[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/injectable-radio.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]A possible breakthrough in implantables. How do you shrink a medical device radio enough to make it an injectable, but with a strong enough signal to reach a mobile phone? A team from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor has developed a prototype injectable radio with a tiny (1 mm) antenna (left), with an overall volume of 10 cubic millimeters (1 mm x 1 mm x 10 mm). Its signal can go a distance of 50 centimeters, including through 3 centimeters of tissue. The power source is not continuous, but builds up power over time to send a burst; the power is drawn through a photovoltaic cell sensitive to the ambient infrared light passing through the body. If it can reach production, it can be revolutionary for medical devices like pacemakers in shrinking them, and open doors for more medical implantables. IEEE Spectrum. Hat tip to Toni Bunting, TTA’s former Northern Ireland/TANN Ireland Editor.
2015: a few predictions (UK-biased)
As intimated in our review of last year’s predictions, we feel little need to change course significantly, however some are now done & dusted, whereas others have a way to go. The latter include a concern about doctors, especially those in hospitals, continuing to use high-risk uncertified apps where the chance of injury or death of a patient is high if there is an error in them. Uncertified dosage calculators are considered particularly concerning.
Of necessity this is an area where clinicians are unwilling to be quoted, and meetings impose Chatham House rules. Suffice to say therefore that the point has now been well taken, and the MHRA are well aware of general concerns. Our first prediction therefore is that:
One or more Royal College/College will advise or instruct its members only to use CE-certified or otherwise risk-assessed medical apps.
The challenge here of course is that a restriction to CE-certified apps-only would be a disaster as many, if not most, apps used by clinicians do not meet the definition of a Medical Device and so could not justifiably be CE-certified. And apps are now a major source of efficiencies in hospitals – (more…)
Most Recent Comments