MedTech News
.................... by Andrew Celentano
Botox-like nerve blocking reveals potential way to fully regenerate skin without scarring
Could wounded skin someday regrow perfectly without scars? A new study by Harvard stem cell biologists published in Cell reveals a way to fully regenerate skin by unblocking an embryonic healing mechanism that shuts off after birth. Demonstrated on mice, the study suggests a potential means to develop similar therapies in human patients.
AI tool shows promise in diagnosing advanced heart failure
Applying artificial intelligence techniques to cardiac ultrasound data may make it easier to identify patients with advanced heart failure, a new study has found. The study—led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine, Cornell Tech, Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian—offers the prospect of better care for many thousands of patients who may be overlooked due to the difficulty of diagnosing their condition.
Smart wound dressing delivers antibiotics on-demand, accelerating healing and reducing resistance
Biomedical engineers from Brown University have developed a new wound dressing material that releases antibiotic drugs only when harmful bacteria are present in a wound. In the new study, published in the journal Science Advances, the researchers show that the material could help rapidly clear wound infections to accelerate healing while reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics—a major driver of antibiotic resistance and hard-to-treat “superbug” infections that claim tens of thousands of lives worldwide each year.
AI-powered imaging tracks wound healing under the skin in real time
No matter the size or severity, wounds on human skin are difficult to monitor while they heal. Biopsies disrupt the wound site and are too invasive for routine, repeated monitoring, and most medical imaging devices that could do the job are large, expensive, and booked up with more pressing diagnostics. Clinicians typically resort to visual inspection or quick measurements of the wound’s size over time.
Engineered tissue offers hope for children born with ‘missing’ esophagus
Scientists from Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and University College London (UCL) have created the first lab‑grown esophagus—the food pipe—shown to safely replace a full section of the organ and restore normal function, including swallowing, in a growing animal without the need for immunosuppression.
LivaNova wins FDA premarket approval for neuromod for sleep apnea
LivaNova (Nasdaq: LIVN)+ announced today that it received FDA premarket approval (PMA) for its aura6000 neuromodulation system for sleep apnea.
AI helps to evaluate skin lesions in rare disease more accurately
There is a promising new drug for the rare disease mastocytosis, which is associated with skin lesions, among other things. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to use artificial intelligence to quantitatively measure for the first time the extent to which it reduces skin lesions.
A neuroadaptive VR system for the treatment of arachnophobia
Researchers at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) have developed a novel virtual reality (VR) system that could make the treatment of arachnophobia, also known as spider phobia, more targeted and personalized in the future. The work is published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.