An Anthropomorphic Soft Exosuit for Hand Rehabilitation.

Functional impairment of the hand, for example after a stroke, can be partially improved by intensive training. This is currently done by physiotherapy and the optimal intensity of hand rehabilitation programs is usually not reached due to a lack in human resources (high costs) and patients fatigue. In this work a cost-effective soft exosuit to support the hand's grasping function is presented.

Characteristic of a force sensing guide wire for minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

In minimal invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), the surgeon is missing haptic feedback of the guide wire for navigation through the vessels. A wide range of guide wires with various properties and performance characteristics are available to reduce the risk of complications during the intervention. This paper presents a force sensing guide wire for cardiac catheterization, which provides the surgeon a haptic feedback on the guide wire tip.

Miniaturized force/torque sensor for in vivo measurements of tissue characteristics.

This paper presents the development of a surgical instrument to measure interaction forces/torques with organic tissue during operation. The focus is on the design progress of the sensor element, consisting of a spoke wheel deformation element with a diameter of 12 mm and eight inhomogeneous doped piezoresistive silicon strain gauges on an integrated full-bridge assembly with an edge length of 500 μm. The silicon chips are contacted to flex-circuits via flip chip and bonded on the substrate with a single component adhesive.

Endovascular treatment of mycotic aortic pseudoaneurysms with stent-grafts.

Mycotic aortic aneurysms remain a therapeutic challenge, especially in patients who are not suitable for open surgery. Endovascular treatment with stent-grafts in this indication is still disputed. Between January 2002 and January 2006, six patients with mycotic aneurysms of the thoracoabdominal or abdominal aorta were admitted to our department.

Cement embolization into the vena cava and pulmonal arteries after vertebroplasty: interdisciplinary management.

Purpose: To report interdisciplinary management in a case of cement embolization into the inferior vena cava and peripheral pulmonary arteries after percutaneous vertebroplasty.

Case Report: A 50-year-old female patient with an osteoporotic compression fracture of the second lumbar vertebra underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty with polymethylmetaacrylate. Thereafter, CT scanning revealed small asymptomatic cement emboli in peripheral pulmonary arteries, along with a hook-shaped cement fragment in the inferior vena cava.

Surgical conversion of abdominal aortic stent-grafts--outcome and technical considerations.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of patients with stented abdominal aortic aneurysms who had to undergo open aneurysm repair with partial or total stent-graft removal.

Methods: Between October 1996 and December 2003, 117 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms underwent endovascular repair. When open surgery was necessary during the initial and same anaesthesia as stent-graft implantation, it was defined as immediate conversion.

Femoral artery infection associated with a percutaneous arterial suture device.

This is a case report of a femoral artery infection with fatal outcome after using a percutaneous suture mediated closure device: A 77-year old patient underwent diagnostic angiography of his thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm, the puncture site was closed with the Perclose system. He developed a staphylococcal femoral artery infection with groin abscess, requiring surgical intervention with debridement and removal of the Perclose suture. After stent graft exclusion of the thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysm a staphylococcal sepsis occurred and the patient died of aneurysm rupture months later despite long term antibiotic therapy.

[Dialock--an alternative to Permcath and access graft].

Purpose: An adequate vascular access is the precondition for a well-functioning hemodialysis. Due to the increasing age and the rising co-morbidity of hemodialysis patients the number of those with grafts or central venous catheters (CVC) is steadily growing. The Dialock vascular access system provides a subcutaneously implantable device for hemodialysis that combines the advantages of central venous access with percutaneous puncture.

Left subclavian artery management in endovascular repair of thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic dissections.

Purpose: The purpose is to report our experience and revise our previously published results in endovascular repair of short-necked thoracic aortic aneurysms or aortic type B dissections, in which the left subclavian artery (LSA) was occluded by the stent graft intentionally.

Methods: Seven patients with an aortic type B dissection and three patients who had a thoracic aortic aneurysm were treated endovascularly with stent grafts. In all patients the ostium of the LSA was occluded by the stent graft, only in two patients a primary, prophylactic revascularization of the LSA was performed by transposition to the left common carotid artery (LCA).