It’s not just women who are the losers following the latest TGA announcement. People with all types of medical devices need better regulatory protection.
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The proposed Australian ban of some types of breast implants is too little, too late. It also reveals regulatory failures that need to be fixed if Australian consumers are to be protected.
Nearly all medical product recalls are voluntarily issued by firms, instead of mandated by the FDA.
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Every year, thousands of medical devices and drugs are recalled in the US. But the decision to recall a flawed product is often left up to the manufacturer.
At last count, 11% of Australian women used long-acting reversible contraception methods.
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Unlike condoms, which need to be used every time with sex, or the pill, which must be taken every day, LARC doesn’t require any action after placement in the body and is immediately reversible.
Advances in technology mean it’s now possible to 3D print everything from prosthetic limbs to skin, bones and organs.
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Who should be legally responsible when 3D printed devices fail? Proposed changes to the Therapeutic Goods Administration’s regulatory framework have the potential to settle that question.
Biomedical innovations can work with traditional methods like x-rays to guide doctors’ decisions.
Reuters/Adriane Ohanesian
African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. Suitably skilled biomedical engineers are needed for this sort of innovation to take root.
Biomedical engineering involves the application of engineering solutions to medical problems. Employment in the field is projected to grow 23 per cent from 2014 to 2024.
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One professor explains how war in Iran led her to a career in biomedical engineering - a rapidly growing field that offers students exciting opportunities to serve humanity.
Australia’s medical regulator needs to do more about cybersecurity.
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Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration must learn to deal with software rather than simply bits of metal and plastic.
Embedded medical devices will continue to be vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. The pacemaker depicted is not made by Abbott’s.
REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
BCI devices that read minds and act on intentions can change lives for the better. But they could also be put to nefarious use in the not-too-distant future. Now’s the time to think about risks.
Hundreds of women have complained of adverse reactions from transvaginal mesh implants.
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Regulatory bodies approved some medical devices to treat pelvic organ prolapse and urinary incontinence before having data to prove their safety and efficacy.
Will your cellphone be able to communicate with bacteria in your body?
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New research works out how to translate between the language of biology – molecules – and the language of microelectronics – electrons. It could open the door to new kinds of biosensors and therapeutics.
Advertisements for complementary medicines don’t always reflect what’s in the bottle.
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If your health practitioner has used a syringe, pacemaker, dental filling or joint implant to treat you, you’ve encountered a product from the medical technology industry.
Preterm babies are at significant risk of health and development problems, highlighting the need to get prevention strategies right.
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New research has found a commonly used method of preventing early or pre-term birth (delivery of a baby before 37 weeks) may in fact be causing more to occur, and leading to further problems.
The brain implant sends signals to anything from a bionic prosthetic limb, to a full body ‘exoskeleton’
Rex Bionics
Starting with Karl Marx, many thinkers have pointed out that the creative potential of the capitalist economic system comes at a cost – the lack of inherent ethical scruples to limit the inexorable logic…
Saving the heart with a plastic coat.
Jim Waddington
Every year thousands of people are fitted with artificial heart valves to replace their own malfunctioning valve. Many of these patients, however, have to remain on drugs that stop blood clotting on these…
Professor of Bioethics & Medicine, Sydney Health Ethics, Haematologist/BMT Physician, Royal North Shore Hospital and Director, Praxis Australia, University of Sydney
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne