News • Phoenix 99 Bionic Eye
Bionic eyes gives hope to the blind
A bionic eye being developed by a team of biomedical researchers has shown to be safe and stable for long-term implantation in a three-month study, paving the way towards human trials.
Implants
News • Repurposing bacteria
‘Living medicine’ could treat drug-resistant infections
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.
Sponsored • Modern cementing technology
Cemented hips help preventing infections
For decades, hip arthroplasty has been a routine procedure. In Europe, both total and partial hip replacements are the most frequent surgical interventions for patients with hip fracture or osteoarthritis. The treatment relieves pain and has good long-term outcomes. In cemented hip replacement, the artificial acetabulum and/or the femoral stem are fixed with bone cement and implant and bone bond…
News • Orthopedy
Antimicrobial coating for implants prevents infections
Customizable to individual patients and requiring less than 10 minutes to prepare and use, new surgical implant coating prevented 100% of infections in mice.
Article • Orthopaedic advances
Virtual training by hip implant simulator
Trainee trauma or orthopaedic surgeons have limited chances to practice hip replacement surgery before their first hands-on case. To change this, a team in the Dynamic HIPS project aim to improve this by creating a dynamic hip replacement simulator for future surgeons to practice the intervention and develop a reality-based feel for the procedure.
News • Titanium-alloy knee plates
3D printing simplifies high tibial osteotomy
3D metal printing technology is producing personalised medical-grade titanium-alloy plates that perfectly fit individuals suffering arthritis of the knee. Engineers at the University of Bath’s Centre for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) working with 3D Metal Printing Ltd, are using the TOKA (Tailored Osteotomy for Knee Alignment) treatment to improve the surgical procedure and fit of high-tibial…
News • Early detection and treatment of illnesses
Researchers develop implantable AI system
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…
News • Orthopaedics
Iliac crest reconstruction: 15 patients recruited into GreenBRIC study
GreenBone Ortho, a company specialising in bone regeneration, announces that it has achieved its aim of recruiting 15 patients into the GreenBRIC study. GreenBRIC study is a prospective, open label, single-arm, First-in-Human clinical investigation, in male and female patients, aged between 18 and 70 years, undergoing surgery to correct bone defects using GreenBone Implant, specifically for iliac…
News • Promising approach
Shape-changing implants could help treat severe back pain
A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the need for invasive surgery. The device, developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, uses a combination of soft robotic fabrication techniques, ultra-thin electronics and microfluidics.
News • Self-powered implant
New device to speed up bone healing
Researchers know that electricity can help speed up bone healing, but “zapping” fractures has never really caught on, since it requires surgically implanting and removing electrodes powered by an external source. Now, researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison have expanded on this principle and developed a device to speed up bone healing.
News • Study on devices and implants
AI could improve speech recognition in hearing aids
In noisy environments, it is difficult for hearing aid or hearing implant users to understand their conversational partner because current audio processors still have difficulty focusing on specific sound sources. In a feasibility study, researchers from the Hearing Research Laboratory at the University of Bern and the Inselspital are now suggesting that artificial intelligence (AI) could solve…
News • Transient implant
A pacemaker that dissolves when it's no longer needed
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…
News • Renal disease
New design improves dialysis
Interdisciplinary team from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the university’s McKelvey School of Engineering finds better way to design clot-prone grafts currently used for dialysis.
News • Parkinson’s disease
An algorithm for next-gen deep brain stimulation devices
Brown University researchers have developed a technique that could allow deep brain stimulation devices to sense activity in the brain and adjust stimulation accordingly.
News • Microscopy
New imaging technique to improve 3D printed bio-implants
University of Birmingham scientists have developed a new microscopic imaging approach to take a closer look at 3D-printing for developing future patient implants, as well as improved disease modelling and drug screening. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) platforms create bioprinted structures by moving a special bioink, containing cells, biomolecules and materials, through a narrow tube, but…
News • Biomimetic scaffold
4D printing could enable vascularization, bone tissue regeneration, spinal fusion
Spinal fusion is frequently performed to restore spinal stability in patients with spinal diseases, such as spinal stenosis, vertebral fractures, progressive deformities, and instability. In the past two decades, there has been marked increase in the number of people over 65 years in age who have needed spinal fusion surgery.
Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System
FDA approval for implant to treat congenital heart disease
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first in the world non-surgical heart valve to treat pediatric and adult patients with a native or surgically-repaired right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). The device, called the Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System, is intended to improve blood flow to the lungs in patients with severe pulmonary valve regurgitation without…
News • Nano science
Conductive hydrogel could replace brain tissue
Due to their tissue-like mechanical properties, hydrogels are being increasingly used for biomedical applications; a well-known example are soft contact lenses. These gel-like polymers consist of 90 percent water, are elastic and particularly biocompatible. Hydrogels that are also electrically conductive allow additional fields of application, for example in the transmission of electrical signals…
News • Venous cannula system
New circulation implant to bridge the waiting time for donor heart
With the first-in-man implantation of the Berlin Heart Venous Cannula at the LMU University Hospital Munich, Germany, Berlin Heart offers patients with a failing Fontan circulation a unique chance to survive the waiting time for a donor heart. These patients are in a life-threatening condition: their health has deteriorated so much that they desperately need a new heart, but because of their poor…
News • Commercial-scale manufacturing
1.4 million grant for resorbable implant development
Medtech company BellaSeno and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT have received a grant totaling EUR 1.4 million for the development of commercial-scale, fully automated additive manufacturing of resorbable medical implants. The grant was issued by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the funding program KMU-innovativ. BellaSeno and Fraunhofer IPT…
News • Longer lasting implants for younger people
Engineering more durable artificial joints
A £4 million research project will develop a new generation of artificial joints that last longer, produce fewer side effects and are better suited for younger people. The international collaboration, led by the University of Leeds and funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, will focus on improved design and testing to reduce the chance that the implants develop faults and fail, or cause…
News • Restoring proprioception after amputation
New surgery improves 'phantom limb' sensation, prosthesis control
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have invented a new type of amputation surgery that can help amputees to better control their residual muscles and sense where their “phantom limb” is in space. This restored sense of proprioception should translate to better control of prosthetic limbs, as well as a reduction of limb pain, the researchers say. In most…
News • "I See"-Research project
Blindness: Cortical prosthesis provides visual information
Providing the blind with visual impressions: That is the aim of the I See project, in which neuroscientists from the University of Bremen are involved. The approach: A miniature camera collects visual information and translates it into signal patterns that are transferred to brain implants.
News • Promising alternative to heart transplants
'Artificial aorta' to reduce blood pressure
Engineers at EPFL’s Center for Artificial Muscles have developed a silicone aorta that can reduce how hard patients’ hearts have to pump. Their breakthrough could offer a promising alternative to heart transplants. “Over 23 million people around the world suffer from heart failure. The disease is usually treated with a transplant, but because donated hearts are hard to come by, there is an…
News • Restoring movement and ability
Brain implants: the key to mobility after stroke?
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…