Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is becoming the most common chronic liver disorder in developed countries. Histological analysis of liver tissue is the only widely accepted test for diagnosing and distinguishing different stages of NAFLD. However, this technique provides only two-dimensional images of the liver tissue in low resolution and overlooks potentially important 3D structural…
Digital medical technology company Brainlab announced the launch of Mixed Reality Viewer, which brings spatial computing into daily clinical practice for surgical plan review, medical student training and patient consultation. Brainlab Mixed Reality (MR) Viewer uses the head-mounted display Magic Leap One from Brainlab strategic development partner Magic Leap to add a new dimension to patient…
Minimally-invasive surgery (MIS) benefits from 3D visualization with improved image quality and depth perception. Now, a 3D solution for gastroscopy and colonoscopy is available, by simply connecting a device to the hospital’s existing flexible endoscopy equipment with a 3D monitor. This solution is presented by MedicalTek (MDTK), a Taiwanese company specialized in the field of medical image…
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a way to 3D print living skin, complete with blood vessels. The advancement, published in Tissue Engineering Part A, is a significant step toward creating grafts that are more like the skin our bodies produce naturally. “Right now, whatever is available as a clinical product is more like a fancy Band-Aid,” said Pankaj Karande, an…
Twenty people die every day waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S., and while more than 30,000 patients now receive transplants annually, another 113,000 are currently on organ waitlists. Many people see artificially grown human organs as the Holy Grail for resolving the organ shortage, and advances in 3D printing have led to a boom in using that technique to build living tissue constructs…
Innovative software that allows a surgeon to view inside a patient’s heart in real time while applying treatment has been used for the first time in the UK in operations at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). University of Leicester Professor and Leicester’s Hospitals Cardiologist Andre Ng used the new technique in operations on two…
Traditional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans use the metal gadolinium, which resonates areas of the heart muscles that are not functioning efficiently. However, gadolinium affects the Kidney function. A new 3D MRI computing technique developed by scientists at the University of Warwick calculates strain in heart muscles showing which muscles are not functioning enough without damaging other…
With the help of a 3D printed salt template, ETH researchers from ETH Zurich have succeeded in producing magnesium scaffolds with structured porosity that are suitable for bioresorbable bone implants. For the treatment of complex bone fractures or even missing bone parts, surgeons typically deploy metal implants. In this context, an attractive alternative to the traditional materials like…
Surgery complications, implant rupture, tissue contractures or even plain immune intolerance – silicone breast implants can cause a variety of unfavourable conditions. Because of this, many women think twice about breast augmentation. A new kind of implant might change this up a bit. BellaSeno GmbH, a company developing absorbable implants using additive manufacturing technology, now announced…
Scientists at ETH Zürich and the South African company Strait Access Technologies are using 3D printing to produce custom-made artificial heart valves from silicone. This could help meet an ageing population’s growing demand for replacement heart valves. The human heart has four chambers, each equipped with a valve to ensure blood flow in one direction only. If any of the heart valves are…
The production of artificial organs is a hot research topic. In the near future, artificial organs will compensate for the lack of organ donations and replace animal experiments. Although there are already promising experiments with 3D printers that use a „bio-ink“ containing living cells, a functional organ has never been created in this way. A European consortium coordinated by Dr Elena…
The 3D functions of the TOMTEC software package helped to establish reference values for volume ultrasound diagnosis of congenital heart defects in children.
Two millions: this is, worldwide, the number of babies which suffer suffocation during birth every year. A resuscitation procedure is sometimes the key to avert irreparable damages for the baby. And, for successful outcomes, promptness of action and preparation are vital. Researcher Mark Thielen (Industrial Design) from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) developed a 3D printed baby…
The future of medicine is biological – and scientists hope we will soon be using 3D-printed biologically functional tissue to replace irreparably damaged tissue in the body. A team of researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB has been working with the University of Stuttgart for a number of years on a project to develop and optimize suitable…
In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have "printed" the world's first 3D vascularised engineered heart using a patient's own cells and biological materials. Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology — have been successful in printing only simple tissues without blood vessels. "This…
With increased precision, speed of service and reduced cost, 3D printing presents an opportunity to transform traditional healthcare and its delivery, and radiology is at the center of this new technology. In the ECR 2019 Special Focus Session “The 3D printing lab from bench to bedside”, the speakers emphasized that 3D printing does not only enable a new and innovative way to display imaging,…
Canon Medical Systems introduces Global Illumination to the existing Vitrea Advanced Visualization workflows. It delivers photorealistic 3D renderings of the human anatomy that enriches communication among specialists, clinicians and with patients. Global Illumination uses complex lighting and shading techniques to provide photo-realistic imaging of three-dimensional anatomy. The technology…
The first total-body positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) that can acquire a 3D image of the human body in a single position received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2019. Its forthcoming commercial availability for clinical use in the United States later this year is the milestone achievement of a multi-institutional consortium…
This is a 20th anniversary year for Fujifilm’s Synapse, the world’s first web- based PACS. Today, Synapse 3-D offers advanced 3-D rendering in the Synapse PACS Viewer to perform fast, accurate extractions, stenosis measurements, brain perfusion CT, MRI, and more, the company reports. The Fujifilm Healthcare IT platform includes a comprehensive medical informatics and enterprise-imaging…
Portland State University (PSU) researchers have made a significant breakthrough by developing the 3-D structure of proteins from inside the eye lens that control how cells communicate with each other, which could open the door to treating diseases such as cataracts, stroke and cancer. The PSU research team, led by chemistry professor Steve Reichow, used a multimillion-dollar microscope and a…
As 3D printing technology continues to evolve, read how radiology will be involved in managing digital workflow related to patient care. “3D printing is a part of medicine, and radiology is at the center of this impactful new technology,” said RSNA 3D Printing Special Interest Group (SIG) Chair Jane Matsumoto, MD, assistant professor of radiology and co-director of the 3D Printing Lab at the…
After screening 15 000 women over a period of five years, a major clinical study in Sweden has shown that 3D mammography, or breast tomosynthesis, detects over 30% more cancers compared to traditional mammography – with a majority of the detected tumours proving to be invasive cancers.
A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, fully 3D printed an array of light receptors on a hemispherical surface. This discovery marks a significant step toward creating a “bionic eye” that could someday help blind people see or sighted people see better. The research is published in Advanced Materials, a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering…
Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is an increasingly important guiding tool for structural heart disease interventions – without general anaesthesia. José Ribeiro, who works in the thorax and circulation unit at Gaia Hospital Centre, Portugal, who has worked with this technology for the past two years, explained its benefits and limitations.
While the question is still debated as to whether MRI is the better CT, along comes a potential game changer – a new data based 3-D reconstruction method of heart anatomy and function that aims to replace diagnostic coronary angiography. In the near future not only adult patients with coronary heart disease could benefit from this new technique but also children with complex congenital heart…