Archive for June, 2011

Medtronic Gains FDA Approval for New Protecta™ Line of ICDs

The medical equipment manufacturer Medtronic, maker of defibrillators for patients with irregular heartbeats, has recently released a new line of implantable defibrillators in its Protecta™ line. Recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, these devices are designed to recognize an irregular heartbeat that may be life-threatening, and only deliver a therapeutic shock when it is appropriate. The need for implanted defibrillators that limit inappropriate shocks became apparent when patients started complaining about certain devices that delivered an ill-timed shock when it wasn’t needed.

Electrical noise or a non-life threatening arrhythmia should not prompt an implanted defibrillator to produce a shock to the heart; it should only be used to bring a ventricular arrhythmia back to its normal beating rhythm. Despite this fact, up to 21 percent of patients with an implanted defibrillator had experienced these inappropriate shocks. Throughout clinical testing of the Medtronic Protecta™ devices, 98 percent of patients were free of inappropriate shocks and stayed free of them after a full year with the implant.

Known as implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, or ICDs, the Protecta™ XT uses SmartShock technology to prevent the occurrence of inappropriate shocks. These unneeded shocks can not only be dangerous, they can also cause pain and anxiety, or lead patients to cut back on their normal life activities. Recent research even suggests that minimizing these shocks could improve the survival rate of ICD patients.

Medtronic will present the results of the virtual ICD study at upcoming medical equipment conferences for cardiology, which show the effectiveness of the six algorithms used in the SmartShock® device. These algorithms were developed to help the ICD discriminate between life-threatening and non-life threatening arrhythmic events.

In addition to SmartShock, the Protecta™ XT includes a new technology called OptiVol® 2.0. This fluid status monitoring device is designed to help doctors accurately predict worsening heart failure and identify higher risk patients.

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Medical Equipment Advancements for the 21st Century

When one looks at the medical equipment advancements of the past 10 to 20 years, it is obvious that technology is moving faster with each passing year. Some of the latest home healthcare gadgets, diagnostic tests, and robotic-assisted surgical equipment are allowing doctors and patients access to technology they had never dreamed would be possible.

Here are a few examples of the latest breakthroughs in medical equipment technology:
Contact lenses for diabetics: The use of nanoparticles in hydrogel-based contact lenses allows the molecules in a patient’s tears to change the color of the lenses in response to their changing glucose levels. These contact lenses may eventually replace the need to draw blood in order to test blood glucose levels in diabetics.

Home medical checkups: People who are used to telecommuting may be happy to learn that many doctor’s appointments can be avoided by using a system that checks vital signs from home. The system will be able to simultaneously detect respiratory and heart rates through the use of force sensors, and may eventually develop an even more comprehensive form of home-based medical testing.

Neuroprosthetic chips: This may be the closest we’ve come yet to using a computer to control the brain. Originally developed to correct epilepsy and paralysis, are now testing brain-implanted chips that would stimulate neurons to perform certain tasks, such as operating a prosthetic limb and prevent seizures.

USB pocket-sized ultrasound: It may be hard to believe, but a device as small as your Smartphone can be used as an ultrasound probe. These USB-based devices use Smartphone technology to allow doctors to view an image of a patient’s internal organs, veins, arteries or eyes from a remote location. This type of device could be a significant piece of medical equipment for healthcare clinics in developing countries, where it is difficult for rural residents to get medical care.

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