Electronic μ-Opioid Sensor
A lot of the mechanisms of the drugs anesthesiologists use are poorly understood. To help in uncovering how opioids operate, researchers at University of Pennsylvania developed a completely electronic μ-opioid sensor protein that was modified to be soluble in water in order to make it practical for lab work. It was then bound to a graphene substrate that acted as a field-effect transistor capable of detecting its electric properties when the μ-opioid receptor is activated. This will allow to mass-produce devices that could be useful in drug development and a variety of diagnostic tests.
An illustration of the researchers’ devices
E-Cube 7 Ultrasound for Anesthesia
Alpinion Medical Systems (Seoul, Korea) has unveiled its new E-CUBE 7 ultrasound system. The device is designed to be used during regional anesthesia procedures and pain blocks. Besides regional block applications, the E-CUBE 7 can be used in many of the procedures in which general ultrasound imaging is needed.
Teleflex ISO-Gard Mask
ISO-Gard anesthesia mask recovers much of the exhaled gas and sends it to the vacuum exhaust. The system works by running oxygen through the breathing area in one direction while exhausting using a negative pressure tube at the bottom of the mask, effectively separating the inhaled gas from the exhaled. Has a CO2 monitoring port for sampling expired gas and fits into existing PACU workflow. Delivers up to 10 LPM of oxygen flow
http://www.medgadget.com/2013/04/teleflex-iso-gard.html
PharmGuard Anesthesia Software Service (P.A.S.S.)
Smiths Medical (St. Paul, Minn.) announced a new service, specifically aimed at anesthesia and critical care for its popular Medfusion 3500 syringe infusion pump.
P.A.S.S. offers “anesthesiologists and pharmacists with the convenience of a customer-specific drug library entered into their Medfusion® 3500 syringe infusion pumps prior to shipping the pumps to them”. Extensive drug libraries support standardization of drug concentrations throughout the facility. Displays full drug name (brand and generic) in Tall Man lettering. Drug Advisories provide essential drug information for medication administration at the point of care
http://www.medgadget.com/2011/09/smiths-medical-pharmguard-anesthesia-software-service-p-a-s-s.html
Automatic Anesthesia Drug Delivery
A team of French anesthesiologists has developed an automatic delivery system of propofol and remifentanil, which they recently tested in a multi-center trial involving 196 surgical patients. The researchers reported in Anesthesia & Analgesia that the system, which uses a Bispectral Index (BIS) monitor as a guide, performed better than manual administration.
It is a proportional-integral-derivative controller allowing the closed-loop co-administration of propofol and remifentanil during induction and maintenance of general anesthesia.
Mindray A5 Anesthesia Device
Mindray, Shenzhen, China has launched anesthesia device that sports uncommon options such as a 15″ touch screen, as well as a central brake and an integrated cable sweeps for mobility. A5 is the first and only anesthesia machine that conforms to the IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) Patient Care Domain (PCD) profile. At no additional charge, every A5 provides data output in the industry standard HL7 protocol. HL7, with the IHE PCD profile, is recognized among anesthesia information management systems (AIMS) and electronic medical records (EMR) systems as the demonstrated industry standard for unambiguous interoperability.
http://www.medgadget.com/2011/02/mindray_a5_anesthesia_device_gets_cleared_in_us.html
Transcontinental Anesthesia
On August 30, 2010, anesthesiologists of McGill-McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, kept watch over a patient in Pisa, Italy undergoing thyroid gland surgery using a teleconferencing set-up with four cameras, with two cameras streaming the anesthesia data (ventilation parameters and vital signs), one camera aimed at the operating field and the last one for any special purposes. All feeds were streamed to an “anesthesia cockpit” where the anesthesiologists were sitting, while we imagine there was probably still a nurse anesthetist around in Pisa to obey their commands and control the drips. Airway assessment and taking the medical history was also done using videoconferencing. For their next step, the researchers are taking on a less technologically challenging issue: they will use teleconferencing for preoperative assessment of patients at their home.
The Latest Buzz in Pain Medicine (INTERVIEW)
Dr. Baxter has developed a simple, yet effective tool she for pain relief called “Buzzy.” There’s been a lot of, well, buzz about the device ever since she pitched it onShark Tank. By manipulating the physiology of “gate control” with high frequency vibration and ice packs, Buzzy simulates the same pain relief as water over a burn. Other sensations are more important to the brain, so the relatively unimportant continuous pain alert is blocked out.
http://www.medgadget.com/2014/06/the-latest-buzz-in-pain-medicine-interview.html
Myoelectric Controlled Avatar for Phantom Limb Pain
Phantom limb pain is currently treated with several different methods. Examples include mirror therapy, different types of medication, acupuncture and hypnosis. In many cases, however, nothing helps. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden decided to test whether they can fool the brain into believing the limb is still there and maybe stop the pain.
They attached electrodes to the skin of the remaining arm of an amputee to read the myoelectric signals from the muscles below. Additionally, the arm was tracked in 3D using a marker so that the data could be integrated into a moving generated avatar as well as computer games. The amputee moves the arm of the avatar like he would if his own still existed, while the brain becomes reacquainted with its presence. After repeated use, and playing video games that were controlled using the same myoelectric interface, the person in the study had significant pain reduction after decades of phantom limb pain.
Interview with Pain Squad Creator, Jennifer Stinson
Jennifer Stinson, PhD, RN-EN, CPNP, is a clinician-scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, Canada. She is a nurse practitioner in the chronic pain program whose major clinical research area focuses on pain and symptom management, and the use of e-health (internet) and m-health (mobile phones) technologies to improve the assessment and management of pain and other symptoms in children with chronic illnesses. During her PhD, she created one of the first electronic pain diaries using the Palm Tungsten PDA to help adolescents record arthritis-related pain.
She and her team developed Pain Squad, a smart phone-based electronic pain management tool that helps users keep a journal of their pain and communicate with their health provider team. Its user-friendly interface, ease of use, and gamification elements help to motivate children and teens with cancer (8 to 18 year olds) to keep track of and inform doctors with detailed reports of their pain.
http://www.medgadget.com/2014/02/interview-with-pain-squad-creator-jennifer-stinson.html
Omron electroTherapy TENS System for Pain Relief
TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) system is useful for temporary pain relief of muscles and joints.
The device can deliver three different preset programs at five levels of intensity that patients select between depending on the nature of their pain symptoms. There is an advanced version with more options.
http://omronpainrelief.com/products/pain-relief-device#.U5wIhpSSzAA
Cold Therapy Pen for Pain Reduction
Silicon Valley-based myoscience will soon be introducing its pen-like cooling device in the US having just been cleared by the FDA for targeted pain reduction. The company’s Focused Cold Therapy technology is meant to induce a kind-of hibernation of nerves, blocking their signaling ability and therefore reducing nearby pain.
http://myoscience.com/?location=europe
Deep TMS for Neuropathic Chronic Pain
Brainsway‘s transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) technology is finding itself useful for treatment of neuropathic chronic pain. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive technique used to apply brief magnetic pulses to the brain. The pulses are administered by passing high currents through an electromagnetic coil placed adjacent to a patient’s scalp. The pulses induce an electric field in the underlying brain tissue. When the induced field is above a certain threshold, and is directed in an appropriate orientation relative the brain’s neuronal pathways, localized axonal depolarization is produced, thus activating the neurons in the relevant brain structure. System is also indicated for clinical depression, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia (negative symptoms), Parkinson’s diseases and post-traumatic stress disorder. The treatment is non-invasive, with no significant side effects, no systemic effect (in contrast to drugs), and no need of hospitalization or anesthesia.
http://www.brainsway.com/Brainsway/Templates/showpage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=84&FID=346
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