Longevity science

Researchers at the University of Leeds are using the feet of tree frogs as a model for a tiny robot designed to crawl inside patients’ bodies during keyhole surgery.

It is designed to move across the internal abdominal wall of a patient, allowing surgeons to see what they are doing on a real-time video feed

General Electric is trying to streamline surgical tool care in hospitals by taking humans out of the equation and letting a robot do the dirty work.

An infection occurs in 1 to 3 surgery patients out of a hundred. While efforts are constant to minimize surgical site infections – improved operating room ventilation, improved sterilization methods, the use of antimicrobials – they are still the most common type of healthcare-associated infections, accounting for approximately 31 percent of infections contracted by hospitalized patients.

A pioneering surgical blood salvage technology developed at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, is set to transform the way major surgery is carried out by reducing blood loss in patients.

This device recovers and recycles the blood that is spilled during surgery. It then processes and returns the blood to the patient through autotransfusion. By using the patient's own blood, there is a lower need for donor blood, and a lesser risk of reaction from the transfusion. 

HemoSep, as the new device is called, has succeeded in clinical trials and has been approved for use in Europe and Canada.

It was an expectant parents’ worst nightmare: an ultrasound image revealed that their unborn baby had a large tumor growing from its mouth.

Surgeons performed in utero surgery to remove the tumor.

New technology may be ushering in the age of robotic surgery, but there is still a role for cutting-edge electronics to play in augmenting a surgeon's natural talents. The latest example of this comes from Germany, where researchers have proposed a way for doctors to operate using their own standard instruments by developing a special handle that fits on most surgical tools and lights up to indicate when enough pressure has been used during a procedure.

Medical ModelingInc. of Golden, Colorado has been cleared by the FDA to sell its VSP System software for individualized surgical planning. Using proprietary ClearView and OsteoView CAD/CAM technology, it allows surgeons to print 3D implants using stereolithography additive manufacturing.

The package consists of VSP Reconstruction for planning work on the mandible or maxilla using vascularized grafts, and VSP Orthognathics for the jaw.

Using industry-standard manufacturing technology, researchers have integrated ultrathin and stretchable silicon-based electronics, sensors and actuators on an artificial skin that can be worn on the tip of your fingers.

The result is an artificial finger cuff that could be used to produce the ultimate hi-tech surgeon's glove, capable of sensing the electrical properties of tissue, removing tissue precisely using local ablation, or even performing ultrasound imaging with a simple touch.