A wound closure system and a laser-guided needle placement technology have come under the spotlight in newly-published NICE briefings.
NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings aim to support NHS and social care commissioners and staff who are considering using new medical devices and other medical or diagnostic technologies. The information provided includes a description of the technology, how it’s used. and its potential role in the treatment pathway.
They also include a review of relevant published evidence and the likely costs of using the technology, but they are not NICE guidance and do not make any recommendations on the value of using the technologies. Whether or not to use the products described is entirely the choice of local staff.
However, the briefings will help avoid the need for organisations to produce similar information, so saving staff time, effort and resources.
The latest Medtech Innovation Briefings to be published are:
- TopClosure Tension Relief System for wound closure (IVT Medical): The TopClosure Tension Relief System is a skin-stretching system to help close medium to large soft tissue wounds. It is designed to allow skin to be stretched to reduce the tension across a wound that would otherwise be under high mechanical stress or tension during closure. For example, wounds over joints or where large areas of skin have been removed after tumour excision. Reducing tension across such wounds aims to improve primary wound closure, reduce the risk of wound failure by relieving tension on stitches, and avoid the need for skin grafts, flap closures, or internal tissue expanders. The TopClosure TRS can also act as a topical tension-relief platform for tension sutures
- SimpliCT laser-guided needle placement in interventional radiology (NeoRad): SimpliCT uses a laser beam to guide needle placement during image-guided, non-vascular procedures in the interventional radiology setting. The manufacturer claims that visualising the needle path using a laser beam instead of fluoroscopy or CT scans reduces the radiation dose for the operator and patient. SimpliCT is designed to simplify the current clinical practice of freehand needle placement and reduce the number of needle manipulations needed
NICE Medtech Innovation Briefings are commissioned by NHS England and produced in support of the NHS 5 Year Forward View, specifically as one of a number of steps that will accelerate innovation in new treatments and diagnostics.
Click here to read the latest briefings.
SimpliCT laser-guided needle placement in interventional radiology is the subject of a Medtech Innovation Briefing
