K2M, Inc. has announced the launch of the TERRA NOVA^® Minimally Invasive Access System and the SERENGETI^® Disposable Kit at the North American Spine Society (NASS) 2009 Annual Conference. TERRA NOVA is a minimally invasive spine-based access system used in conjunction with K2M’s revolutionary SERENGETI percutaneous retractor. TERRA NOVA has the potential to minimize tissue disruption by utilizing a small incision and muscle splitting technique.

Covidien has launched Mallinckrodt TaperGuard and TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tubes. The TaperGuard line of endotracheal tubes incorporates a taper-shaped cuff made from polyvinylchloride. The TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tube additionally provides for secretion drainage through an integrated suction lumen. As a result, the TaperGuard Evac endotracheal tube is associated with a reduction in ventilator-associated pneumonia. Microaspiration refers to the entry of foreign material into the respiratory tract.

An experimental test, which involves placing of six electrodes around the forehead and on the earlobes, can accurately predict within a week whether a particular antidepressant will be effective by using brain-wave patterns on an EEG. The lead author of the study and professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, Dr. Andrew Leuchter, said that until now there had been no reliable method for predicting whether a medication would lead to a good response or remission. The test can be performed in 10 to 15 minutes in any office setting.

Walkaide, a new device offered by Sierra Prosthetics-Orthotics, can improve walking ability. The Walkaide simulates the typical nerve-to-muscle signals in the leg and foot, causing the foot to lift at the appropriate time in the walking cycle. It uses sensor technology to analyze the movement of the legs and feet and consists of a battery-operated electrical simulator, two electrodes and electrode leads. It attaches to the leg below the knee and minimizes the effects of foot drop, which is caused by a spinal-cord injury or disease that interrupts the natural nerve-to-muscle messages in the leg, causing the foot to drag when walking.

National Institutes of Health U.S. researchers have developed a hand-exercising robotic device that appears to help stroke victims recover motor skills, even more than six months after a stroke. Brain scans suggested that the device, which patients squeeze with their stroke-afflicted hands, boosted activity in the part of the brain that handles use of the hands. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, trailing only heart disease and cancer, and a leading cause of severe long-term disability. An estimated 700,000 cases of stroke are diagnosed in the country annually.

AbsolutelyNew, Inc., has signed an exclusive licensing and manufacturing deal with inventors Dr. Stephen Landy of Memphis, TN and Brand Griffin of Huntsville, AL.  The Headache Reliever(TM) band invented by the company will be available in the market by early 2009. The product is clinically proven to reduce tension and migraine headache pain without drugs and their side-effects. It does this via a pressure band that gently compresses blood vessels, reusable and microwavable hot packs, freezer-friendly cold packs that cool and constrict blood vessels.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared US Spine’s Preference 2 Complex Spine System™ for use in the United States. With this approval, US Spine makes an entry into the deformity and trauma market. Designed by some of the leading spine surgeons for the treatment of complex spinal conditions, the system is featured by a number of new components that include hooks, screws and rods. The anchoring implants in the system are featured by Helical Flange® Closure mechanism that reduces cross threading drastically and eliminates head splay.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared Neuronetics, Inc.’s NeuroStar Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) system for treating Major Depressive Disorder in adults whose condition did not improve by the intake of minimally effective dose of an antidepressant. A non-systemic and non-invasive solution for depression, the NeuroStar TMS device delivers magnetic pulses to stimulate nerve cells of that area of the brain which is associated with depression. Patients do not need to be anesthetized and the whole outpatient procedure is over in 40 minutes.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Life Recovery Systems‘ ThermoSuit(R) System, a rapid patient cooling device for use in a clinical study of patients suffering from traumatic brain injury. Till now, the system has been in use to induce rapid cooling of heart patients only.The study which will be conducted at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston will investigate whether the induction of hypothermia will result in higher number of patients coming up with good outcomes at six months and 12 months after injury as compared to patients who were randomized to normothermia.

Researchers at Barrow Neurological Institute (St. Joseph’s Hospital) and the Montreal Neurological Institute recently carried out a pilot study which suggests that a certain type of MRI scanning can proactively detect whether a patient is failing brain tumor treatment. It assesses the response before symptoms appear. Patients with recurring malignant brain tumors received scans through an imaging device known as MR spectroscopy. This device identifies metabolic changes. The study concluded that the use of metabolic imaging can identify chemical changes earlier than the technology of structural imaging such as CT scan or a conventional MRI. This imaging can be done frequently. It is non-invasive and poses no radiation hazards.