The incidence of surgical site infections (SSIs) is estimated to exceed 290,000 cases per year, and costs can range from $11,874 to $34,670 for inpatient hospital services. Studies have demonstrated a link between SSI rates and airborne bacterial counts in the OR. Some facilities have used trained observers to monitor…

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Editor's Note A proposed international standard, “WK33006, Guide for Impingement Testing of Total Disc Prostheses,” being developed by ASTM’s committee on medical and surgical materials and devices could help manufacturers improve designs for total disc replacements. The proposed standard will guide manufacturers through the process of characterizing “impingement behavior” of…

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Editor's Note Ambulatory surgery patients who received follow-up care via a mobile app had fewer in-person visits during the first 30 days after surgery, finds this study. Of 65 women having outpatient breast reconstruction surgery, 32 were in the mobile app group, and 33 were in the in-person follow-up care…

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Editor's Note A Transparency Market Research analysis predicts the global market for hip replacement implants will reach $9.1 billion by 2024, with a 3.9% compound annual growth rate, the March 17 Becker’s Spine Review reports. Fueling the growth are an expanding geriatric population, an increasing incidence of osteoarthritis, and technological…

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Editor's Note To help surgical patients recover faster, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago has started providing them with a computer app that prompts, monitors, and encourages activities that promote healing. The app, called “SeamlessMD,” can be downloaded to a patient’s smartphone, tablet, or computer and is part of Rush’s…

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Editor's Note Robotic cholecystectomy was associated with greater operative times but with similar safety and outcomes as conventional laparoscopic cholecystectomy, in this study. The analysis included 13 studies involving 1,589 cholecystectomy patients (921 laparoscopic, 668 robotic). Operative time for the robot-assisted procedure was 128.0 minutes vs 115.3 minutes for laparoscopic.…

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Editor's Note Researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, have invented a new $500 surgical instrument that is vying to replace the $2 million deVinci robot for minimally invasive surgery. FlexDex, a mechanical platform that mounts to the surgeon’s arm, enables the tip of an instrument to mimic…

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Each year, more than 700,000 patients in acute care hospitals fall prey to healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), and approximately 75,000 hospitalized patients die from them. Such statistics have gotten the attention of regulatory agencies that are determined to reduce these numbers. The Healthcare-Acquired Infections and Medical Technology Stakeholder Event held in…

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Editor's Note The Advanced medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) in a February 8 press release linked medical technology job losses to the Affordable Care Act’s medical device tax. The US medical technology industry lost nearly 29,000 (7.2%) jobs from 2012 to 2015 while the 2.3% medical device tax was in effect,…

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Editor's Note Advances in diagnostic imaging technology have resulted in more trauma patients being diagnosed with blunt cerebrovascular injuries, which has resulted in a significant decline in stroke and mortality, this study finds. From 1985 to the end of 2015, the percentage of blunt trauma patients diagnosed with blunt cerebrovascular…

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