Durable Medical Equipment News

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The latest news is that an Israeli firm is set to test a new capsule endoscope in Japan. Given Imaging Ltd., maker of the PillCam series of capsule-type endoscopes, plans to conduct clinical trials in Japan of the latest version of the device for imaging of the large intestine. The company will begin trials on the PillCam COLON 2 in the Fall and expects to apply for marketing approval in 2012, aiming to commercialize the product in Japan starting sometime in 2013 or 2014.

Already the market leader in Japan for capsule-type endoscopes used to peer inside the small intestine, Given Imaging hopes to also gain the top share for such endoscopes for the large intestine. Japanese have very much adopted a more Western diet, and colon cancer in on the rise. The market for the company’s PillCam COLON 2 promises to be large since it is a welcome alternative to a colonoscopy for patients. To prepare the market, Given Imaging plans to introduce electronic learning systems and other means of educating doctors about the new product.

In other news in the US, Medtronic announces the US launch of a new inflatable bone tamp and syringe system for treatment of vertebral compression fractures – the commercial release of the Kyphon Xpander II Inflatable Bone Tamp (IBT) and the Kyphon Inflation Syringe – the Kyphon Xpander II IBT System, for the treatment of vertebral compression fractures with minimally invasive Kyphon ® Balloon Kyphoplasty. The new balloon material used in Kyphon II IBT System offers control during inflation and greater lifting force than the Kyphon Xpander IBT. It is combined with the best Kyphon Inflation Syringe, which provides ease of use to customers for use during a balloon kyphoplasty procedure. Vertebral compression fractures are the most common osteoporotic fractures with an estimated 900,000 spinal fractures occurring in the US every year. These fractures have shown to increase the likelihood of additional health problems as well as increase the risk of death.

In news of a different nature, Eugene Carragee, MD, Orthopedist and editor-in-chief of The Spine Journal and professor of orthopedic surgery at Stanford, is leading a bold move by the journal to examine how researchers who had received millions of dollars from the maker of the protein – the giant medical device maker Medtronic Inc – did not report any serious side effects, such as male sterility, urinary problems, infection, nerve and bone injury and possible cancer risks, in early published studies. While the MD isn’t looking to get embroiled in the fight, which could involve the Justice Dept and Congressional hearings, he seems unfazed by the prospect. After all, he’s treated refugees in Cambodia, served with the US Special Operations Forces in Korea and the Balkans and been wounded in Iraq. “After all,” he said, “it won’t be like the road from the Green Zone to the airport,” referring to the bomb-littered route in Basra, Iraq.