If you think you need to be an engineering or medical professional to invent a medical device, this story will change your mind. A Minnesota grandmother and part-time customer service worker named Shawn Sisco invented a device that prevents a common problem caused by Foley catheters.   The tube of the Foley catheter has been known to bend or twist, abrading the skin of its user. It happened to Sisco’s husband, to such a severe degree that it created a one-inch incision that caused him intense pain. With even the slightest movement, the torquing tube caused his skin to further erode. Moti ..read more

A new medical device called Simplify® recently received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This device is a cervical artificial disc meant to serve as an implant for people who whose existing cervical disc have become too narrow, causing pain in their spinal cord. This implant is placed into a patient’s spine through cervical disc arthroplasty, which originally began to be practiced by physicians in the 1960s. Since its inception, this procedure has seen many improvements in terms of the technology utilized and improvement towards the health and mobility of patients. Mo ..read more

Technology has come a long way in the past hundred or so years, as artificial intelligence, computers, and advanced imaging have brought new ways of thinking to the medical world. Today this innovation and invention seems so commonplace that we may not realize the impact it has had on the world of medicine and humanity. The COVID-19 pandemic also forced pharma and healthcare to grow by leaps and bounds to care for affected patients around the world. Vaccines and treatments were invented and improved faster than ever before in the race to combat the virus, showing us how important it is to kee ..read more

The current (and future) pandemics are telling reminders of the importance of “air” to the human condition. COVID-19 and other airborne viruses are terrifying proteins which invade our lungs and affect our ability to breathe.     When this happens, hospital operating rooms rely on advanced automated ventilator machines to help our loved ones breathe by getting oxygen into the lungs and removing carbon dioxide. These “breathe delivery technologies” are marvels of modern science, first made possible by aviator and inventor, Dr. Forrest Bird, who studied the breathing issues o ..read more

The current pandemic outbreak has forced some inventors to lament their lack of will in getting their ground breaking ideas patented in the years prior to the outbreak.   This includes an enterprising medical scientist, Veronica Beckeo who previously came up with the idea for  buckets fitted with taps for handwashing everywhere. The crafty device is perfectly suited for far-flung rural areas where running water is a scarcity.  Amazingly, she came up with the idea over 30 years ago in Ghana. Her prototype has found its way churches, schools and hospitals across  several African companies. The b ..read more

In an age where technologies converge and companies constantly re-invent themselves, Dyson has signaled its intent to be a front-runner, with a new patent for air-purifier headphones that include a face mask. With the coronavirus recently causing world-wide alarm as it approaches pandemic levels, Dyson confirmed the mask will limit the spread of flu viruses. Whether it will be 100% effective against the coronavirus is not yet known but the engineering team will obviously work towards that goal as they scope out final designs before heading into production. This makes it a breakout advice for a ..read more

A chance meeting between a customer service specialist and an orthopedic surgeon several years ago has coalesced into a powerful, privately-held medical 3D printing company that’s using its patent portfolio to reshape the way patients approach knee, back and spine surgeries. Thinking Robot has risen from obscurity to recently announced plans to build an $84 million manufacturing facility in the United States focusing on 3D printed-implants for patients suffering from joint-injuries or diseases related to the effects of aging. An engineering conference brought together founders Kendall Joudrie ..read more

My recent keynote address to The Gathering of Healthcare Simulation Technology Specialists (SimGHOSTS) offered additional opportunities for me to review some breakthrough inventions in this arena, including a patent-pending on an Ultrasound Training Simulator (OTS) capable of producing realistic and anatomically true images of live tissue in the eye. Falling under a branch of medicine termed ocular ultrasound, it received high praise from SimGhosts for the inventors’ approach to utilizing 3D models for teaching ultrasound technicians’ ocular (eye) angles, pressure, rotation, and other motor sk ..read more

An innovative team of medical device entrepreneurs operating out of Miami, FL, have successfully secured $1.5 million in funding for their patented Sinusleeve balloon that looks set to transform traditional Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) procedures.  One of several patents was granted several years ago for the balloon sinus dilation sleeve that targets Chronic Sinusitis, a condition affecting over 30 million people in the United States alone. The minimally-invasive ENT medical device is spearheaded by a serial entrepreneur and  ENT MD, Dr. Agustin Arrieta who owns several other medical d ..read more

Medical Inventors, sometimes a personal injury or setback can trigger the genesis of new idea that radically transforms the way we perceive – and ultimately craft – a common medical device that has been around for decades. Consider this real-life example: When Brett Adams suffered a snowboarding injury, it dawned on him that his traditional crutches needed a drastic overhaul.     Along with other students at Purdue University, his approach was to throw them away and develop hands-free crutches that allow injured people to move around with a new sense of freedom, even when obstacles abound ..read more