Chimaera is a held-held device that could revolutionize the delivery of miniaturized neurostimulators to specific nerves, giving many more patients access to pioneering new pain management technology. The group are looking for partners to lead product development cycle to turn Chimaera into a medical device ready for market.
The device is the equivalent of a 'concept car' that demonstrates the vision for the next generation of surgery, per Chimaera developers Cambridge Consultants. The prototype surgical tool combines preoperative CT (computerized tomography) scan data with state-of-the-art sensing technology with potential ability to carry out complex operations in the hands of many doctors.
Chimaera uses preoperative CT scan data to create a 3D X-ray image of the patient, enabling surgeons to identify critical structures such as nerves and blood vessels. The device is designed to make implanting neuromodulators to nerves much easier by integrating surgical, sensing and implant delivery functions in one intelligent device. The sensing technology of Chimaera is combined with the intraoperative data, to guide a surgeon to the precise location of a procedure, helping to ensure the surgical device stays on a predetermined safe pathway.
A surgeon can literally 'see' exactly where they are within the body at any point during an operation, using the real-time data generation designed to be used in conjunction with optical wearable technology, such as Google Inc. (GOOG-Nasdaq) glass. The implant can be deployed down the device by the surgeon, once the target nerve has reached the sensors.
Simon Karger, technology developer with Cambridge Consultants said, "Pain is simply a series of electrical signals as transmitted through the nervous system, whether that's pain from a broken leg or pain from a headache. So by putting an electrical signal directly into target nerves - in a known way, you need to understand the waveforms to put into that nerve - you're able to lessen, override or deliver particular signals which influences how your brain is experiencing things."
Per Karger, the goal at Cambridge was to figure out how neuromodulators, which measure less than a centimeter in length, could be implanted as simply and quickly as possible. The device could enable more surgeons to carry out complex operations at lower risk and with better results for patients.
Karger said, "With Chimaera, what we've done is we've combined smart sensing technology, pre-operative planning, we've taken small implant form-factors; and we've combined both implant delivery with surgical tool to provide a completely connected, unified surgical system that has the potential to take a surgery that maybe only four or five people in the world can carry out today and make it accessible to a broad cross-section of general surgeons. By doing that we make it accessible to a much, much broader patient population."
"Imagine a migraine sufferer who literally as they feel the onset of their migraine, can reach for their cell phone and dial-down the pain. That is a life-changing therapy for that patient. And crucially what it does is it changes that patient from a patient into a consumer; they don't need to feel like a patient anymore," Karger said.
Contributed by Millennium Traders
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