McSleepy in action at McGill
Photo credit: Photo: McGill University |
"McSleepy" poised to transform anesthesiology
MONTREAL — The fully automated anesthesia system dubbed "McSleepy" recently made it through its first surgery without manual intervention, announced researchers at McGill University in May. This virtual anesthetist observes biological data from the patient and administers narcotics accordingly. It's even capable of detecting when its own monitoring goes awry. Despite this initial success, though, developers estimate it'll take another two years to perfect the system.
It slices, it dices
Photo credit: PEAK surgical |
Out with the old scalpel
NEW ORLEANS — It sounds like a scene out of Star Wars: to test-drive the PlasmaBlade researchers used the handheld device's plasma-emitting blade to slice through flesh like butter. In tests they found that the tool combines the precision of the scalpel with the hemostasis achieved with traditional cautery, and does all this without the thermal damage caused by electrosurgery, they announced at an obstetrics conference in May. However, the PlasmaBlade, developed by PEAK surgical, won't be on the market anytime soon — it's still undergoing pre-clinical studies.
|
