Prosthetic News and Research

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Prosthetic (Prosthesis) devices, such as an artificial leg, that replace a part of the body. Prostheses are typically used to replace parts lost by injury (traumatic) or missing from birth (congenital) or to supplement defective body parts. Inside the body, artificial heart valves are in common use with artificial hearts and lungs seeing less common use but under active technology development. Other medical devices and aids that can be considered prosthetics include artificial eyes, palatal obturator, gastric bands, and dentures.

Scientists develop series of heart valve replacements to implant host cells into lambs

Combining tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, scientists have fabricated a series of heart valve replacements with the ability to incorporate host cells, enabling them to regenerate and grow over time.

18 Mar 2021

Researchers test cutting-edge 3D scanners to help improve prosthetic limb design

Cutting-edge 3D scanners have been put to the test by researchers from the University of Southampton and partners Exceed Worldwide to help increase the quality and quantity of prosthetics services around the world.

17 Mar 2021

$Hospital charges increasing more rapidly for hip fracture patients than surgeon reimbursements$

Hospital charges increasing more rapidly for hip fracture patients than surgeon reimbursements

In recent years, hospital charges and Medicare payments for patients with hip fractures have increased much more rapidly than charges and payments for orthopaedic surgeons, reports a study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

17 Mar 2021

Computer vision and deep-learning AI combined in self-walking robotic exoskeletons

Robotics researchers are developing exoskeletons and prosthetic legs capable of thinking and moving on their own using sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

15 Mar 2021

New type of surgery can help amputees better control their residual muscles

MIT researchers have invented a new type of amputation surgery that can help amputees to better control their residual muscles and sense where their "phantom limb" is in space.

15 Feb 2021

Newly designed Biomesh minimizes postsurgical complications of hernia repair

Hernias are one of the most common soft tissue injuries. Hernias form when intra-abdominal content, such as a loop of the intestine, squeezes through weak, defective or injured areas of the abdominal wall.

25 Jan 2021

European researchers build Virtual Physiological Human to improve cardiovascular care

European researchers have been building the Virtual Physiological Human (VPH), a full computer model of the body. Through this process, an EU-funded project focused on improving cardiovascular care, and several key results are now being implemented by industry.

19 Jan 2021

Neurofeedback helps leg amputees to perceive the prostheses as lighter

Transmitting sensory signals from prostheses to the nervous system helps leg amputees to perceive prosthesis as part of their body.

8 Jan 2021

New results challenge prevailing dogma regarding brain plasticity following limb loss

Advances in neuroscience and engineering have generated great hope for Luke Skywalker-like prosthetics: robotic devices that are almost indistinguishable from a human limb.

23 Dec 2020

FDA approves first implant system for adults who have above-the-knee amputations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the Osseoanchored Prostheses for the Rehabilitation of Amputees (OPRA) Implant System, the first implant system marketed in the U.S. for adults who have transfemoral—or above-the-knee—amputations and who have or are anticipated to have rehabilitation problems with, or cannot use, a conventional socket prosthesis.

18 Dec 2020

Antifungal drug improves key biomarkers in the noses of patients with cystic fibrosis

A drug widely used to treat fungal infections improved key biomarkers in lung tissue cultures as well as in the noses of patients with cystic fibrosis, a clinical study by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Iowa found.

17 Dec 2020

Sensory stimulation improves perception of phantom limbs, leads to better muscle movement

A significant amount of research and development has gone into creating sophisticated prosthetic limbs and learning how to effectively control them.

8 Dec 2020

Patients' own stem cells can be used to grow new bones, study shows

A new, groundbreaking study from the University of Bergen shows that a patients' own stem cells can be used to grow new bone.

16 Nov 2020

Researchers develop low-cost, customizable, self-locking upper limb prosthesis

Upper limb forequarter amputations which involve the removal of the entire arm and scapula require highly customized prosthetic devices that are expensive but yet, usually underutilized due to their high maintenance and low comfort levels.

27 Oct 2020

Scientists engineer tissue grafts for personalized joint replacement

The temporomandibular joint (TMJ), which forms the back portion of the lower jaw and connects your jaw to your skull, is an anatomically complex and highly loaded structure consisting of cartilage and bone.

14 Oct 2020

Researchers examine different brands of impression materials for border molding in denture fabrication

An edentulous jaw is a condition where either the upper (maxilla) or the lower (mandible) jaw is missing all teeth. In medical practice, it could be treated by placement of a complete denture.

7 Oct 2020

Study reports a drop in Medicare reimbursement rates for orthopedic trauma surgery

The amount Medicare reimburses for orthopedic trauma surgery has fallen by nearly one-third over the past two decades, reports a study in the Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma.

21 Sep 2020

First 'plug and play' brain prosthesis demonstrated in a person with paralysis

In a significant advance, UC San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences researchers working towards a brain-controlled prosthetic limb have shown that machine learning techniques helped an individual with paralysis learn to control a computer cursor using their brain activity without requiring extensive daily retraining, which has been a requirement of all past brain-computer interface efforts.

7 Sep 2020

Prosthetic breast reconstruction outcomes do not deteriorate over time, shows study

Breast reconstruction is an important option for women undergoing mastectomy, and a two-stage approach using implants is by far the most common reconstruction technique.

28 Aug 2020

NIST study advances exoskeleton research

A shoddily tailored suit or a shrunken T-shirt may not be the most stylish, but wearing them is unlikely to hurt more than your reputation.

21 Aug 2020