The human body constantly assaults medical devices that are implanted within it. The traditional solution to that has been to encase them in titanium. But that’s not the best option in the brain, where it remains difficult to place a high number of electrodes without damaging the brain, while protecting the device from long-term damage.
To better tap into the potential of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), Stanford University researchers developed a high-dose, precision-targeted protocol known as Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT).
Palo Alto, Calif.-based Varian Medical Systems Inc. is no stranger to machine learning applications. It rolled out its first such software to guide photon-based radiotherapy treatment planning more than five years ago. Now, it’s expanding a similar approach for machine learning-driven patient matching and treatment guidance in proton treatment planning.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has been managed with widely varying degrees of success around the world. Artificial intelligence (AI), which can help to power all sorts of efforts, has been enlisted thus far in limited ways. But researchers at a virtual conference held on April 1 by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence explored some of the ongoing and potential applications of AI to systematize efforts to fight COVID-19.
Systematic detection of cancer at earlier stages at a population level could remodel how the medical profession approaches cancer treatment, establishing the potential to reduce cancer mortality by almost one-quarter. That’s according to an analysis based on the latest data from Grail Inc.'s Circulating Cell-free Genome Atlas (CCGA) study.
Fractyl Laboratories Inc. has released data from a mixed meal tolerance study that shows its procedure for resurfacing the duodenal mucosa improves fasting blood glucose and reduces liver fat.
More than a dozen robotics researchers expressed the need for robots to play a greater role in managing the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, as well as in future preparedness. They pointed to three broad medical areas where robots can make a difference: clinical care with applications such as telemedicine and decontamination; logistics for delivery and handling of medical waste; and reconnaissance such as quarantine enforcement.
Like so many other ventilator providers in recent days, Resmed Inc. has committed to ramping up production. It aims to triple its ventilator output and multiply its ventilation mask production by 10. But the San Diego-based company’s specialty is not mechanical ventilation that requires intubation, which is most commonly used in the intensive care unit (ICU), although it does produce some of those.
Trying to build out a new med-tech product category is a time-consuming and costly endeavor. Senseonics Holdings Inc. has long pursued the vision of extended-use, implantable continuous glucose monitoring. Since it was founded in 1996, the Germantown, Md.-based company has already spent roughly half a billion dollars to get there.
Zurich-based startup Ava Science Inc. recently issued a public call for partners and funding to further research the potential usefulness of its fertility wearable, known as Ava Bracelet, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
