Technabob » surgery

Docs “Rewire” Paralyzed Man’s Hands, Restoring Limited Movement

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:00:31 +0000

Doctors and researchers are putting intense effort into researching fixes for people who have paralyzed arms and legs from accidents or degenerative conditions. A team of doctors has been able to “rewire” the hands of a 71-year-old man who lost most use of his arms after an accident that left him with a broken neck.

The surgeons took healthy nerves from the man’s body and used them to bridge the damaged nerves affecting his hands. The operation was performed at the Washington University School of Medicine, and the doctors hope that the operation could prove to be a breakthrough for people suffering from spinal cord injuries.

Once the new nerves were connected to the damaged areas, the man received extensive physical therapy. Eight months after the operation, he was able to move the thumb and fingers of his left hand, and after 10 months he was able to move the fingers of his right hand. Prior to the surgery, the man had limited movement in his arms, but lacked the ability to grasp or hold things in either hand. The man is now able to feed himself and write to a limited extent. Unfortunately, they cannot restoring truly “normal” function using this procedure. In this instance, for example, the man had to teach his mind to use a nerve that normally bends the arm and elbow to make the grasping hand movements.

[via Journal of Neurosurgery via Guardian]

Man “Recovering Well” from Most Extensive Face Transplant in History

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:00:59 +0000

An American man has had what doctors say is the most extensive face transplant in history. The man’s name is Richard Lee Norris and years ago he suffered massive facial injuries in a gun accident. The accident destroyed most of the man’s lips and nose as well as his jaw and left him with limited mouth movement and no sense of smell.

The surgery was performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and was paid for by the U.S. Navy as part of a program to develop techniques to help soldiers with facial injuries from combat recover. The surgery lasted 36 hours and gave Norris new teeth, nose, tongue, and jaw. Physicians say the man is now recovering well and has brushed his new teeth and shaved since the surgery.

As you can see from the photo above before and after the operation, the face transplant made a huge difference in the man’s appearance. Before the surgery, he lived as a recluse never leaving home. The doctor says that he’s also regained his sense of smell after the surgery. The surgery included transplanting nerves and underlying muscles as well. Norris will have to take anti-rejection medications for the rest of his life to keep his body from rejecting the transplanted tissues, but that’s a small price to pay for the amazing outcome of these modern medical efforts.

[via BBC]

Augmented Reality Mirror on the Wall, Can You Make Me the Fairest of Them All?

Hazel Chua — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:00:03 +0000

Sometimes, I wake up in the morning feeling like crap and the trip to the bathroom that follows gives rise to even more crappy feelings. A new zit forming at the tip of my nose! A new wrinkle on my forehead or near my eye (even though I’m still in my twenties)!

If you’re like me, then maybe you’ll find this electric mirror interesting, too.

This augmented reality mirror lets you edit out any imperfections and perform a few tweaks here and there on your face and mirror the results in real time as you face the mirror. Cool, right?

Maybe it’s for all the people in the world who are exceptionally grumpy in the morning or for those who are extremely critical of their own looks. Or maybe it’s for people who want to know what they might look like if they go for plastic surgery. See the face-morphin’ action in the video below…

Vlado Kitanovski and Ebroul Izquierdo of the Multimedia and Vision research group at Queen Mary, University of London, came up with this software-based mirror that takes virtual augmentation to a new level by mapping out a 3D version of your face and developing a video version where the resulting enhancements may be made, digitally.

The AR mirror will be one of the works presented at the International Conference on Image Processing in Belgium next month.

[New Scientist via Dvice]

Chinese Student Sells Kidney to Buy iPad 2

Shane McGlaun — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 13:30:35 +0000

This has to be the most extreme case of Apple fanboyitis in history. A 17-year old student from the Anhui province of China has sold one of his kidneys to get the money to buy an iPad 2. Apparently, the boy is now in poor health and regrets selling the kidney for an iPad 2. As it turns out there is no app to filter toxins from blood.

The boy sold the kidney for 20,000 yuan (~$3087 USD). He said, “I wanted to buy an iPad 2 but could not afford it. A broker contacted me on the Internet and said he could help me sell one kidney for 20,000 yuan.” The boy did have the kidney removed in a hospital, but as it turned out the hospital wasn’t approved to perform the procedure.

The hospital said they had no idea that the surgery was being performed. The boy was approached by a broker on the internet about selling the kidney without his parent’s knowledge. The police are looking for the broker but have been unable to find him.

[via Shanghai Daily]

Surgeon Uses Robotic Tools to Make Tiny Paper Airplane

Shane McGlaun — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:02:41 +0000

The techniques used in medicine today have improved greatly over the last few years. Surgeries on the heart and other parts of the body that require you to be cut open and result in a long recovery have gone away to be replaced with tiny incisions and tiny robotic surgical instruments. A surgeon has taken his da Vinci surgical robot and used it for a cool non-surgical need.

Doctor James Porter of Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center apparently wanted to show folks how much dexterity his fancy robot has, so he used the thing to fold a paper airplane that is really small. I never realized the dexterity that these robotic tools had so the good doctor has made his point. Check out the video to see all the tiny folding action.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

The little tongs get to folding like it’s no big deal. The thing that really impresses me is that the doc on the other end has enough control to get the grippers to make such precise little movements.

[via Dvice]

Technology Saves the Day in a Weird Way: Man Loses Eyesight, Doctors Restore It by Implanting His Tooth in His Right Eye

Lambert Varias — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:12:52 +0000

Martin Jones lost his eyesight about 10 years ago, when “a white hot tub of aluminum exploded in his face” while we was working at a scrapyard. Doctors had to remove his left eye, while his right eye was rendered useless because of the damage. Jones married his wife four years ago while still without eyesight. But thanks to the Sussex Eye Clinic in Brighton, Jones finally got to see his wife and scored a wicked looking right eye in the process. How? By having part of his front tooth implanted in his right eye. Go Technology go!

As you can see, Jones’ tooth serves as as a support for the lens that was created out of a patch of his skin. What’s even more amazing (for me at least) is that the procedure, developed by surgeon Christopher Liu, has actually been performed about 50 times! So Jones isn’t the only guy with the Sauron-like eye. Check out Daily Mail‘s report for more details.

[via gizmo watch]