Most people in medtech know of Earl Bakken’s contributions to pacemakers and cardiac rhythm devices, but without Otis Boykin, pacemakers wouldn’t have the pacing technology they do today. Boykin, an African-American inventor and engineer, had a special interest in resistors. His mother died from heart failure when he was 1 year old. Thirty-one years later, […]
pacemakers
The grim stories behind seven of medtech’s worst failures
Medical devices save or restore thousands of patient lives every year, but the dark side to medtech innovation is increasingly drawing attention. For all the good the industry does, it’s worth remembering that the costs can be high – even fatal – when medical device companies don’t get things right. The examples range from women […]
17 black innovators who made medtech better
From cardiology to endoscopy to blood transfusion, African Americans have played an important role as innovators in the history of medicine and medtech. To help mark African American History Month, here’s a look at some of their greatest achievements. Here are 17 black innovators who have made discoveries and invented devices to make medtech better. […]
9 battery and power source advances you need to know
In the drive toward tinier implantable medical devices and wearable health sensors, battery and power source technology has been a major stumbling block. As experts noted in a discussion about battery technology during DeviceTalks Minnesota in June, battery innovation in the field is especially slow. Going too fast has its risks, too. Case in point […]
Battery-free pacemaker successfully powers the heart
A wireless, battery-free pacemaker has shown success in powering the heart in pig models, according to researchers from Rice University and Texas Heart Institute. The pacemaker, designed by lead researcher Aydin Babakhani, gets its energy wirelessly from radio frequency radiation that gets transmitted wirelessly from an external battery pack from a few centimeters away. Get […]
9 cardiology breakthroughs you need to know
Cardiology breakthroughs couldn’t come soon enough because heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the U.S. About 610,000 Americans die of heart disease per year, and an additional 735,000 Americans suffer from a heart attack. The statistics terrify. About 610,000 Americans die of heart disease per year, and an additional […]
