Recent Patents on Biomedical Engineering (Discontinued) - Volume 3, Issue 2, 2010

In a recent paper published on Lancet, Learmonth defined total hip arthroplasty (THA) “the operation of the century” [1]. Since the first prostheses in 1960s, advances in bioengineering technology have driven development of hip arthroplasty; in fact better materials and designs have increased the range of motion with enhanced stability and very low wear. With these technologies today, hip arthroplasty is safe and effective not Read More

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) have been under investigation during the past decade for an array of applications due to their unique and versatile properties. Recent advances have facilitated the development of numerous SWCNT-based biomedical technologies. Consequently, there has been a worldwide surge in published patent applications and issued patents on SWCNTs. The focus of this review is to summari Read More

X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCi) has been the hottest topic in x-ray imaging for over a decade. The excitement originates from the way in which image contrast is generated in XPCi, as this arises from the phase changes that x-rays undergo when crossing an object instead of relying on x-ray absorption. As a consequence, the contrast of all image details is highly enhanced, and features classically considered invisible bec Read More

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, accounting for more than one third of all deaths. In heart failure patients, progressive impairment in the ability of the heart to effectively pump blood to the body is caused by adverse remodeling, scar formation and loss of cardiomyocytes. In the past two decades, new bioengineering strategies to counteract the effects of heart fai Read More

Chest drainage systems have been used routinely in patients following cardiac and thoracic surgeries, as well as patients suffering from chest trauma and lung disease. Maintaining the patency of chest tubes is vital so that one can evacuate abnormal collections of air and fluid from the pleural/mediastinal spaces and prevent hemothorax or pneumothorax; however, many surgeons report clogging or kinking of chest tub Read More

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. These recent patents are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by medical imaging, bioinformatics, image processing, biomaterials, pharmaceutical drugs, bioengineering, medical devices, design, biological devices, biomechanics & diagnostic devices related to biomedical engineering.