Science and Technology: Medical Devices (Part 2)

Medical Devices

Blood and Cell Separator (1979)

The CS-3000 system was the first automated blood and cell separator. The device was able to draw whole blood, keep the desired component, and return the remaining blood components to the donor. This product eliminated the risk of contamination associated with manual methods and enabled donors to give blood more frequently. It also made it possible for patients to receive blood from fewer donors.

Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (1980)

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An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is a small battery-powered electrical impulse generator that is implanted in patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation. The device is programmed to detect cardiac arrhythmia and correct it by delivering a jolt of electricity. In current variants, the ability to revert ventricular fibrillation has been extended to include atrial and ventricular arrhythmias as well as the ability to perform biventricular pacing in patients with congestive heart failure or bradycardia. ICDs were pioneered at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore in 1969, but it was 11 years later that a patient first received treatment. Another decade of research went into the development of an implantable defibrillator that would automatically sense the onset of ventricular fibrillation and deliver an electric counter shock within 15–20 seconds, converting the rhythm to sinus rhythm. Levi Watkins Jr., MD, implanted the first functioning device in February 1980 at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

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Intra Articular Arthroscopic Shaver System (1980)

Arthroscopic shavers are used in orthopaedic procedures to remove tissue and reshape a patient's anatomy. A surgeon may use an arthroscopic shaver to remove bone or cartilage and other soft tissue from a patient's joint, or in procedures such as septoplasty (sinus reduction). The shavers include a rotating burr housed within a rigid insertion tube but exposed to body tissue through a small aperture in the side or end of the insertion tube. Suction is applied through the insertion tube so that debrided tissue can be sucked into the tube and removed from the body. This device contributed significantly to a radical transformation of orthopaedic surgery. Prior to introduction, arthroscopy was mainly a diagnostic tool. This device was an essential development for minimally invasive orthopaedic surgery.

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Cochlear Implants (1980)

In 1980, giving deaf people the ability to hear became a real possibility. William House, MD, performed the first cochlear implant on a child using a 3M/House device. Around the same time, Australian Paul Trainor began developing a cochlear implant, known as the Nucleus Multichannel Cochlear Implant. The device was first implanted in a human in 1982. FDA approved the 3M/House device for deaf adults in 1984 and the Nucleus implant in 1985. Today, one-year-old children are eligible for cochlear implants. The Nucleus Freedom (pictured above) is the modern version of Trainor's original design. It uses an electrode to offer a finer resolution of sound, as well as a sound processor that features four computers built on a microchip. At end of 2006, FDA reported that more than 112,000 people worldwide had received cochlear implants.