Conventional minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is performed through small incisions in the patient’s skin, preserving healthy tissue. The surgeon works with long slender instruments, and is separated from the operation area. This arrangement challenges the surgeon’s skills due to lost hand-eye-coordination and missing direct manual contact to the operation area. Therefore, many sophisticated procedures cannot ... »
A new ultrasound device, used in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), allows neurosurgeons to precisely burn out small pieces of malfunctioning brain tissue without cutting the skin or opening the skull. A preliminary study from Switzerland involving nine patients with chronic pain shows that the technology can be used safely in treating humans. The ... »
AccuVein applies advanced technologies to important healthcare challenges. AccuVein AV300 is the world’s first hand-held, non-contact vein illumination device that helps healthcare professionals locate hard-to-find veins. IV starts and blood draws (venipuncture) can be a source of patient anxiety and discomfort, and accessing veins in difficult patients can take up to 10 minutes and require ... »
Computer engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a device that resembles the medical version of a “Star Trek scanner” – a smart phone-compatible ultrasound probe that can image the human body. William D. Richard, WUSTL associate professor of computer science and engineering, and David Zar, research associate in computer science and engineering, ... »
Most of us take our interaction with the world around us for granted. Manipulating objects play an especially important role in people’s lives. El-E is an assistive robot that is explicitly designed to take advantage of this common structure in order to retrieve unmodeled, everyday objects for people with motor impairments. Georgia Tech’s Healthcare Robotics ... »
