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 and…
Bringing a little bit of science fiction into an operating room, a team of engineers and physicians at Washington University in St. Louis has shown for the first time that using a holographic display improves physician accuracy when performing a procedure to treat irregular heartbeat. Jennifer N. Avari Silva, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine, and Jonathan Silva,…
The University of Basel is part of the global search for a drug to fight the rampant coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Researchers in the Computational Pharmacy group have so far virtually tested almost 700 million substances, targeting a specific site on the virus – with the aim of inhibiting its multiplication. Due to the current emergency, the first results of the tests will be made available to other…
Virtual reality could help physiotherapy patients complete their exercises at home successfully thanks to researchers at WMG, University of Warwick, who managed to combine VR technology with 3D motion capture. Currently prescribed physiotherapy often requires patients to complete regular exercises at home. Outside of the clinic, patients rarely receive any guidance other than a leaflet of…
A popular proverb in Mandarin goes ‘Hearing something a hundred times is not as good as seeing it once’ (百聞不如一見). Visiting the Taiwan pavilion at this year’s Medica, it’s clear to see that the Bureau of Foreign Trade (MOEA) from Taiwan, together with the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and its foster companies, have taken this sentiment to heart. Seeing…
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…
Health tech Made in Taiwan is among the mainstays of every MEDICA; this year’s fair is no exception. In co-operation with the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) of the Taiwanese Ministry of Economics and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), 20 world-class healthcare companies are demonstrating innovative medical solutions based on national advances in Artificial Intelligence…
From an initial focus on innovative manufacturing, in-house ICT technologies drove production efficiency and quality. Today, Taiwan has advanced to become a leader with its "Asian Silicon Valley" concept. The government also wants to further strengthen Taiwan's key position by independently developing medical products that meet the high demands of international markets – at…
Researchers from Chemnitz and Bremen are developing a virtual reality simulator for a particularly critical step in hip joint implantation. Each year, more than 200,000 people receive a prosthetic hip in Germany. The success of these operations has a major impact on the quality of life of those affected. However, the procedure is often difficult, particularly the step that involves the so-called…
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 in Stuttgart, Germany, during the recent SLASEurope2019 conference in Barcelona, which brought together more than…
Siemens Healthineers and Mentice AB announced the collaboration to fully integrate Mentice’s VIST Virtual Patient into the Artis icono angiography system from Siemens Healthineers. The VIST Virtual Patient thus becomes a fully integrated simulation solution for the angio-suite. The global partnership between the two companies will allow interventional radiologists, neuroradiologists, and…
Virtual reality (VR) can identify early Alzheimer’s disease more accurately than ‘gold standard’ cognitive tests currently in use, suggests new research from the University of Cambridge. The study highlights the potential of new technologies to help diagnose and monitor conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, which affects more than 525,000 people in the UK. In 2014, Professor John…
The current innovation process for medical technologies risks stifling the development of new devices, a leading researcher has argued. Alejandro Frangi, Professor of Computational Medicine at the University of Leeds, says the present system was geared towards small, incremental changes to existing technology or the development of new technologies that work for ‘most’ people but are…
Anesthesiologists at UT Southwestern Medical Center are helping to explore the use of hypnosis through virtual reality to lessen postoperative pain and anxiety in children.
A wearable brain-based device called NGoggle that incorporates virtual reality (VR) could help improve glaucoma diagnosis and prevent vision loss. Duke University researchers funded by the National Eye Institute (NEI) have launched a clinical study testing the device in hopes that it could decrease the burden of glaucoma, a major cause of blindness in the U.S. The device consists of head-mounted…
Jhy-Wey Shieh sees the link between Taiwan and Germany as obvious: ‘The word “trade” – of central importance for Medica – starts with “t” for Taiwan and contains “de” for Germany – there is no better way to put it.’ Even though the Taiwanese ambassador’s linguistic journey was not to be taken too seriously, this year’s presentation from the Taiwan External Trade…
Virtual Reality (VR) technology is aiding trainee surgeons to practise complex procedures in a simulated setting, rather than learning skills on real patients. VR is also helping to demystify neurosurgery in that it enables medical students and patients to ‘enter’ and experience a neurosurgical operating theatre. Alex Alamri, a trainee neurosurgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust in London, UK,…
The selection of a first-line chemotherapy drug to treat many types of cancer is often a clear-cut decision governed by standard-of-care protocols, but what drug should be used next if the first one fails? That’s where Georgia Institute of Technology researchers believe their new open source decision support tool could come in. Using machine learning to analyze RNA expression tied to…
Taiwan’s long-term investment in research and development has transformed the country from the low-cost production center of yesterday into the go-to source for original technologies for the global community of healthcare professionals and medical device manufacturers. Still, Taiwan develops and manufactures high-quality medical devices at costs that are far lower than those in Europe and the…
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…
Physicians have been performing surgery with the assistance of x-ray technology for almost half a century. While this technology has been progressing steadily, its limitations continue to be a major challenge. Thus, many professionals agree: it's time for our method to be changed. Taiwan Main Orthopaedics Biotechnology introduced the worldwide first smart surgical glasses.
A new augmented reality system to guide procedures in interventional oncology is currently taking its first steps. A three-step experiment proves this system to be precise and reliable enough to facilitate image guidance critical to the success of interventional oncology procedures. Using a back-face camera and a tablet PC to visualise the patient, the system projects 3D images of body structures…
The need to ensure that laboratory medicine can meet the future challenges of a rapidly changing healthcare environment sits at the core of an innovative strategic conference for this sector. The agenda of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM) Strategic Conference in Mannheim (18-19 June) highlighted the challenges, and also outlined areas of discussion to…
For many years, Virtual Reality (VR) has been part of the gaming sector with eye goggles for players to interact with certain scenarios. However, more recently VR has shown it can deliver specific treatments in healthcare. It is already being applied, for example, to treat phobias and as a distraction therapy for pain. Work also progresses on how it can enable better outcomes for invasive…
Older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), often a precursor to Alzheimer’s, showed significant improvement with certain complex thinking and memory skills after exergaming, according to a new study. The results could encourage seniors, caregivers and health care providers to pursue or prescribe exergames (video games that also require physical exercise) in hopes of slowing the…