Devices that relieve headaches and allow doctors to scan for melanoma highlight this year's Cleveland Clinic list of the top 10 medical innovations.
The winning products and procedures were chosen from 150 nominees, and the clinic's doctors said they were looking for innovative, practicable solutions--not limited just to devices or drugs, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Leading the list, in fact, was a procedure, and not a new one: The clinic voted bariatric surgery the top innovation for next year on the strength of new evidence that it can effectively treat Type 2 diabetes.
Here are the devices the clinic picked
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Autonomic Technologies--a Fierce 15 company--makes an almond-sized neuromodulation implant, inserted into the gum and activated by remote control. When patients feel a migraine coming on, they can toggle the device into action, causing it to stimulate nerves and relieve pain. The device is already cleared in Europe, and Autonomic plans to start U.S. trials next year.
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Mela Sciences' ($MELA) handheld device allows dermatologists to scan skin and identify lesions that could lead to melanoma without taking tissue samples, helping prevent unnecessary biopsies.
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Aortic-repair stent grafts, such as those made by Bolton Medical and TriVascular, can repair aneurysms in the vessel, expanding to fit patients' aortas without requiring a series of complex measurements and custom endografts.
The other winners are next-gen mass spectrometry that can identify bacteria, new drugs for prostate cancer, femtosecond laser cataract surgery, ex-vivo lung perfusion, breast tomosynthesis and the preventative medicine-focused Medicare Better Health Rewards Act.
- read the full list from the Plain Dealer
- get more from Reuters