News in the world of medical equipment

Rofin is the only globally operating laser manufacturer who covers all areas of laser material processing in the medical devices industry. Rofin’s product line showcased at MedTec 2014 includes the advanced human machine interface for the popular 4-axis laser cutting system StarCut tube and the completely revised CNC laser welder Select. StarCut Tube – Next […]

Rofin is the only globally operating laser manufacturer who covers all areas of laser material processing in the medical devices industry. Rofin’s product line showcased at MedTec 2014 includes the advanced human machine interface for the popular 4-axis laser cutting system StarCut tube and the completely revised CNC laser welder Select.
StarCut Tube – Next Generation HMI

With more than hundred installations globally, ROFIN’s 4-axis laser cutting StarCut tube has set the standard for high-accuracy tube processing for medical instruments and implants for over ten years. New fields of application opened up after a newly developed tube loader and wet-cutting module were launched.

All user interface components needed during normal operation are integrated into a single screen by the new HMI. The HMI clearly shows the system status and production progress. Parameter modification and user input is restricted to certain designated fields. Until now almost all tube cutting systems have used separate user interface screens to control laser, CNC and accessories. This is no longer required with the novel StarCut Tube HMI. Figure 1 shows the StarCut tube.
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Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, in Jacksonville, Florida, have developed a laser-based device that helps Parkinson’s patients walk again. It’s a highly laser light. The disease is known to slowly destroy the brain’s ability to control the muscles, depriving the of their mobility forcing them move around in a wheelchair. Neurologist Jay Van Gerpen, of […]

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic, in Jacksonville, Florida, have developed a laser-based device that helps Parkinson’s patients walk again. It’s a highly laser light. The disease is known to slowly destroy the brain’s ability to control the muscles, depriving the of their mobility forcing them move around in a wheelchair. Neurologist Jay Van Gerpen, of the Mayo Clinic created a device that would help people walk again, the Voice of America reports. Van Gerpen calls his device ‘the mobilaser.’ A laser, attached to a walker or a cane, generates a beam of light, which provides a visual cue for patients with difficulty walking, because of a neurological disease or brain trauma.

“There is a part of the brain when you want to initiate walking in the prefrontal cortex in the basal ganglia, and if those areas get damaged then those signals don’t get to the primary motor cortex,” said Van Gerpen.

By watching the laser’s red line, the patient concentrates on a different task. That makes his brain send signals along a different path to the motor cortex, avoiding the damaged areas where those signals get jammed.

“We are capitalizing on the parts of the brain that are working quite well to help compensate for those that are not,” he said.

Van Gerpen said most of his patients improved their mobility.

Movement disorders neurologist, Dr. Bryan Klaussen with the Mayo Clinic also explained how the thing works, “It makes a line appear on the floor as they’re using their walker so they can see that and step toward it as they’re moving it’s really as simple as that.”

Klaussen said Mobilaser works because it adds a visual cue, a concept neurologists been teaching to those with Parkinson’s for years. Visual cues reroute the walking command through the brain. According to the researchers, movement we generate on our own, such as walking, goes through one stream of processing in the brain, through an area that is slowed by Parkinson’s, while movements linked to visual cues, like grabbing a cup or walking toward a line, take a different route, bypassing the trouble spot.
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With research support from the University of Central Florida, medical device startup NoNeedles Venipuncture is working to develop a new device that uses lasers instead of needles to collect blood samples. “Our design of this instrument is intended to improve the process of performing a venipuncture — such that the quality will be better and […]

With research support from the University of Central Florida, medical device startup NoNeedles Venipuncture is working to develop a new device that uses lasers instead of needles to collect blood samples.

“Our design of this instrument is intended to improve the process of performing a venipuncture — such that the quality will be better and the cost will be lower,” Calvin Wiese, president of NoNeedles Venipuncture, said in an article published recently in the magazine florida.HIGH.TECH. “We’re fairly confident that if we can get the technology to work the way we expect it to, it will be universally adopted.”

According to the article, the device fires a specialized laser beam at a section of a patient’s skin for one quadrillionth of a second. In that time, the laser creates a microscopic opening into the vein. A collection port then connects to the bloodstream, and a blood sample is gathered. To complete the process, the laser is again fired, but this time to seal the opening and ensure that no bleeding occurs.

“What excites me most about this project is to see the vast potential of lasers,” said Amezcua Correa, an assistant professor of optics at the University of Central Florida who is involved with the project. “Every day you see more applications. If you use lasers to cure some medical conditions or make common procedures easier, that’s very exciting to me.”

The new device was initially designed as a way to effectively and safely draw blood samples from people with trypanophobia — the fear of needles — according to the article.

In addition to this main function, researchers involved with the project said that the device could also carry a variety of other potential benefits.
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After several years of research and development efforts, Weber Medical is finally able to introduce the first yellow laser worldwide for the use in intravenous and interstitial laser therapy. So far, a yellow laser with 5mW 589nm is ready to be used in intravenous treatments while the one with 50mW 589nm can be used for […]

After several years of research and development efforts, Weber Medical is finally able to introduce the first yellow laser worldwide for the use in intravenous and interstitial laser therapy. So far, a yellow laser with 5mW 589nm is ready to be used in intravenous treatments while the one with 50mW 589nm can be used for interstitial treatments. The new modules can be connected to all Weber Medical ‘endolaser’ devices without any problems. Both power and frequency can be adjusted individually.

What is the yellow laser good for?

after the development of red, infrared, green and blue lasers, yellow was the last missing prismatic color
yellow additionally stimulates the mitochondrial respiratory chain at complex II (cytochromes)
yellow has an detoxifying effect
yellow has an anti- depressive effect

New findings/ indicators:

The yellow laser stimulates the strongest natural photosensitizer – Hypericin out of St. Johns wort – and is therefore the most efficient laser in photodynamic cancer therapy.
Combined with Hypericin, yellow lasers are applicable for the treatment of viral and chronical bacterial infections.
A broad range of studies shows that anti- depressive effects of Hypericin can be strengthened significantly once the impact of Hypericin is enhanced by yellow lasers. Immediate improvements of patient’s sense of well- being have been observed.
The broad theoretical knowledge about the application opportunities of Hypericin can now be implemented in practice.

The new yellow laser – first clinical results:

Strong positive (anti-depressive) effects on general mood: “many of the patients begin to laugh and speak freely […], all have less pain and more freedom of movement.”
Positive results in chronic infections (e.g. lyme disease) and fatigue syndromes
Very positive experiences in advanced lyme disease; significant improvement after few treatments (45 min. intravenous)
Good effects on several virus infections (zoster, EBV, Herpes)
Strong anti- bacterial effect
Very good results in patients with panic attacks, depression and anxiety disorders (yellow laser IV and hypericin oral; combination with Tryptophan in patients with lack of serotonin)
Promising development in patients with lack of ATP; yellow laser stimulates complex III of the oxidative phosphorylation and supports therapy with other laser wavelengths, NADH, coenzyme Q10 and carnitin
Positive effect on Multiple Sklerosis
Application in photodynamic tumor therapy (in combination with Hypericin): significant reduction of tumormarkers.
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