10 Biomedical Advances That Will Blow Your Mind

With the exponential increase in technology that we’ve seen over the past twenty years, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer volume that is at our disposal. With this increase in technology, there has been an equivalent increase in medical breakthroughs. As these breakthroughs take place, new requirements are set for these products in how they are manufactured and tested. There has been a particular increase in the field of bioburden testing, which measures the presence of microorganisms on a medical device.

Although microbiological tests like bioburden may seem over the top, many new biomedical devices are implants, which require the highest level of testing on account of their intimate contact with the patient’s body. Read on to find out what these biomedical creations entail.

BrainGate

#1: Brain Implants

A more recent trend in bioengineering is brain implants. Over the past couple of years, bioengineers have been able to develop implants that allow quadriplegics to use a robotic arm to perform small tasks like eating and drinking. Dubbed Braingate, this new technology requires some training for patients to use, but growth is still continuing to take place on the project.

Another type of brain implant that has taken root over the last year is a microchip to help people with epilepsy. This chip would detect brain activity that indicates a seizure is about to begin and send a small electrical pulse through the brain to nip the seizure in the bud. The process not only prevents seizures from happening, but is more accurate in determining when a seizure is going to take place, preventing unnecessary treatments.

The revolutionary gut-on-a-chip is only a couple of inches in length.

#2: Microchips that mimic organs

Over the past few years, scientists have been developing organs “-on-a-chip” to mimic the various aspects of a human organ. First focusing on the lung-on-a-chip, scientists have now embarked on the gut-on-a-chip and the spleen-on-a-chip. The gut-on-a-chip is made of a silicon polymer implant that has a layer of human intestinal epithelial cells for a membrane. It can mimic food moving through the digestive tract and blood flow. The gut-on-a-chip is expected to provide a solution for intestinal diseases like Crohn’s disease.

#3: Tissue Engineering

At Duke University Hospital, the first bioengineered blood vessel was successfully implanted. The blood vessel was made from donated human cells, which were placed in a solution with nutrients and allowed to grow around a mesh tube structure. The whole growth process takes several months after which it’s implanted into the patient’s body. This can help victims of kidney failure and other vascular diseases.

Tracheas made from a combination of plastic and stem cells have also been developed in recent years, providing a cure for victims of lung cancer. Tissue engineering is a burgeoning field with numerous other discoveries in just the past few years alone.

#4: Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion

This process allows donated organs to be cleansed of injuries and infections so that they can actually be used in transplants. There is always a shortage of transplant organs available, but this process would increase the number by 40%. The process has been approved in Europe and Canada, and is waiting on approval from the FDA for American use.

Connie Culp was one of the first patients in the US to receive a full face implant in 2008.

#5: Full Face Transplant

In 2005, the first full face transplant was performed in Spain to repair a man’s nose, lips, teeth, and cheekbones. Since then, the full face transplant has become an accepted practice for people who have experienced severe facial injuries. The most intensive part of the process comes after the surgery, when patients have to relearn how to exercise and use their facial muscles. Because of the exercise necessary to regain full facial functions, victims who have been blinded cannot receive the full transplant. Without their sight, they cannot watch in the mirror to relearn how to gain facial movement.

Bionic limbs have more specific movements that allow a person to grip things.

#6: Bionic Limbs

Bionic limbs have been designed for many different patients in recent years involving iPad apps, blue-tooth technology, and 3-D computer models. These limbs have improved in their ability to fit to the patient’s joints, using computer technology to do so. With the accompanying technology, bionic limbs can perform movements that are impossible to do with prosthetics.

#7: Targeted Cancer Therapy

These are therapeutic drugs that focus on killing the cancerous cells in a patient’s body, rather than killing cells indiscriminately, like chemotherapy does. Fifteen different drugs have been approved by the FDA, which focus on breast cancer, leukemia, lung cancer, colon cancer, kidney cancer, and other different types of cancer. Many more different treatments are currently in the clinical phase.

This illustration shows the position of the neurostimulator in relation to the nerves it affects.

#8: Neuromodulation Therapy for Migraines

Migraine headaches plague many millions of Americans on a regular basis, which has created a desperate need for some type of relief. The problem with using various pain relievers is that they can actually create a nerve block, which requires repeated treatment with less effectiveness.

Neuromodulation uses an implant placed near the culprit nerve center, which can send stimulation through the nerve to prevent headache pain. The patient controls the implant with a remote that they can trigger when they feel a headache starting. The treatment has already been approved in Europe, and is currently undergoing clinical trials in the United States.

#9: Modular Stents for Aneurysms

Aortic aneurysms can cause almost instant death, but in patients prone to aneurysms, a stent can be grafted into their aorta, to reduce pressure on the vessel. Over time, the aneurysm shrinks back a regular blood vessel size. Customized endografts can now be delivered for patients that weren’t suitable for the regular procedure, making the stents that much more effective in treatment.

#10: Smart Phone Medical Apps

With the advent of smart phones, there of course have been numerous attempts at making them useful in a medical setting. In particular, there are two different apps that have made a positive impression on the medical field:

• Thermodock: This app uses an infrared device that plugs into your smart phone to measure temperature. This can be especially useful for anyone that doesn’t want to have to deal with germs, as you just have to hover the device over the person to read their temperature.
• iSp02: This is an app that can be useful in situations that require finding out a person’s vitals without a nearby physician. It measures oxygen, pulse rate, and perfusion index with a sensor that you slip onto your finger. The app is most applicable to those who pursue extreme sports, or who participate in skiing, snowboarding and other outdoor activities.