WeirdMedical™

NASA…no need to say more.

Who of us in the medical industry would have the guts to give a neurosurgeon permission to have our infant’s brain glued?

According to the authors – “It was just a few months before the parents noticed Joley’s head was growing rapidly and was unusually larger than [her twin's] Jared’s . Her mother could see the tiny veins in Joley’s head bulging out from her scalp.”

…But crazy glue worked!

Image of glue in Ella-Grace Honeymans brain

Got to love N-butyl-cyanoacrylate…read more at HealthMad.com…

Let’s talk space…outer space that is…

On Monday, April 5, a new water filter system flew to the International Space Station aboard space shuttle Discovery. It’s mission? To enable emergency intravenous (IV) operations to help sick astronauts in space.

The new IVGEN (IntraVenous Fluid Generation) filtering technology was developed under the code name, “Project Clearwater,” at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio in cooperation with the team under the guidance of Philip Scarpa, medical operations manager at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

IntraVenous Fluid Generation (IVGEN) water filter

“Currently, NASA’s medical experts have identified at least 115 different scenarios in which a sick or injured astronaut could need an IV while living on the space station, mostly for rehydration of medicine delivery,” according to Remy Melina, SPACE.com Staff Writer. This not weird but neat website, Space.com, explores inventions going into outerspace for evaluation and testing including those for use in human health.

This is one of the last four of the NASA shuttle flights before the shuttle technology is retired:

Images – Life on the Space Station (courtesy of Space.com)

Twitter Discovery STS-131 mission realtime log (courtesy of SpaceFlightNow.com)

Lucky is the next medtech design engineer to follow his/her device into space!

If you are struggling for therapeutic relief from multiple sclerosis, you’ve got a lot of competition…

An new investigational procedure using an old “Gold Standard” technology is causing MS patients to apply in droves for a single site clinical trial. Over 1,000 patients applied for 3o positions at a lone study site in Buffalo, New York in its early trial. And the technology?…Is it a drug or an active agent?…no…it’s “POBA” –> Plain Old Balloon Angioplasty!

The theory of balloon angioplasty’s anticipated success in this new indication for use? This  provocative new theory proposes that abnormal blood drainage from the brain may cause or play a role in multiple sclerosis. According to early studies by an Italian vascular specialist, Dr. Paolo Zamboni, who was running out of treatment options for his wife, poor deoxygenated blood drainage caused by twisted, narrowed or blocked cerebrospinal veins may cause “leakage of immune cells into the brain that starts a cascade of inflammatory problems.” In this venous application, balloon angioplasty opens these vessels to increase the volume and rate of drainage…and patients can not wait to receive treatment.

“A lot of people are starting to go to fly-by-night places,” according to Dr. Carlo Tornatore at Washington’s Georgetown University Hospital. “It’s a marathon, not a 100-yard sprint. We have to be very careful.” (Source: Seattle PI, Seattle, WA)

The indication is chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency or CCSVI. Further studies of 65 patients by Dr. Zamboni reveal this therapy may be most effective in treating the relapsing-remitting form of MS. But there appears to be a significant relapse rate nearly 50%, similar to that for POBA for coronary arteries in the 1980′s and 1990′s.

Stay tuned…this opens a whole new opportunity for peripheral vascular device manufactures as well as their new MS patients!

Did you ever wonder what the first x-ray image looked like or how we are mathematically engineered?

Look no further than “Science and Technology in Medicine: An Illustrated Account Based on Ninety-Nine Landmark Publications from Five Centuries.” Author, Andras Gedeon, has researched major advanced technologies of today back to their roots. Nearly 100 technologies are captured in his book on medical therapies and diagnostic equipment dating back to the early 1500′s.

“A most fascinating read,” says Armchair Interviews who gives it five stars, “The visual effect evokes one’s curiosity at a fundamental level, making it an excellent source for inspiring further learning.”

Humane Blood

This books is fascinating in that it respectfully shows very graphic illustrations, images and in later years, pictures, of more primitive applications of science to the art of early experimental medicine. It is available in:

English & German

Any of us who have a fascination with medicine as it converges with science will cherish this book.  For Armchair Interviews’ review…read on…

Orthopods! Here’s a new twist for external fracture fixation…

not just a cast but…a Casttoo!

Both a waterproof and X-ray permeable alternative to plain autographable casts, Casttoos are on the rise. (Thankfully) artwork on casts is not (yet) regulated by the FDA…and neither are Casttoos. But they are lots of fun for orthopaedic patients of any age. And the best part is that docs or patients get to create them themselves!

How about a shark infested jungle:

…or an x-ray of your fracture:

Just a couple of  ideas from the infinite number of Casttoo creators designs from the bookofjoe.

Docs can even download a hospital starter kit from Casttoo’s website.

…as Casttoo creators say “Happy Healing” to young and old alike!

Did anyone ever accuse you of being wired strangely…well soon they could be right.

With promise for both military application and future consumer devices, Georgia Institute of Technology scientists have discovered a way to use heart beats, body movements and wind resistance to produce electricity. The key is in the movement of nano zinc oxide wires. When stretched and released these wires produce electicity, enough to power radios, night vision goggles, cell phones and other personal devices.

Checkout GIT’s website…

Getting a charge out of a beating heart (Source: Georgia Institute of Technology)

Any Trekkies remember Dr. McCoy and the amazing Tricorder?

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging allows for a “Miracle Diagnosis” – Handheld Medical Scanner 800 Times More Sensitive Than Full-size Scanners…” developed by Harvard University start-up, T2 Biosystems, Inc. (Boston , MA).

According to blog author, Jason Mick, this “new scanner provides cancer, diabetes, and bacterial detection in the palm of your hand; also useful for anti-terrorist efforts.” His blog detailing how this device works is accessible by clicking here.

Or see Science Georgia Tech Creates Palm “Tricorder” Scanner Technology – Images from that site…

The new tech allows cheap “tricorder”-like handheld multispectral scanners that analyze injury. (Source: Georgia Tech’s Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA))

Beam me up, Scottie!