ASSESSING THE VALUE OF INNOVATIVE MEDICAL DEVICES AND DIAGNOSTICS: THE IMPORTANCE OF CLEAR AND RELEVANT CLAIMS OF BENEFIT.

Objectives: Large numbers of new medical devices and diagnostics are developed and health services need to identify which ones offer real advantages. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has introduced a system for assessing technologies that are often notified by companies, based on claims made for their benefits to patients, the National Health Service, and the environment.

Methods: Detailed scrutiny of claims made for the benefits of products and the corresponding evidence, seeking associations between these and the selection of products for full evaluation to produce NICE guidance.

Review of the role of NICE in promoting the adoption of innovative cardiac technologies.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Medical Technologies Evaluation Programme (MTEP) promotes the adoption of innovative diagnostic and therapeutic technologies into National Health Service (NHS) clinical practice through the publication of guidance and briefing documents. Since the inception of the programme in 2009, there have been 7 medical technologiesguidance, 3 diagnostics guidance and 23 medtechinnovation briefing documents published that are relevant to the heart and circulation. Medical technologies guidance is published by NICE for selected single technologies if they offer plausible additional benefits to patients and the healthcare system.

A NEW HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT SYSTEM FOR DEVICES: THE FIRST FIVE YEARS.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to review 5 years of activity from a new system devised by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), for assessing medical devices and diagnostics aimed at identifying and speeding adoption of technologies with clinical and cost advantages, compared with current practice in the United Kingdom healthcare system.

Methods: All eligible notified technologies were classified using the Food and Drug Administration and Global Medical Device Nomenclature nomenclatures. Decisions about selecting technologies for full assessment to produce NICE recommendations were reviewed, along with the reasons given to companies for not selecting products.

A portable instrument for high-speed brain function imaging: FEITER.

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) can resolve dynamic physiological information deep within human subjects [1], but its sensitivity is challenged in the case of imaging the head [2]. Here, we report a new system called fEITER that has been designed and built to enable functional imaging of the human brain using EIT via scalp-mounted electrodes, integrated with stimulation of evoked responses. Using Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, it provides excellent flexibility in terms of current-pattern excitation and signal processing.

A study of composite electrode-tissue impedance.

Electrical impedance tomography has been used in the medical environment for many years. Recently it has been used for brain function imaging. This type of technology uses a large number of electrodes on the scalp, examples in the literature ranging from 8 to 64.