Diagnostics

The Verichip™ is the first human-implantable RFID chip and personal health record, cleared for medical use by the United States FDA. The $200 chip is about the size of a grain of rice and inserted just under the skin in the back of your right arm. The VeriMed™ Health Link system, incorporates the RFID microchip (the VeriChip), a handheld scanner and and an online, electronic, personal health record.

Recent advances mean the chips are now also able to read bio markers such as glucose levels. This enables diabetics to get live readings of their glucose levels without having to prick their fingers.

In September 2009 Verichip gained the exclusive rights from their development partner RECEPTORS LLC to use "artificial receptors” technology to develop a virus triage detection system for the H1N1 virus also known as swine flu. This technology can also be applied to detect other viruses and biological threats such as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Intel is intending to get into the health sector, and this is their latest FDA approved gadget to monitor your health. The health guide takes and checks vital signs and then sends the secured encrypted information back to doctors. Its basically a PC running windows XP thats connected to the internet - so it can also work as a video conference system.

The aim with the device is save time and money by shifting the continuous monitoring of patients with chronic health care problems, from the hospital to the home.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – New research findings out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin may help provide some direction for men diagnosed with prostate cancer about whether their cancer is likely to be life-threatening. 

In a study that appears in the February issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers confirmed their earlier findings that men who have too much calcium in their bloodstreams subsequently have an increased risk of fatal prostate cancer. Now researchers have also identified an even more accurate biomarker of the fatal cancer: high levels of ionized serum calcium. 

“Scientists have known for many years that most prostate cancers are slow-growing and that many men will die with, rather than of, their prostate cancer,” said Gary G. Schwartz, Ph.D., senior author of the study and an associate professor of cancer biology at the School of Medicine, a part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. “The problem is, how can we determine which cancers pose a significant threat to life and need aggressive treatment versus those that, if left alone, are unlikely to threaten the patient’s life? These findings may shed light on that problem.” 

Nov 2008 - Scientists at Mayo Clinic have shown a new type of imaging that can pinpoint liver fibrosis without a liver biopsy.

Until recently patients had the option of either having a biopsy or not having a biopsy and continuing to monitor over time. The new technology called magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is the ability to determine how stiff a patient's liver has become.

Clinicians receive "elastograms" that are "color-coded." Mayo had previously announced the new technique, but researchers now say they've proved the technology can recognize a wide variety of liver illnesses.

Equipment, the prototype and computer software were developed at Mayo, but it might take a couple of years before the technology is commercially available. For this reason, patients who are told they need a liver biopsy have begun seeking out Mayo for the test, Talwalkar said. It takes just seconds to perform, according to the clinic.

Meretek Diagnostics, Inc. exhibited its BreathTek UBT (urea breath test) kit at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. BreathTek UBT is the only breath test available that is FDA cleared to test for both initial diagnosis and post treatment monitoring of H. pylori infection in adults (it hasn't yet been tested enough on people under 18.)

The BreathTek UBT is to be administered under a physician's supervision. Its said that the BreathTek UBT should not be used until four weeks after the end of treatment for the eradication of H. pylori as earlier post-treatment assessment may give false negative results. The test is simple, non-radioactive, and non-invasive.

Traditionally doctors may perform an endoscopy and imaging studies to determine if a patient has an ulcer. Doctors also test for H. pylori infections because almost all ulcer patients who are not taking NSAIDs are infected. If a person with an NSAID ulcer also tests positive for H. pylori, he or she will be treated with antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Other noninvasive tests include blood tests for immune response and a breath test.

Source: Meretek Diagnostics