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.