News & Events: Surgical Use of Magnets

Academic hospitals have all the makings for rich medical device development. They have physicians to identify surgical needs, researchers to test theories, bioengineers to design and create devices and patients to participate in clinical trials. However, the disconnect between engineering and surgical departments makes innovation a challenge. So does surgeons' all-consuming job Number One—treating patients. Providing the Infrastructure for Surgeons to Innovate Surgical Innovations, part of the University of California, San Francisco's Department of Surgery and Bioengineering & [...]

Results from the first-in-human clinical trial of a magnetic compression anastomosis device known as "Magnamosis" were recently reported on in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.  The study, led by Principal Investigator Michael Harrison, MD, is a prospective, single-center, first-in-human pilot clinical trial to evaluate the feasibility and safety of creating an intestinal anastomosis using the Magnamosis device. Magnetic compression anastomosis (magnamosis) uses a pair of self-centering magnetic "Harrison Rings" to create an intestinal anastomosis without sutures or [...]

A novel device to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea was profiled in a recent story on ABC7/KGO News Bay Area. The technology was developed by Michael R. Harrison, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Surgery, Surgery, Pediatrics, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences and Director Emeritus of the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center. The surgery to implant the device was performed by Jolie Chang M.D., Assistant Professor in the divisions of General Otolaryngology, Salivary Gland Surgery and Sialendoscopy, Snoring and Sleep Apnea, and Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery in the Department of [...]