The Essential Resource for the Medical Design Engineering Community
Diagnostics: A Focus on Imaging, Portability, and Regulations
June 11, 2013 3:59 pm | by Kasey Panetta, Managing Editor, ECN | Articles | CommentsDiagnostic technology covers a broad range of equipment, tests, and medical fields, and recent advancements in technique and materials means that innovations are widespread and growing rapidly. Though economic conditions are preventing huge advancements in diagnostic imaging—if hospitals can’t afford the new technology, there is no point in designing it—the medical imaging community is focusing on refinement, rather than redesign.
Seapine Software Launches 2013 State of Medical Device Development Survey
June 11, 2013 2:08 pm | by Seapine Software | News | CommentsOver the next three months, Seapine Software will be polling medical device developers for its 2013 State of Medical Device Development Survey. The online survey will establish industry benchmarks and identify the challenges facing the development of new healthcare technologies.
Next-Generation Clot Retrieval Technology Improves Patient Outcomes vs. First- Generation Devices, Say Leading Stroke Physicians
June 11, 2013 11:59 am | by Covidien | News | CommentsCovidien brought together six of the world’s prominent thought-leaders in stroke at the 2013 European Stroke Conference. At a Covidien-sponsored symposium, the stroke experts presented and discussed data underscoring the benefits of endovascular therapy in treating acute ischemic stroke and, particularly, the important role that new devices play when this procedure is performed to remove blood clots from large vessels in the brain.
Study Shows Cardiac MRI Use Reduces Adverse Events for Patients with Acute Chest Pain
June 11, 2013 11:01 am | by Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center | News | CommentsWake Forest Baptist Medical Center doctors have found that using stress cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in an Emergency Department observation unit to care for patients with acute chest pain is a win-win - for the patient and the institution.
Heart to Heart: Cardiac PET/MR Measures Up To PET/CT
June 11, 2013 10:59 am | by Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | News | CommentsJust a few years ago, integrated positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging was found only in research institutes, but little by little the technology has expanded into clinical practice. This is especially true for cardiac indications, for which the highly sensitive soft tissue contrast of MR and the functional and metabolic imaging of PET are particularly valuable.
Metabolic PET Imaging Provides Earlier Warning of Coronary Disease
June 11, 2013 10:56 am | by Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | News | CommentsCoronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the world’s most prevalent and silent killers. Positron emission tomography (PET), which images miniscule abnormalities in cellular metabolism, can tip off clinicians about cardiac disasters waiting to happen—including sudden death from a heart attack—better than standard angiography, researchers revealed at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting.
Molecular Imaging Improves Care for Children with Brain Cancer
June 11, 2013 10:50 am | by Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | News | CommentsA relatively new weapon in the fight against childhood brain cancer has emerged that improves upon standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by providing information about tumor metabolism and extent of cancer in children diagnosed with glioma, a growth caused by the abnormal division of glial cells in the brain, say researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting.
Crystal Clear: Real-time 3D Motion Tracking Optimizes PET/MR Scans
June 11, 2013 10:48 am | by Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | News | CommentsOne of the biggest hurdles of hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging is the prevalence of motion artifacts—blurring and ghostly visual anomalies caused by patient motion on the table during imaging. An MR technology has now been designed for PET/MR that employs tiny radiofrequency solenoids—metal coils integrated into hardware placed on the body—to track motion from those who do not or cannot stay put.
SPECT/MR Molecular Imaging System Makes Its Debut
June 11, 2013 10:43 am | by Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging | News | CommentsThe Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging’s 2013 Annual Meeting marks the unveiling of the successful application of a new preclinical hybrid molecular imaging system—single photon emission tomography and magnetic resonance—which has exceptional molecular imaging capabilities in terms of potential preclinical and clinical applications, technological advancement at a lower cost, and reduction of patient exposure to radiation.
'Heading' a Soccer Ball Could Lead to Brain Injury
June 11, 2013 10:40 am | by Radiological Society of North America | News | CommentsSoccer players who 'head' the ball with high frequency demonstrate poorer performance on memory tests and have brain abnormalities similar to those found in traumatic brain injury patients, according to a study published online in the journal Radiology.
Screening Fails to Affect Breast Cancer Mortality Statistics
June 11, 2013 10:39 am | by SAGE Publications | News | CommentsNew research analyzing breast cancer mortality data spanning almost 40 years concludes that breast cancer screening does not yet show an effect on mortality statistics. The research, published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, analyzed mortality trends before and after the introduction of the National Health Service Breast Screening Programme in 1988.
'Popcorn' Particle Pathways Promise Better Lithium-Ion Batteries
June 11, 2013 10:35 am | by DOE/Sandia National Laboratories | News | CommentsResearchers at Sandia National Laboratories have confirmed the particle-by-particle mechanism by which lithium ions move in and out of electrodes made of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4, or LFP), findings that could lead to better performance in lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, medical equipment and aircraft.
The Diabetes ‘Breathalyzer’
June 11, 2013 10:14 am | by University of Pittsburgh | News | CommentsChemists at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated a sensor technology that could significantly simplify the diagnosis and monitoring of diabetes through breath analysis alone. Their findings were published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS).
The Body Electric: Researchers Move Closer to Low-Cost, Implantable Electronics
June 11, 2013 10:09 am | by The Ohio State University | News | CommentsNew technology under development at The Ohio State University is paving the way for low-cost electronic devices that work in direct contact with living tissue inside the body. The first planned use of the technology is a sensor that will detect the very early stages of organ transplant rejection.
Reducing Unnecessary and High-Dose Pediatric CT Scans Could Cut Associated Cancers by 62%
June 11, 2013 10:01 am | by University of California - Davis Health System | News | CommentsA study examining trends in X-ray computed tomography (CT) use in children in the United States has found that reducing unnecessary scans and lowering the doses for the highest-dose scans could lower the overall lifetime risk of future imaging-related cancers by 62 percent. The research by a UC Davis Health System scientist is published online today in JAMA Pediatrics.
