__ The anatomy of medicine's newest inventions. __
"Hear that slight change in my voice?" asks Gregg Hartenstine. "That's a 1.75-milliamp electrical current coming into my neck - every five minutes I get 30 seconds of that."
On March 5, 1998, doctors implanted a NeuroCybernetic Prosthesis System from Cyberonics (www.cyberonics.com) in Hartenstine's chest to control the epileptic seizures that had besieged him 5 to 15 times a week for the past 20 years. Since undergoing an hour-long operation to place an electrode on the vagus nerve in his neck and a pulse generator in his chest, however, Hartenstine hasn't experienced any full-blown seizures.
Hartenstine is one of more than 1,300 people fitted with the Cyberonics device since its 1997 début. But more important, he's one of millions of individuals benefiting from the deluge of new medical devices - implants, surgical tools, and diagnostic machines - hitting the market. Here's a head-to-toe sampling of modern medicine's brave new world.
Dr. D2
Intuitive Surgical has developed robotic arms - up to 20 times more precise than the human hand - that maneuver inside a patient and are controlled remotely by the surgeon. During an operation, the system translates what the robotic arm sees and feels into visual and tactile feedback.
www.intuitivesurgical.com
Trick Knees
Torn knee cartilage doesn't self-repair. Fortunately, Genzyme has found a way to regrow cartilage by first removing the cartilage cells from the knee, then placing them in a proprietary solution that stimulates growth. The new cells are inserted in the knee and automatically stop growing once the repair is complete.
www.genzyme.com
Erector Set
Impotence threatens 70,000 men undergoing prostate surgery each year. UroMed's CaverMap helps surgeons identify - and avoid cutting - the tiny nerves responsible for raising the flag. With CaverMap, surgeons probe tissue around the prostate. When the penis begins to rise, they know they've hit a nerve.
www.uromed.com
If The Hip Fits ...
Getting a running shoe that fits is important; getting a hip replacement that fits is essential. With MedModeler by Stratasys, a computer takes CAT-scan or X-ray images or MRIs, converts them into CAD format, and then cuts thin plastic sheets, which are stacked to create a custom-made 3-D mock-up of the new hip.
www.stratasys.com
Dress Rehearsal
Endoscopy lets doctors view hard-to-reach places in the body (colon, lungs, stomach). But even the tiniest camera can be blocked by a sharp curve in a passageway. Siemens Medical Systems's 3D Virtuoso software pieces together a series of 2-D images to create virtual fly-through tours of a patient's innards.
sms.siemens.com
Womb With A View
SonoSite's 6-pound handheld ultrasound machine lets EMTs scan a pregnant woman at the scene of an accident for injury to the fetus. Since ultrasound images are inscrutable to the untrained eye, SonoSite will couple the device with a satellite link to send images to in-hospital OB/GYNs for analysis.
www.sonosite.com
The Last Shot
Aviron's FluMist, a nasal spray that delivers a flu vaccine to the upper respiratory tract, spares squeamish patients the needle. Another device, being developed by Sontra for diabetics, uses 20-kHz sound waves to monitor blood-sugar levels without drawing blood.
www.aviron.com; Sontra: +1 (617) 499 2928
Speakeasy
Each year, 10,000 Americans suffer permanent damage to their voice due to stroke, cancer, or traumatic injury. Providing hope, Smith & Nephew offers vocal implants. The surgeon chooses from a number of prefabricated sizes and inserts one through a hole in the thyroid cartilage. When the fit is right, the new voice speaks for itself.
www.smith-nephew.com
Seeing The Light
Johns Hopkins researchers have built an implant that restores vision by sending wireless images from an eyeglass-mounted camera to electrodes implanted in the retina. The electrodes convert images into electrical impulses, which are picked up by the remaining retinal cells. The brain transforms the messages into images - albeit low res - just as it does for a healthy set of peepers.
hopkins.med.jhu.edu
One Lens Fits All
Adaptive Eyecare has crafted eyeglasses that can be self-adjusted to fit almost any prescription. The lenses - filled with an inert silicon oil - can be manipulated with a small pump. When the world comes in focus, the correction is complete.
+44 1865 279503
The Power of Concentration
Accuray's CyberKnife uses intermittently captured X-ray images to track the precise location of a tumor during surgery and automatically focus the radiation beam. Not only can patients get treatments over the course of several days - instead of a harrowing 12-hour procedure - but the beam itself can pinpoint very small tumors located close to easily damaged nerves or arteries.
www.accuray.com
Helping Hand
NeuroControl's Freehand System helps quadriplegics regain basic finger movement. Consisting of a stimulator in the chest and a series of electrodes wired under the skin, Freehand is controlled by an external sensor and processor that gauges the patient's shoulder position and directs electrodes along the arm and hand to contract paralyzed muscles accordingly.
www.neurocontrol.com
