What you're about to read below is a nanoportion of noteworthy medical device and technology innovations that occurred this past year as reported in (where else?) Medical Design. These and more are a mouse click away at www.medicaldesign.com (see Back Issues). As you and your colleagues continue to innovate in 2010, we encourage you to contact us with your advancements for possible inclusion in future issues of Medical Design or the Medical Edge e-newsletter. Together, we will continue to move the device market forward.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

• Heartworks animated 3D CAD model of the human heart by a team of UK doctors is so realistic, its four chambers beat in the same asymmetrical rhythm as a real heart. (Jan/Feb, p 10)

• Impact laproscopic surgical tool by Covidien, Boulder, CO (covidien.com), lets doctors cut and fuse tissues using the same instrument. It also can be used to grasp and divide tissues. (March, p 31)

• Robotic surgical assistance system for treating prostate cancer is under development at Johns Hopkins University. The system, placed between the legs of the patient, positions the needle height and angle according to target points set by a surgeon and MRI images. (April, p 22)

• Philips Research (research.philips.com) scientists in The Netherlands are developing a localized drug-delivery system based on ultrasound and microbubbles (gas-filled spheres of biodegradable material) that are partially filled with cancer drugs and injected into the bloodstream and carried to the site of the tumor. Once at the tumor, the microbubbles will be ruptured by ultrasound pulses and the drugs will be released. (May, p 36)

• A UK R&D effort shows design changes made to centrifugal blood pumps could reduce the total cost of these life-saving devices by as much as 95%. The pumps currently cost $68,000. Prototype incorporates a hybrid electromagnetic drive-bearing system, together with a hydrodynamic bearing. (June, p 16)

• High-definition imaging lets surgeons document procedures with ease. The DRSHD system by Med X Change, Bradenton, FL (medxchange.com), captures HD video and still images from an HD endoscope camera. (Sept, p 38)

• Stretchable electronics that allow for the twisting and manipulation of circuits have been developed by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. The technology is expected for use in such applications as wearable health monitors and microfluidic devices. (Sept, p 18)

• Nanoscale DNA sequencer is being developed by IBM. The technology is expected to drive down the cost of personalized genetic analysis. IBM scientists are drilling nanosized holes in computer-like chips and passing DNA strands through them in order to read the information contained within their genetic code. (Nov, p 4)