Browse Topic: Medical equipment and supplies
The increased functionality of today’s medical devices is astounding. Optical devices, for example, analyze chemicals, toxins, and biologic specimens. Semiconductor devices sense, analyze, and communicate. Microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices utilize inertial methods to detect motion, direct light, and move components over short distances. Radiofrequency (RF) devices communicate wirelessly to other devices directly and remotely over the Internet. Handheld acoustic devices scan the body and build a virtual 3D model that shows conditions in the body. The innovation currently happening in the medical device industry is staggering, limited only by imagination and finding technical methods to implement the vision.
University of Liège Liège, Belgium
Researchers have developed a 3D microprinted sensor for highly sensitive on-chip biosensing. The sensor, which is based on a polymer whispering-gallerymode microlaser, opens new opportunities for developing high-performance, cost-effective lab-on-a-chip devices for early disease diagnosis.
Researchers have developed a soft, thin-film auditory brainstem implant (ABI). The device uses micrometer-scale platinum electrodes embedded in silicone, forming a pliable array just a fraction of a millimeter thick. This novel approach enables better tissue contact, potentially preventing off-target nerve activation and reducing side effects.
Researchers have developed a handheld device that could potentially replace stethoscopes as a tool for detecting certain types of heart disease.
Researchers have created a groundbreaking prototype for a new kind of leadless pacemaker designed for both children and adults. The innovative micropacemaker would be the first fully leadless system to be placed in the pericardial space surrounding the heart. That would allow the device to be implanted in a minimally invasive way in children and those with congenital heart disease, while also providing a lower-risk leadless pacemaker option for adults.
Engineers have developed a smart capsule called PillTrek that can measure pH, temperature, and a variety of different biomarkers. It incorporates simple, inexpensive sensors into a miniature wireless electrochemical workstation that relies on low-power electronics. PillTrek measures 7 mm in diameter and 25 mm in length, making it smaller than commercially available capsule cameras used for endoscopy but capable of executing a range of electrochemical measurements.
When it comes to technology adoption, the healthcare industry is historically risk averse. Despite strict regulations protecting patient data and concerns over medical outcomes, a new report from Mordor Intelligence reports that the global market for wireless portable medical devices is expected to exceed $31.4 billion this year. 1 The same report projects 12.14 percent compound annual growth through 2030 to meet the demands of a burgeoning geriatric population for wearable and implantable devices and in-home vital signs monitoring.
Pulsed-field ablation (PFA) has dominated the medical device news in recent years, yet it is only one modality among many in the world of ablation therapies, and while groundbreaking, it is limited to a few diseases. It’s time to broaden the conversation and highlight the myriad innovations in ablation technology transforming medical practice.
Engineering precision is an art of nuance — especially when it comes to selecting the right bearing for medical devices. What begins as a straightforward specification process quickly becomes a complex yet familiar puzzle of competing requirements. Oftentimes, engineers discover that a bearing’s performance extends beyond its basic dimensional specs, involving considerations of material properties, system integration and supply chain dynamics.
EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
As medical technologies continue to evolve, the demand for miniaturized components with tight tolerances and high performance is accelerating. Meeting these requirements calls for advanced manufacturing methods that can deliver both precision and scalability. One process rising to the challenge is micromolding — a technology that is quietly powering some of the most significant advances in modern medical devices.
Mini organs are incomplete without blood vessels. To facilitate systematic studies and ensure meaningful comparisons with living organisms, a network of perfusable blood vessels and capillaries must be created — in a way that is precisely controllable and reproducible. A team has established a method using ultrashort laser pulses to create tiny blood vessels in a rapid and reproducible manner. Experiments show that these vessels behave just like those in living tissue. Liver lobules have been created on a chip with great success.
A pacemaker is a small device that helps control your heartbeat so you can return to your normal life. It has three main parts: a pulse generator that creates electrical signals, a controller-monitor that manages these signals, and leads that deliver the signals to the heart. One key benefit of the pacemaker is its strong titanium casing. Titanium is very strong and lightweight, and it is biocompatible, meaning it works well with the body without causing harmful reactions. This metal is highly resistant to corrosion, which helps keep the casing intact and protective even when exposed to bodily fluids.
The global medical device manufacturing industry is undergoing a rapid transformation driven by technological innovation, automation, and increasing demands for customized, high-quality care. For engineers at the heart of medtech manufacturing, understanding the latest technologies is crucial not only for maintaining competitiveness but also for ensuring regulatory compliance, improving time to market, and optimizing production workflows.
At a time when medical technology is advancing rapidly, the demand for precision in manufacturing has never been greater. The medical device industry is pushing the boundaries of design, requiring components that are not only smaller and more intricate but also biocompatible, reliable, and capable of meeting stringent regulatory standards. To address these challenges, manufacturers are increasingly turning to photochemical etching (PCE) — a process that is proving indispensable in high-precision medical applications.
Biomedical metal implant materials are widely used in clinical applications, including dental implants, hip replacement, bone plates, and screws. However, traditional manufacturing processes face limitations in meeting customized medical needs, internal structural control, and efficient material utilization. For example, when producing complex-shaped titanium alloy parts using conventional methods, the material consumption ratio is as high as 10:1–20:1, leading to significant material waste.
In the highly regulated world of medical device manufacturing, post-production cleaning is essential for ensuring safety, compliance, and best performance. Beyond removing surface contamination, it must address intricate geometries, sensitive materials, and strict industry standards. Effectively managing these challenges is key to meeting regulatory requirements and ensuring reliable device function.
Not only the use, but also the wearing time of medical wearables continues to increase in modern healthcare. However, to ensure that wearable products do not cause skin irritation, product designers must consider the moisture vapor transmission rate (MVTR) during development. It plays an important role in skin compatibility and wearing comfort — and can be decisively influenced by the right joining technology.
A continuous effort to improve reliability and efficiency of processes is at the forefront of any successful business. One methodology that can have a crucial impact in this effort is Lean Six Sigma (LSS), which aims to reduce variability and wasteful activities within a company’s processes, in turn leading to improvements in areas such as customer satisfaction, employee morale, regulatory compliance, and profitability. In the medical device industry, where a seemingly minor error could be life-threatening, LSS can play a pivotal role in patient safety. This article presents a case study illustrating the benefits of LSS for a medical device manufacturing company, as well as one of its key customers.
A team of researchers has developed self-powered, wearable, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based contact layers for monitoring cardiovascular health. TENGs help conserve mechanical energy and turn it into power.
Manufacturers in all industries rely on networks of specialized suppliers to effectively source the components they need to serve their customers. Trust, reliability, and consistency are important — and for producers of medical devices, these qualities are especially critical, given the often life-saving nature of their end-use products.
The promise of additive manufacturing (AM) in the medical device industry has always been clear, the ability to create intricate geometries, patient-specific implants, and previously impossible structures. The reality, however, is far less inspiring. Often, manufacturers believe they are designing for AM, but in truth, most have only scratched the surface of what is possible. They are working within the confines of traditional design principles and are often defaulting to software-driven solutions, believing these tools will carry them across the finish line.
An invention that uses microchip technology in implantable devices and other wearable products such as smart watches can be used to improve biomedical devices including those used to monitor people with glaucoma and heart disease.
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and sensor fusion drive robotics functionality across many applications, including healthcare. Ongoing innovations in high-speed connectivity, edge computing, network redundancy, and fail-safe procedures crucial to optimizing robotics opportunities. The emergence of natural language processing and emotional AI functionality are poised to propel more intuitive, responsive, and adaptive human-machine interaction.
Researchers from Skoltech and the University of Texas at Austin have presented a proof-of-concept for a wearable sensor that can track healing in sores, ulcers, and other kinds of chronic skin wounds, even without the need to remove the bandages. The paper was published in the journal ACS Sensors.
University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Every year, more than 5 million people in the United States are diagnosed with heart valve disease, but this condition has no effective long-term treatment. When a person’s heart valve is severely damaged by a birth defect, lifestyle, or aging, blood flow is disrupted. If left untreated, there can be fatal complications.
You can probably complete an amazing number of tasks with your hands without looking at them. But if you put on gloves that muffle your sense of touch, many of those simple tasks become frustrating. Take away proprioception — your ability to sense your body’s relative position and movement — and you might even end up breaking an object or injuring yourself.
Medical equipment designers rely on rupture disk devices for pressure relief and pressure release of gases and liquids for essential diagnostic, life safety, and analytical instrumentation. However, the challenge of time faces medical device OEM product designers; how do we get a custom solution in an acceptable timeframe?
Research engineers are developing smart implants that can both monitor and promote healing in fractured bones. When installed at the fracture site, these implants, which are constructed using shape memory alloys, can stiffen or relax in a continuously controlled manner that optimizes bone healing.
Engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.
A team of engineers is on a mission to redefine mobility by providing innovative wearable solutions to physical therapists, orthotic and prosthetic professionals, and individuals experiencing walking impairment and disability. Co-founded by Ray Browning and Zach Lerner, Portland-based startup Biomotum, aims “to empower mobility by energizing every step” through their wearable robotics technology.
Researchers at University of Galway have developed a way of bioprinting tissues that change shape as a result of cell-generated forces, in the same way that it happens in biological tissues during organ development.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development.
Researchers are developing soft sensor materials based on ceramics. Such sensors can feel temperature, strain, pressure, or humidity, for instance, which makes them interesting for use in medicine, but also in the field of soft robotics.
On December 13, 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) of their final approval of the MDIC Report on the MedAccred Accreditation and Audit Program for Contract Sterilizers (Final Report). FDA inspections of firms, such as contract sterilizers, are pursuant to Title 21-Food and Drugs, Chapter 9 – Federal Food, Drug, and Devices, Part A-Drugs and Devices, Section 21 USC 360: Registration of producers of drugs or devices, Subsection (h) Inspections.1 The FDA notification is the culmination of a pilot study initiated by the Performance Review Institute (PRI) in 2023 in collaboration with MDIC and the FDA to evaluate PRI’s MedAccred Sterilization Audit and Accreditation Program of contract sterilizers. The agency confirmed that MedAccred is as an acceptable audit approach that may be leveraged for regulatory purposes as well as supplier oversight.
Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) is a widely recognized additive manufacturing method that is highly regarded for its ability to create complex structures using thermoplastic materials. Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) is a highly versatile material known for its flexibility and durability. TPU has several applications, including automobile instrument panels, caster wheels, power tools, sports goods, medical equipment, drive belts, footwear, inflatable rafts, fire hoses, buffer weight tips, and a wide range of extruded film, sheet, and profile applications.. The primary objective of this study is to enhance the FDM parameters for TPU material and construct regression models that can accurately forecast printing performance. The study involved conducting experimental trials to examine the impact of key FDM parameters, such as layer thickness, infill density, printing speed, and nozzle temperature, on critical responses, including dimensional accuracy, surface quality, and mechanical
The emergence of data-driven healthcare promises predictive and preventive care through enhanced data integration and analytics. This trend means that medical device companies must navigate challenges related to data privacy and operational efficiency while transitioning to a data-centric approach. Artificial intelligence (AI) is spearheading this shift toward hyper-personalized medicine, enabling precision treatments based on genetic profiles and predictive analytics for early disease detection. Advancements in telemedicine, AI, wearable technology, and data analytics, are reshaping how care is delivered, making it more accessible, personalized, and efficient in 2025.
The use of platinum-iridium (PtIr) alloys for pins and electrodes in medical devices is growing substantially in applications such as cardio and neuromodulation devices. In this article, pens are defined as those used in feedthroughs for ceramic implants, generally straight wire with specific cutoff features on the ends, and electrodes are defined as those providing direct electrostimulation to tissues, which are essentially wires that have additional features machined into them. The benefits and features discussed herein, using additive manufacturing (AM), also apply to other types of PtIr components, where the end pieces can be fabricated from different preforms besides wires. The ongoing miniaturization of implantable and insertable devices is magnifying the need for controlling the bulk metal material consistency. Cost is always an important issue as well.
In the holiday movie The Grinch, makeup artists are reported to have spent several hours each day encasing Jim Carrey’s face with prosthetics to create the iconic grumpy, green-furred creature. Such elaborate prosthetics, often made possible by materials like silicone rubbers, may have now found an unexpected yet beneficial biomedical engineering application, according to a new study from Texas A&M University.
Two years ago, a medical professional approached scientists at the University of Tabriz in Iran with an interesting problem: Patients were having headaches after pacemaker implants. Working together to investigate, they began to wonder if the underlying issue is the materials used in the pacemakers.
In recent years, metal additive manufacturing has emerged as a transformative technology, impacting traditional manufacturing processes across industries. Its ability to create complex geometries and customized parts with unprecedented precision has propelled it to the forefront of innovation in engineering and design. However, when compared to traditional manufacturing techniques, materials produced through 3D printing often exhibit inferior fatigue properties under cyclic loading conditions. This discrepancy significantly limits their widespread application as structural load-bearing components. The challenge lies in addressing the poor fatigue properties commonly attributed to the presence of micro voids induced during the current printing process procedures. Improving the fatigue performance of 3D printed materials and components has thus become a crucial research focus.
Researchers have helped create a new 3D printing approach for shape-changing materials that are likened to muscles, opening the door for improved applications in robotics as well as biomedical and energy devices.
A team led by Emily Davidson has reported that they used a class of widely available polymers called thermoplastic elastomers to create soft 3D printed structures with tunable stiffness. Engineers can design the print path used by the 3D printer to program the plastic’s physical properties so that a device can stretch and flex repeatedly in one direction while remaining rigid in another. Davidson, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, says this approach to engineering soft architected materials could have many uses, such as soft robots, medical devices and prosthetics, strong lightweight helmets, and custom high-performance shoe soles.
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