healthcare technology

The buzz about 3D printing can at times give the impression that the technology is a panacea that makes all manufacturing cheaper. The truth is 3D printing has one very specific use case: It makes prototypes and custom, one-of-a-kind items cheaper and faster to make.

Medicine would seem like a prime beneficiary of this technology, potentially using 3D printing to provide patients with custom-made implants and stents. Yet, to date, medical researchers have focused on the most ambitious goals for the technology, such as replacement organs printed from a patient’s own stem cells, which need years of development before they reach average patients.

Recently, a somewhat more modest medical device — and one that could find its way relatively quickly into treatment protocols — was created using 3D printing. Researchers Igor Efimov from Washington University in St. Louis and John Rogers from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign used MRI and CT scans of rabbit and human hearts to 3D-print custom-fitting flexible mesh sacs that fit each heart perfectly and stayed in place as it beat.

“Each heart is a different shape, and current devices are one-size-fits-all and don’t at all conform to the geometry of a patient’s heart,” said Efimov.

Inside its fabric, the mesh can also hold sensors that monitor for signs of trouble and deliver electrical pulses, if needed. The sensors are embedded in the fabric using technology similar to what Google has said it will use in sugar-monitoring contact lenses, only more nuanced.

Doctors can position the sensors or electrodes more precisely using the wrap than by attaching them directly to the heart with sutures or adhesives, Efimov and Rogers state in a recent paper in Nature Communications. They demonstrate in the paper that sensors attached to the mesh (or multifunctional integumentary membrane) accurately measure temperature, mechanical strain and pH, and could deliver pulses of electricity.

Depending on the sensors used, the heart wrap could improve treatments for a range of disorders; it could also be used to deliver medication directly to where its needed. But the device was conceptualized specifically to treat ventricle deformities and arrhythmias. The arrhythmia atrial fibrillation affects about 4 million Americans; patients often undergo a surgery that destroys the heart’s own drummer, the atrioventricular node, and subsequently receive a pacemaker.

Home self-diagnostic tools for blood cholesterol monitoring have been around for over a decade but their widespread adoption has been limited by the relatively high cost of acquiring a quantitative test-strip reader, complicated procedure for operating the device, and inability to easily store and process results. 

Forget those clumsy, complicated, home cholesterol-testing devices.

David Erickson and co-workers from Cornell University in New York  have developed a simple system that enables people to routinely monitor their blood cholesterol levels, using a smartphone.

They have created the Smartphone Cholesterol Application for Rapid Diagnostics, or “smartCARD,” which employs your smartphone’s camera to read your cholesterol level.

LAPTOP-HF is designed to investigate a new way to help treat heart failure. Since many heart failure patients are frequently hospitalized and often feel poorly, the hope is that this system may help your doctor adjust your medications before you develop symptoms or require hospitalization.

This is accomplished by measuring pressure in the heart and then each day providing you with your physician’s updated recommended medications and dosages. These may change daily depending on your condition. This is very similar to how diabetics manage their glucose levels. -

See more at: http://www.kumed.com/heart-care/clinical-services/heart-care-clinical-trials/laptop-hf#sthash.EfEC2fvM.dpuf