We're still a bit gun shy when it comes to surfing over to PEAK Surgical's website after watching that PlasmaBlade demonstration video, but a new release from the outfit affirms that said electrosurgery scalpel has just been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration. The "tissue dissection system," as it's so gruesomely called, has been given 501(k) clearance, meaning that PEAK can now market its tool for use in general surgery. So, anxious to camp out and be the first in the country to get sliced and diced by one of these? Bombard your local hospitals with phone calls starting next month.

[Via MedGadget]

Finally, a use for electrocution besides your own, twisted interests. A company in Arizona has created a bandaging system which uses electrically activated wound-dressings to heal injuries. Dubbed the CMB Antimicrobial Wound Dressing with PROSIT (or CMBAWDWP as we like to call it), the bandage works by utilizing a single-layer polyester fabric which can carry a low-level electrical charge when wet. Over a short period of time, the charge can greatly reduce bacteria and infections in the treatment area. Also, it's fun at parties.

[Via medgadget]

Cheng Luo, an engineer from the University of Texas at Arlington, has created a self-propelled microboat based on the toy boats he played with as a child. When an object -- say, a toy boat -- floating on water has a drop of oil on it, the change in surface tension propels that object in the opposite direction. With this principle in mind, Luo has created a microboat that measures just millimeters, contains its own reservoir of isopropyl alcohol as a propellant, and cruises at around 30 cm per second. "But, why?" you ask. Luo explains that these tiny boats could be used to deliver drugs in blood vessels or even to diagnose and treat ailments. Sounds good to us -- wash one of these down with some self-healing goo and you could be all set. But before we go, try saying "toy boat" three times really fast.

We may already have spray-on bandages, but Arch Therapeutics has developed a nanostructured substance that they say stops bleeding almost instantly. Originally developed at MIT, the material is awaiting FDA approval and could make its way into operating rooms soon. The liquid is made up of amino acids that form peptides and cluster into long fibers when exposed to salty environments, like, say, a whole bunch of blood. The material isn't terribly new -- it was originally discovered in the 90s, but only recently during an experiment did researchers realize that it would be great for blood control. Shortly thereafter, people saw dollar signs and Arch Therapeutics was founded.

Okay, so we're not exactly doctors, but we couldn't help but be intrigued by PEAK Surgical's announcement today that its PlasmaBlade electrosurgery scalpel had completed preclinical testing with positive results. Unlike traditional electrosurgery tools like the bovie cutter, the PlasmaBlade operates at low temperatures, using pulsed plasma energy to cut tissue and control bleeding. Then, stupidly, we watched the video. Let's just say now that it no longer matters to us that surgeons using the PEAK PlasmaBlade produce "minimal collateral damage" to tissue and that bleeding was reduced. Sure, it's great for the surgeons, but our eyes? Not going to be the same.

[Via MedGadget]

Read - PEAK PlasmaBlade press release
Watch - PEAK PlasmaBlade demo video (WARNING: not for the squeamish, we mean it!)

Sending electrical shocks into the brain via a "brain pacemaker" has already led to dramatic breakthroughs like the revival of a man trapped in a vegetative state for six years, but new research may mean that the technique is soon a common treatment for disorders like depression and OCD. Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic, Mass General, Harvard Medical School and Brown Medical School implanted the Medtronics brain pacemaker into 17 people suffering from depression and tracked them for a year, finding significant improvements in mood as well as social and occupational functioning, while 26 patients suffering from OCD were followed for three years and also showed "marked improvement." Findings will be presented to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons this week in Chicago, and clinical trials are scheduled for later this year -- in other news, sales of "The Terminal Man" to neurosurgeons recently skyrocketed for unknown reasons.

In-vitro fertilization may soon become much more effective, if a new device dubbed the "silicone womb" comes out of testing successfully. Currently test-tube embryos are developed in an incubator, but the .2-inch long silicone womb, produced by Anecova, allows them to be implanted inside the mother for up to four days, during which time they're exposed to the uterus through 360 40-micron holes. The goal is to develop stronger, more resilient embryos for eventual pregnancy, but a small test in Belgium has so far proven inconclusive as to the device's effectiveness -- and some researchers doubt it'll work at all, since the embryos will be located in the uterus rather than the fallopian tubes where they would naturally develop. Still, there's hope that the environment inside the uterus will be an effective substitute -- to quote one researcher, "it's a lot closer to a fallopian tube than a plastic tray." 40 women are signed up for testing starting today, but results aren't expected for some time.

One of the things most people fail to realize about being sick is that sitting in a hospital bed all day can be really, really boring. Luckily, a company called Lincor Solutions has realized that people need something a little more engaging than plain-jane television these days, thus the MEDIVista was created. The basic premise is quite simple: a touchscreen, LCD display is mounted to the side of a hospital bed which the hospital staff can use to display x-rays or medical information, and the patient can use for entertainment. Users can watch IPTV, listen to the radio or audio books, make VoIP calls, surf the 'net, check email, as well as play web and network based games. The system also logs activity and allows users to view billing information, though at this point it doesn't look like it can play Doom, will blend, or is due to become our overlord.

[Via OhGizmo!]

Crazy artificial hearts and even heart-tissue based robots are nothing new -- to say nothing of the Pimp My Heart bass-booster -- but actually squeezing your existing heart to extend its life is definitely a novel idea. The concept, from a team at Leeds University, is based around an intelligent, motorized webbing that wraps around your heart. When sensors indicate that your pump needs a jump, the webbing contracts, squeezing blood through your body. It's an elegant take on a pretty low-tech solution, and the team has high hopes the uncomplicated nature of the device will lead to applications from transplant assistance to heart therapy when simulator trials are finished and the webbing leaves the prototype stage -- but sadly, there's no word on when that might be.

[Via MedGadget]

It's not the first we've heard of the Wii being used for rehabilitation context, but it would appear "Wiihab" is becoming increasingly frequent. According to the AP, hospitals in states like Missouri, Illinois, and North Carolina, and even Walter Reed Army Medical Center are all incorporating the Wii into physical therapy routines. Just in time, too, it would be really weird if Wiiitis or a nasty Wiinjury landed you in the hospital in the first place, your doctor used a Wii to hone his steady hand, and you didn't actually get to use a Wii to get your ass well enough to be discharged. Ah, what a world.

Spray-on liquid bandages aren't a new idea by any means, but a company called BioCure has just received FDA approval for a gel-based version designed to treat combat wounds. Developed in conjunction with Rutgers University and the Army, the GelSpray Liquid Bandage is applied with a dual syringe that combines two different polymers that combine into a gel, spreading to cover and protect the wound. The gel only sticks to intact skin, not the wound itself, and it's hard enough to resist abrasion. BioCure is already talking about medicated versions that will treat infection and stop severe bleeding, and the prospect of civilian applications are also on the table -- but no dates have been given, sadly.

[Via Medgadget]

Proving that children and the elderly are not the only groups seeing benefits from Nintendo's Wii, a study on a small group of surgeons who had practiced gaming with a modified controller showed them to achieve significantly more improvement on a standard simulator procedure than did a corresponding group of control subjects. Study author Kanav Kahol worked with Dr. Marshall Smith of the Banner Health hospital chain to build a special Wiimote attachment (read: broken golf club add on + laparoscopic probe) that eight surgical residents used to play Marble Mania and the full suite of Wii Play games. The gamers were then pitted against eight of their less-fortunate colleagues in a computer-simulated laparoscopic procedure, and managed to attain 48% higher scores, on average, than the non-gamers. Unfortunately, games involving broader motions such as tennis or boxing are said to be less suitable for this sort of training, make a total liar out of your doctor the next time you catch him "honing up on the latest techniques" by playing Wii Golf.

[Image courtesy of The Wall Street Journal]

We first noticed the GlucoBoy blood-sugar testing game for the Game Boy Advance way back in 2004, but it's taken three years for inventor Paul Wessel to get the necessary approval from Nintendo to start manufacturing the game. Targeted at kids with juvenile diabetes, the device rewards timely testing and target blood sugar levels by doling out points that can be used to unlock 2 full length games and 3 additional mini-arcade games, and kids can share point totals and high scores on a related website called GRIP. GlucoBoy is now available in Australia, but the company hopes to have wider availability soon.

[Via Joystiq]

Philips' Brilliance iCT sure had a nice run, but no sooner than it hit the spotlight, Toshiba has arrived fashionably late to steal a little thunder. The outfit's $2.5 million AquilionONE outdoes Philips' iteration by doing 320-slices instead of "just" 256, enabling doctors to see the entire heart while making patients hold their breath for merely "a second or two." Put simply, the machine should allow for heart disease to be spotted in its earliest stages without putting individuals through a lengthy tribulation, and the ultra high resolution 3D images it produces will allow medical personnel to quickly determine if there are any problems that need to be dealt with. Currently, the system is being tested at Toronto General's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, but word on the street has the unit being readily available next summer.

[Via Diagnostic Imaging, thanks lmwong]

Philips unveiled a new ultra-high-res 256-slice CT scanner called the Brilliance iCT at the Radiological Society of North America yesterday, a unit the company says not only produces higher quality 3D images using less radiation than previous scanners, but does it far more quickly -- a full body scan takes only a minute. The speedup is achieved because the rotating X-ray element spins some 22 percent faster than other models, hitting four revolutions a second at top speed. Getting in and out of the machine that much faster also cuts radiation exposure some 80 percent from a traditional X-ray machine, and Philips says the machine is accurate enough to capture a complete image of the heart in less than two beats. Metro Health in Cleveland is the first off the line with the new gear -- check the read link for a video of it in action.