Great British Medical Technology Design Innovations – Part 2

Last month in Part 1 of our 2-part series on medical technology design innovations, we explored antiseptic surgery, the birth of antibiotics, the discovery of DNA, the development of stem cell technology and vaccine development by Astra Zeneca.

In Part 2, we look at four modern medical device design innovations to come out of the UK that have revolutionised clinical medical procedures across the work.

New Innovations in Spinal Implants

A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge have recently used medical design technology to create inflatable spinal implants to treat severe pain. Thanks to its inflatable nature, it can change the form, allowing it to treat many kinds of back pain without the need for major invasive surgery.

Being a width of a human hair, it only needs to be inserted with a needle and treats severe pain that painkillers don’t touch. Back pain is the main cause of disability in the UK, costing health services £12 billion per year.

Cold Caps to Prevent Hair Loss

Cold caps are a lifesaver for many during chemotherapy, as they reduce hair loss by reducing the amount of blood that flows to the scalp. Paxman medical, a UK-based leading healthcare company was one of the first to come up with the idea after testing the same technology, used in beer coolers on cancer patients.

Now, Paxman have signed a five-year research agreement with the University of Huddersfield, and built a million pound a research centre for the sole benefit of creating cold cap medical technology design innovations for those with cancer.

Improvements in Same-Day Surgery

Same-day surgery was first introduced in the UK in the early 1970s and 1980s, however, there was no coordinated approach and as a result, it was often a failure. With medical technology design innovations in processes and improved surgical instruments, same-day surgery is now a great success story and very common, saving the NHS millions of pounds every year.

Drug Delivery Systems Upgraded

Drug delivery systems are medical devices used to pump a specific volume of drugs into your system. This was first developed in the 1960s, whereby a backpack was worn to deliver insulin. These devices were then made smaller over time to now today’s easily wearable pumps for delivering larger amounts of drugs, which can be more convenient than injection or other methods.

Medical Technology Design

At Cambridge Design Technology (CDT), we pride ourselves on our vast experience and knowledge of high-quality medical device design. Here are some of the medical device design projects we’ve assisted on:

• Developed a set of surgical instruments for new spinal implant technology and developed the tooling to manufacture their implants. Photo on site

• Developed a unique patented infusion technology which went on to over 250,00 installed pumps globally. Link internally to image from gallery.

• Verification work developing protocol testing, fixtures and methodologies to verify that the coldcaps don’t cause frostbite and damage skin cells.

• Assisted in the product development improvement process for an opmaster range of day surgery tables. Link to photo

How Cambridge Design Technology Can Help

We are here to help you with any of your medical product and technology needs, from early concept, to prototyping and market launch strategy. Contact our team of design technology experts today.