The following captured my attention in the announcement of the 11th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society, “Technology Transforming Chronic Illness Management.” From June 8 – 13, 2013: “Micro-Magnetic Stimulation (Monday, June 10) – John T. Gale, Ph.D., has demonstrated for the first time that deep brain stimulation with micro-magnets can activate brain cells
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RF Programming Hack Demonstrates Potentially Fatal ICD Exploit
I received today a link to a very interesting article which plays on the fears of the public, and which I am sure will result in tough new regulations to our industry. The article discusses how IOActive researcher Barnaby Jack reverse-engineered a ”pacemaker transmitter” (probably a programmer or a MICS module) to command ICDs within a 30
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TEDxCambridge Talk Calls for Open Data from AIMDs
In this TED talk, Hugo Campos explains his frustration with the fact that his ICD collects data, but he – as a patient – is unable to access these data as a diagnostic tool to help make good choices about eating, exercise and other activities.
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Monash University in Australia Starts Test of Direct-to-Brain Visual Prosthesis Chips
Engineers from the Monash Vision Group (MVG) have begun trialling the ASICs for a direct-to-brain visual prosthesis that is expected to enter human clinical trials in 2014. The prosthesis will consist of a tiny camera mounted into a pair of glasses, which acts as the retina; a pocket processor, which takes the electronic information from
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Magnetically-Coupled Motor/Generator Transfers 100 mW to Implant at 50 cm Range
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems developed a magnetically-coupled motor/generator system that they claim is able to transcutaneously transfer 100 mW to an implant up to 50 cm away. In the external power-transfer module, a rotating magnet driven by an EC motor generates a magnetic rotary field. A magnetic pellet in
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John Hopkins Researcher Develops New Early-Warning Seizures Detector with Low False-Positive Rate
Johns Hopkins’ Sridevi V. Sarma, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has devised new seizure detection software that, in early testing, significantly cuts the number of unneeded brain-stimulation therapy that an epilepsy patient would receive. According to Sarma, “These devices use algorithms—a series of mathematical steps—to figure out when to administer the treatment,” Sarma said. “They’re
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FDA AIMD PMA/Supplement Approvals for January
FDA released its PMA/Supplement approvals for January. The edited version below has been edited to include only AIMDs. It is not the full list, and should be used only for general information purposes.
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Cool Reed Switch Manufacturing Video
Magnetic reed switches are used in active implantable medical devices as a simple way of placing the device in a known operational mode when a programmer is not available. For example, placing a magnet on a pacemaker sets it to VVI mode with a manufacturer-specified set of parameters. In other devices (e.g. implantable cardioverter/defibrillators), placing a
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News from Stanford: Modelling Tissue as a Dielectric Shows Feasibility of Inductive Power Transfer at 1 GHz
Stanford Engineering assistant professor Ada Poon demonstrated a tiny, wirelessly powered, self-propelled medical device capable of controlled motion through blood. The device drives electrical current directly through the fluid, which in the presence of an external magnetic field creates a directional force that pushes the device forward. This type of device is capable of moving at
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Purdue University’s Concept for Music-Powered Implantable Devices
A group of researchers at Purdue University led by Prof. Babak Ziaie developed a vibrating cantilever that is excited by an external bass source from 200-500 Hz. The excitation causes the cantilever to vibrate, generating electricity and storing a charge in a capacitor. Although playing tones within a certain frequency range would be ideal, the
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Crazy Pacemaker Hack: d.i.y. High-Speed Photography
This is a hack that combines three of my favorite passions: pacemakers, photography, and coffee! I took this photograph by feeding the output of an infrared barrier to the atrium input of an old DDD pacemaker, setting an appropriate AV delay, and using the ventricular output to trigger a camera flash (via a optoisolator). In
St. Jude’s (ANS) Rechargeable Spinal Cord Stimulators Eon and Eon Mini
In 2005, St. Jude Medical purchased Advanced Neuromodulation Systems (ANS) in Plano, Texas. ANS had developed a number of spinal cord stimulation IPGs that were either externally powered via inductive link, internally powered by a primary cell, or internally powered by a transcutaneously rechargeable lithium-ion cell. Today, the most popular St. Jude spinal cord stimulators are the rechargeable
Biotectix
Image Credit: Biotectix Biotectix of Ann Arbor, MI recently contacted me to let me know of new conductive polymer materials that they are developing to enhance the performance of next-gen implantable stimulation and sensing devices. Indeed, their materials sound very promising. According to Biotectix, their electrode coatings and device components are made from proprietary conducting polymers that provide
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Reliability Analysis of Active Implantable Medical Devices
We conduct reliability analyses for our implantable devices on a continued basis. I’ve spent the last few days readying the data for this period’s analysis, and thought that a short primer on how this is actually done would be of interest to fellow engineers who may need it at some point. You surely have heard
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