Mikayla St Clair explains the positive impact laser micromanufacturing has on medtech.
As technological advances continue to be made in today's world, no field has benefited more than the medical industry. As medical science makes more and more discoveries about various diseases and conditions, innovative treatment methods are also developed. However, to put these treatments into practice with patients, they usually require the use of sophisticated medical devices. Whether it is with a diabetic, heart patient, or a person suffering from a debilitating brain injury, various devices are used today to help provide a better quality of life. While many current manufacturing processes have helped create a wide variety of devices, new technology known as laser micromanufacturing has taken development of medical devices to an entirely new level. To learn how this has occurred, here are five ways laser micromanufacturing has improved the medical industry.
Smaller medical devices
In years past when a patient needed something such as a pacemaker or insulin pump, they wound up with a device that was bulky and often very uncomfortable. Since these devices would be implanted in the patient's body, the result was constant discomfort for the price of staying alive. But as laser micromanufacturing has become more widespread throughout the medical industry, one of the most positive results has been the ability to create devices that are much smaller than previous models. As a result, a patient can have a pacemaker or other device implanted within their body and barely notice it day after day. In addition to this, the ability to create smaller devices allow for the ability to design and use devices for many procedures where it would not have been possible only a few years ago.
Quicker manufacturing process
Once a medical device is designed and ready to be manufactured and made available for use with patients, the process has often taken several years or even a decade or more. But with the implementation of laser micromanufacturing, the manufacturing process and ability to use the devices with patients has been made much faster. Prior to the use of this technology, a device would be designed and created, only to have engineers find out a certain part was not working as anticipated. When this would happen, the design and manufacturing process would have to begin anew, resulting in even longer delays for patients. But as laser micromanufacturing has been used by more companies in the medical industry, engineers and designers can now work with a greater variety of materials in creating devices, enabling them to learn much faster how well certain parts will work.
Less invasive surgery
As stated earlier, many early medical devices such as pacemakers and others were very bulky, making them very uncomfortable for patients as well as difficult to implant within a person's body. But as devices have been made smaller due to various techniques associated with laser micromanufacturing, doctors can now perform implant surgeries that are far less invasive than in years past. Because of this, patients have quicker recovery periods, less discomfort, and have devices implanted in them that are much more reliable, lessening the chances they will need to undergo additional surgeries due to device issues.
Easier to meet FDA requirements
Prior to any medical device being approved for use with patients, it must pass various requirements established by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Since these requirements are very strict, many devices often have to undergo this process multiple times before being allowed for use with patients. However, with the implementation of laser micromanufacturing techniques within more and more companies, most of today's devices can receive FDA approval much faster than only a few years ago. Since medical devices play such a large role in life and death with patients, even the slightest problem with a device can delay its FDA approval for years. By being able to use laser micromanufacturing to create prototypes, engineers can perform numerous tests on devices, make any changes they deem necessary, and then work with the FDA to gain approval as quickly as possible.
Nitinol cutting
An advanced form of laser micromanufacturing, nitinol cutting involves using high-tech lasers that can perform intricate cutting processes in very quick bursts. Used extensively on such medical items as catheters and implants, nitinol cutting is valuable in the manufacturing process for two major reasons. First, it is sensitive to thermal heat input, which allows engineers to work with a wider variety of materials during the design process. Second, it lets designers create and cut parts in many more shapes than do other manufacturing metal cutting methods, which leads to the creation of many devices that can be used for more and more illnesses and conditions.
As any doctor knows, having access to the widest array of treatment options is vital to helping patients get well and have a good quality of life. Thus, as laser micromanufacturing continues to gain in popularity with medical device companies, the medical industry is expecting tremendous new developments in the coming years. As devices can be made smaller and more precise, designers will be able to create devices that will be more comfortable, reliable, and safe for patients.
