St. Jude Medical announced CE Mark approval of its Brio™, Libra™ and LibraXP™ deep brain stimulation (DBS) systems for managing the symptoms of intractable primary and secondary dystonia, a neurological movement disorder that causes a person’s muscles to contract and involuntarily spasm, reducing the ability to control movement. This approval represents the first by a
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Medtronic Introduces First Neuromodulation Systems Compatible with Full-Body MRI
Medtronic has introduced in Europe the first and only implantable neurostimulation systems indicated for use in the treatment of chronic back and/or leg pain that are designed for full-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans under specific conditions. Medtronic SureScan neurostimulation systems include enhancements to existing devices as well as specially designed leads to reduce or
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Functional Neuromodulation Ltd. Starts Study using DBS of the Fornix (DBS-f) for Mild Alzheimer’s
Toronto-based Functional Neuromodulation announced that it implanted the first U.S. Alzheimer’s patient in the “ADvance Study” with a deep brain stimulation (DBS) system meant to improve cognitive performance. ADvance will evaluate the safety and potential clinical benefit of DBS of the fornix (DBS-f), a major inflow and output pathway in the brain’s memory circuit, for
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Boston Scientific Receives CE Mark of Vercise™ Deep Brain Stimulation System
Boston Scientific Corporation received CE Mark approval for use of its Vercise™ Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) System for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The Vercise DBS System is the first and only commercially available DBS system to incorporate multiple independent current control, which is designed to selectively stimulate targeted areas in the brain. This system is
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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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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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Neuromed’s TIME Battery- and RF-Powered Totally Implantable Multichannel Spinal Cord Stimulator (ca. 1988)
Neuromed was formed in 1980 with an initial capitalization of $150,000 by Bill Borkan through money obtained when Borkan`s parents took out a second mortgage on their home. Borkan’s desire to help his sister, Jennie, a cerebral palsy patient, got him started in neurostimulation technology. In the next few years, Neuromed developed and marketed a
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St. Jude’s DBS Study Confirms Benefit of Constant Current System for Parkinson’s Disease
Image Credit: St. Jude Medical Today St. Jude announced that its first controlled study of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) confirms benefit of constant current system for patients with Parkinson’s Disease. Results were published online today by The Lancet Neurology journal. The aim of the study was to evaluate the Libra(TM) and LibraXP(TM) DBS constant current systems
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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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Northstar Neuroscience’s Renova Cortical Stimulation System (1999-2009)
Northstar was founded in 1999 as Vertis Neuroscience headquartered in Seattle, WA, and the original goal was to develop electrical stimulation for chronic back pain. In 2003, under its new name, Northstar Neuroscience, then developed the Renova cortical stimulation system to deliver targeted electrical stimulation to the brain cortex as a treatment for stroke-related upper extremity.
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