In the "Global Ophthalmic Devices Market, Major Deals, Trends, Key Players Analysis, Recent Developments - Forecast to 2025" report, the market is predicted to reach $65 billion by 2025. Used in the identification and treatment of ocular defects or deficiencies and eye disorders, ophthalmic medical devices are designed for diagnostics, surgical, and vision correction purposes and are continuously gaining increased importance and adoption due to the high prevalence of various ophthalmic diseases such as glaucoma, cataract, and other vision-related issues.

1. Vision care segment dominated overall ophthalmic devices market
2. Surgical instruments devices held the second highest share of overall ophthalmic devices market
3. Diagnostic & monitoring expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period
4. Contact lens held the largest share of the ophthalmic devices market
5. Cataract surgery devices accounted for second-highest share of the total ophthalmic devices market
6. Retinal surgery devices – third largest product segment of the ophthalmic devices market in 2018
7. Global market for fundus cameras valued at $430 million in 2018
8. Global optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanner market poised to grow at a CAGR of around 9.5% during through 2025
9. Global cataract surgery devices market projected to reach $9 billion mark by 2025
   

From January to June 2019, the North American robotics market is up 7.2%, with companies ordering 16,488 robots, valued at $869 million. These numbers were reported by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), part of the Association for Advancing Automation.

The largest driver of the year-to-date growth was an 83% increase in units ordered by automotive OEMs. Other industries that saw increases include semiconductor and electronics (12%), life sciences (8%), and food and consumer goods (3%).

In Q2, North American companies ordered 8,572 robots, valued at $446 million, a growth of 19.2% in number of robots ordered, and a 0.6% boost in dollars compared to the same period in 2018.

Scientists at Texas Heart Institute (THI) report they have used biocompatible fibers invented at Rice University in studies that showed sewing them directly into damaged tissue can restore electrical function to hearts. 

"Instead of shocking and defibrillating, we are actually correcting diseased conduction of the largest major pumping chamber of the heart by creating a bridge to bypass and conduct over a scarred area of a damaged heart," says Dr. Mehdi Razavi, a cardiologist and director of Electrophysiology Clinical Research and Innovations at THI, who co-led the study with Rice chemical and biomolecular engineer Matteo Pasquali.

© Texas Heart Institute | www.texasheart.org

"Today there is no technology that treats the underlying cause of the No. 1 cause of sudden death, ventricular arrhythmias," Razavi says. "These arrhythmias are caused by the disorganized firing of impulses from the heart's lower chambers and are challenging to treat in patients after a heart attack or with scarred heart tissue due to such other conditions as congestive heart failure or dilated cardiomyopathy."

Results of the studies on preclinical models appear as an open-access Editor's Pick in the American Heart Association's Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. The association helped fund the research with a 2015 grant.

The research springs from the pioneering 2013 invention by Pasquali's lab of a method to make conductive fibers out of carbon nanotubes. The lab's first threadlike fibers were a quarter of the width of a human hair, but contained tens of millions of microscopic nanotubes. The fibers are also being studied for electrical interfaces with the brain, for use in cochlear implants, as flexible antennas and for automotive and aerospace applications.

The experiments showed the nontoxic, polymer-coated fibers, with their ends stripped to serve as electrodes, were effective in restoring function during monthlong tests in large preclinical models as well as rodents, whether the initial conduction was slowed, severed or blocked, according to the researchers. The fibers served their purpose with or without the presence of a pacemaker, they found.

In the rodents, they wrote, conduction disappeared when the fibers were removed.

© Credit: James Philpot/Texas Heart Institute | www.texasheart.org

"The reestablishment of cardiac conduction with carbon nanotube fibers has the potential to revolutionize therapy for cardiac electrical disturbances, one of the most common causes of death in the United States," said co-lead author Mark McCauley, who carried out many of the experiments as a postdoctoral fellow at THI. He is now an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

"Our experiments provided the first scientific support for using a synthetic material-based treatment rather than a drug to treat the leading cause of sudden death in the U.S. and many developing countries around the world," Razavi adds.

Many questions remain before the procedure can move toward human testing, Pasquali says. The researchers must establish a way to sew the fibers in place using a minimally invasive catheter, and make sure the fibers are strong and flexible enough to serve a constantly beating heart over the long term. He said they must also determine how long and wide fibers should be, precisely how much electricity they need to carry and how they would perform in the growing hearts of young patients.

"Flexibility is important because the heart is continuously pulsating and moving, so anything that's attached to the heart's surface is going to be deformed and flexed," notes Pasquali, who has appointments at Rice's Brown School of Engineering and Wiess School of Natural Sciences.

"Good interfacial contact is also critical to pick up and deliver the electrical signal," he says. "In the past, multiple materials had to be combined to attain both electrical conductivity and effective contacts. These fibers have both properties built in by design, which greatly simplifies device construction and lowers risks of long-term failure due to delamination of multiple layers or coatings."

Razavi notes that while there are many effective antiarrhythmic drugs available, they are often contraindicated in patients after a heart attack. "What is really needed therapeutically is to increase conduction," he said. "Carbon nanotube fibers have the conductive properties of metal but are flexible enough to allow us to navigate and deliver energy to a very specific area of a delicate, damaged heart."

Rice alumna Flavia Vitale, now an assistant professor of neurology and of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Pennsylvania, and Stephen Yan, a graduate student at Rice, are co-lead authors of the paper.

Co-authors are Colin Young and Julia Coco of Rice; Brian Greet of THI and Baylor St. Luke's Medical Center; Marco Orecchioni and Lucia Delogu of the Città della Speranza Pediatric Research Institute, Padua, Italy; Abdelmotagaly Elgalad, Mathews John, Doris Taylor and Luiz Sampaio, all of THI; and Srikanth Perike of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Pasquali is the A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, a professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of chemistry.

The American Heart Association, the Welch Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the National Institutes of Health and Louis Magne supported the research.

I have always been intrigued with 3D printing and its impact on everything from medical implants to jet engines. So, when I read about some projects taking place at NC State’s Center for Additive Manufacturing and Logistics (CAMAL) – in collaboration with GE Additive, General Motors, and Siemens – I had to share (read more here).

As the news about NC States, “What began as an endeavor to explore 3D-printed medical implants has grown into a multidisciplinary hub pushing the boundaries of everything from manufacturing to medicine to plant science.”

© NC State | https://www.camal.ncsu.edu

And in other news….

Digital technology & manufacturing

What is digital transformation’s impact on manufacturing? Close to $642.35 billion by 2025, according to analysis by Adroit Market Research. Technologies such as Industry 4.0, Cloud, mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) are the key enabler of digital transformation (DX) in the manufacturing sector.

The report shares that on the geographical front, North America dominated the global digital transformation with almost 34.4% market share. The global market size for digital transformation in manufacturing was valued at $220.90 billion in 2018 so it’s growth to $642.35 billion by 2025 will be at a compound annual growth rate of 14.3%.

Why?

• Competitive pressure in manufacturing
• High emphasis on reducing cost of operations
• Evolution of Industry 4.0
• Adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) 

Shriners Hospital and scoliosis device gets FDA approval

© Shriners Hospitals for Childre | https://www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org/shc

The Tether, a medical device for treating scoliosis, received FDA approval. Providing an alternative that both corrects the curve and maintains flexibility in the spine, the Tether uses methods and techniques developed by medical staff of Shriners Hospitals for Children – Philadelphia. It’s the first commercially available product used specifically for VBT, anterior vertebral body tethering, a surgical procedure for patients with scoliosis who meet very specific criteria.

How it works
Instead of using metal rods, VBT uses a strong, flexible cord to gently pull on the outside of a scoliosis curve to straighten the spine. A screw is placed in each vertebra of the curve and then attached to the flexible cord with the spine in a straighter position. Scoliosis progression is stopped, the spine is realigned and can continue to grow, and flexibility is maintained. As the child grows, it is anticipated that curve progression will be halted and the spine will remain straight.

The Tether straightens the spine using the patient’s growth process. The pressure from the cord slows the growth on the tall side of the vertebra, so that the short side can grow and catch up. This novel technology allows for both correction and continued motion at the levels of the spine treated, unlike fusion surgeries. As an emerging treatment for a small patient population, this system is being made available through the FDA’s humanitarian device exemption (HDE) pathway.

Learn about Tether and more medical advancements from Shriners Hospitals for Children.

And if you’re just jumping on the website this weekend, here are some of the top read articles from last week:

• Solar Atmospheres donates Mentor Furnace to Lehigh University
  
• Exoskeleton guide aims to help assess usefulness, usability (Video)
  
• 25 years in medical device manufacturing
  
• Balluff Configurator Tool simplifies building machine vision system