Medical technology

Renal denervation

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.

Article • Healing hearts 1

Cardiologists believe they can restore coronary arteries thanks to a new generation of stents that help the body to strengthen collapsed vessels. Elsewhere, patients’ own stem cells are being programmed to rebuild cardiac muscle in HF patients.

Turbulences in ultrasound

Ultrasound expands its role in cardiac imaging with disruptive applications. Fasten your seat belt. Cardiac diagnostics is entering a zone of turbulence. Manufacturers of leading systems continue to mine data from the sonic signal that opens new fields for research. John Brosky reports

Article • Healing hearts 2

Stem cell cocktails

Nothing new has been invented in heart failure in the last 15 years, according to Christian Homsy, CEO of Belgian-based Cardio3 Biosciences. This explains the excitement surrounding an emerging treatment among cardiologists, patients and investors.

Molecular US therapy, computer diagnosis and customized medication

Which technological advancements can we expect to see in the field of medical technology? How well can diagnosis and therapy be customized for each patient?

Enhancement in minimally-invasive treatment of heart rhythm disorders

The Catharina Hospital (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) and Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) today announced the results of a clinical study involving the treatment of 136 patients with complex heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation (AF).

Cardiovascular medical technology

CT will remain an imaging heavyweight

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.

From lab to bedside

908 Devices has good reason to be based in Boston’s Innovation District. A start-up founded in 2012, the company plans to disrupt the field of chemical analysis with what Vice President Chris Petty calls ‘ridiculously small, and elegantly simple’ mass spectrometry technology.

Goodbye to needlestick injuries

All hospital professions can be affected by injuries resulting from cuts and needlesticks, whether they are doctors, nurses or cleaners.

Another fine MES for healthcare equipment finance

Managed Equipment Service (MES) contracts have the potential to transform equipment-supply financing for healthcare, according to Siemens Financial Services’ Ulrich Stark, Head of Debt Origination for Healthcare in EMEA, and Anthony Casciano, CEO of Project, Structured & Leveraged Finance Healthcare

Manufacturing World Japan 2013

Certainly this is among the world’s largest manufacturing exhibitions.

Risks from cold and dry gas insufflation become history

Modern laparoscopy, the technique of looking inside the abdominal cavity, is a major medical innovation driven initially by physicians from Germany as well as by Swedes and Americans.

Combating surgical infection risks

Shocking: Air quality checks are infrequent and insufficient in operating theatres. The good news: a new device can now measure pathogens circulating during surgical procedures, John Brosky reports

Seoul: The 29th KIMES

Through recent decades, the Republic of Korea in East Asia has developed into a society with an advanced economy. To Europeans, the culture and cuisine are certainly very different – and highly attractive to tourists.

EuroMedLab 2013

Milan, Italy – The 20th European Congress of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine certainly lived up to its claim as the EU’s largest event of its kind – 2,407 visitors and 4,786 delegates from 101 countries plus 82 exhibitors fanned out or arranged themselves over the event’s 3,500 square metres, Hanna Politis reports

Faster sample analysis for UK and EU hospitals

Run by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the new automated Medical Laboratory at the Northern General Hospital has drawn a previously fragmented service into a purpose-built centre.

Cloud computing takes the European healthcare industry by storm

Enterprise-wide healthcare informatics will improve quality of medical services and efficiency of operations while reducing expenditures. Like many other verticals, the intensely competitive and dynamic healthcare industry is looking to cloud computing as a means to improve quality of services while reducing costs

rfMRI reveals mind moving matter

‘We finally have tools to non-invasively study the human brain in normal subjects and diseased patients,’ says Professor Stefan Sunaert, Head of Translational MRI at the Department of Imaging & Pathology, Leuven University Hospital (Belgium)

Reduced dose breakthrough for coronary CT imaging

Researchers in Germany have suggested that, for certain patients, newly developed coronary CT angiography techniques can provide good quality images with very low dose radiation.

COCIR Welcomes Resolution of Threat to Medical Scans

COCIR, the European trade association covering medical diagnostics, welcomes the adoption yesterday by European Council of the revised Directive on Protecting Workers from Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields, also known as the EMF Directive.

No systematic link between medtech innovation and increase in healthcare expenditure

MedTech Europe, the alliance of European Medical Technology Industry Associations, welcomes new research from the European Health Technology Institute (EHTI) confirming that there is no uniform relationship between medtech innovation and an increase in healthcare expenditure.