Society of Cardiology member countries outside…
Arne Larsson was only 42 years old when his heart began to falter. In the late '50s it was virtually a death sentence in Sweden. But Arne saw lived to celebrate the millennium. In 1958, he had become the first patient to receive an artificial pacemaker. He had received 26 of these devices before his death in 2001, aged 86.
NeuroNexus Technologies and Philips Research announced that they have signed a joint research agreement to develop next-generation deep brain stimulation devices with the ambition to improve the treatment of neurological diseases and psychiatric disorders.
When from 19 to 22 November the world's largest medical fair takes place in Dusseldorf, the entire city is in a kind of emergency state: hotels are bustin' out of their seams, traffic periodically comes to a standstill and at night exhibitors and visitors alike crowd the narrow streets of the Altstadt and the fancy hotel bars and enjoy whatever entertainment North Rhine-Westphalia's capital has…
The sector is ‘clearly strained’, says Joachim M. Schmitt, Managing Director and Member of Board of the German Medical Technology Association, BVMed, in Berlin. But, the good news is, employment is up and, he adds ‘We are at the beginning of a medical technology revolution’. ‘Overall, healthcare is certainly more panic-proof than, for example, the automobile industry,’ said Joachim…
Patient monitoring technology offers enormous benefits for the patient. But reimbursement is insufficiently regulated all over Europe. Therefore, telemedicine generates a loss for the physicians although it can very well cut costs for all parties involved and improve the quality of care.
Syncope (fainting) is a leading cause of hospital emergency visits. In almost 10% of patients, syncope has a cardiac cause; in 50%, a non-cardiac cause, and in 40% the cause of syncope is unknown. Syncope is difficult to diagnose as syncopal episodes are often too infrequent and unpredictable for detection with conventional monitoring techniques.
Royal Philips Electronics is to lead `euHeart´, the new European Union (EU) funded research project that aims to improve CVD diagnosis, therapy planning and treatment.
The diagnostic work-up of syncope patients often raises the question of how much diagnosis is necessary and what examination methods are really needed. To save time, specialists recommend focusing on determining whether the syncope may be caused by a cardiac problem - a question answered quite easily in many cases. Karl Eberius MD, European Hospital's new correspondent, discussed advice for…
According to recent survey by the Leapfrog Group 87% of hospitals fail to adhere infection prevention measures on a consistent basis. In the Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Death, warns against the next wave of lawsuits.
Considered optimal transportation and identification tools, they have become a symbol for modern hospitals: RFID tags. But according to a new study radio frequency identification devices (RFID) may disrupt medical devices. Moreover, the FDA is concerned that the increase in digital technology might be dangerous for patients.
A new study from the Saint Louis University found that implantable cardiac devices are not beneficial in patients with advanced heart failure because they are too ill. "Implantable cardiac devices were not intended for, or studied as 'rescue therapy' for very ill hospitalized patients with heart failure," said Paul Hauptman, M.D., professor of internal medicine at Saint Louis University…
Unexpected risks my result from today's medical devices, such as implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers, if they are equipped with wireless technology to enable remote device checks.
Surgery in the lower pelvic region often involves injury to or severing of nerve tissue. As in chronic diseases of the nervous system, the result can be pain, sensory disturbances or loss of function. Up to now the poor view of the nerves, partially formed of fine interwoven networks, has been one of the major problems – exacerbated by the strict division of skills between neurologists and…
Located in the southeastern part of Brussels, the “Cliniques de l'Europe” is a group of three clinics: Saint Elisabeth, Deux Alices and St. Michel. Over a period of several years, our organization has been restructured and adapted to the needs of this facility which serves a local population of approximately 250,000. Cliniques de l'Europe has at its disposal a complete range of dedicated…
The interest in using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) alongside conventional Western medical care has steadily increased among European physicians; it is no longer unusual, for example, for acupuncture to be suggested by a doctor to help fight tobacco addiction, or to ease a persistent musculoskeletal problem.
Various record systems that transfer patient data directly from an emergency site to physicians' monitors for diagnosis of cardiac incidents were demonstrated at MEDICA 2006.
A special exhibition in Paderborn's Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum (HNF) is demonstrating the use of state-of-the-art computer technology in medical science. With more than 100 exhibits, a third of them interactive, it runs until May 1, 2007. EH correspondent Holger Zorn was one of the first visitors
Among ventilation advances demonstrated at this year's European Society of Intensive Care Medicine Congress, held in Barcelona, the combination of the SERVO-i ventilator with Neurally Adjusted Ventilatory Assist (NAVA) provoked considerable interest because the system allows ventilation to be controlled by the patient's own respiratory centre in the brain. During a discussion with Daniela…
During an EH interview, Professor Stefan Osswald MD described this complex system and its future potential
The Biotronik Home Monitoring Service, which gained CE approval in May, has now monitored over 1,500 patients worldwide. Studies indicate that 88% of patients claim an increased sense of security due to the service.
An interview with Dr Andre Roggan, head of research and development at Celon AG, and Dr Markus Mueller, consultant at the Urology Clinic at the University Clinic Benjamin Franklin, Free University Berlin. Venue: 1st International Workshop on Radio-frequency Induced Thermotherapy (RFITT) for the treatment of BPH
