Medical Electronics

Imec has made a prototype implantable chip that gives patients more intuitive control over their arm prosthetics. The thin-silicon chip is a world’s first for electrode density and was developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Florida, as part of the IMPRESS project funded by the DARPA’s HAPTIX program to create a closed-loop system for future-generation haptic prosthetics technology. ...

Newcastle University adds intelligence to a prosthetic hand so that it grips objects automatically, with guidance from built-in camera feed-back.

A team from Korea creates extra-flexible neural electrodes, using zinc oxide nanowires, that minimise tissue damage without losing signal fidelity.

Smart bandages that connect to 5G networks to communicate the progress of a healing wound to doctors are likely to begin trials within a year.

Apple’s incursions into silicon engineering extend to bio-medical device development, reports CNBC, with a five year-old project about to begin feasibility trials of a non-invasive blood sugar monitor for treating diabetes. Apple is reported to have hired a team of biomedical engineers from other companies who are working on the project in Palo Alto. The target is to develop a ...

An implantable wireless sensor which needs neither batteries nor a power line for the monitoring and treatment of cardiac failure patients is being developed by university spin-out company Cardian. The pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) sensor is read by an external body-worn portable reader the size of a smartphone, and allows the continuous monitoring of the pulmonary arterial pressure during daily activity. It ...

German researchers have found a way to trick the body into accepting nerve interfaces inside the skull. Such interfaces are used to sense and influence brain waves and, although they are easy to implant, are challenging to keep running properly in living organisms over time, according to the Univerity of Freiburg. “After a while, the immune system tends to treat ...

Long-term skin damage following radiotherapy could be predicted using a LED-based scanner, according to The University of California Irvine Beckman Laser Institute (BLI). Radiotherapy is sometimes used to eradicate cancer cells that might have survived surgery or chemotherapy, in breast cancer patients, for example. A side-effect of this radiation is long-term damage in the skin. All patients, according to the ...

ON Semiconductor is targeting digital radiography in medical treatments with a new CCD image sensor that enables video imaging under reduced x-ray dosage conditions. The KAF-09001 image sensor incorporates an improved output architecture that supports a high sensitivity video mode, facilitating patient positioning while minimising overall x-ray exposure. With a resolution of 9 megapixels, the sensor has the same 12µm ...

A new report says it is possible that plastic electronics technology is set to revolutionise the consumer electronics industry, with lower costs.