{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"MedTech Speed to Data","title":"From Lab to Clinic: Building Safer Tools for Mothers and Babies: 42","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1554,"description":"In-utero procedures can yield better long-term outcomes for the baby. However, fetal surgery relies on instruments developed for other disciplines. An early-stage startup in Maryland is developing in-utero instruments to improve outcomes for both fetus and mother.Fetal Therapy Technologies CEO Selena Shirkin joins Key Tech’s Andy Rogers for Episode 42 of the MedTech Speed to Data podcast to discuss startup innovation in fetal surgery.Need to knowFetal surgeries carry risks — In addition to uterine damage complicating future pregnancies, 40% of surgeries have a risk of preterm birth.Few specialized tools are used — In the field’s forty-year history, the FDA has only approved the Karl Storz Fetoscope for use in fetal surgeries.Off-label device use is widespread — Equipment borrowed from adjacent fields like laparoscopy and neurosurgery weren’t indicated for use in the uterus.The nitty-grittyShirkin and Chief Technology Officer Eric McAlexander founded Fetal Therapy Technologies as students in Johns Hopkins University’s biomedical engineering graduate program. While shadowing surgeons, they saw how off-label instruments complicated procedures.“I watched a surgeon using a grasper and suture,” Shirkin recalled. “The suture was falling out of the grasper because they didn’t fit. It took time in the surgery to make sure that didn’t occur.”Observations like these led the team to wonder why the field lacked optimized tools. “As biomedical engineers,” Shirkin says, “we asked ourselves what if we created those purpose-built instruments that actually make these procedures safer?”They quickly ran into the commercial limits of a market as small as fetal surgery. With only one device FDA-approved for in-uterine procedures, surgeons have no choice but to use devices off-label. So Fetal Therapy Technologies is flipping the script by leveraging the broader applications of an instrument designed for fetal surgeries.“In a way, our company solves two problems at once,” Shirkin says....","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/D6hMCysuuZpZO9MQfRbgtr2o9UZ_Mtc0h1qVAxU8GII/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83MGQ2/N2MwMDdmNTRmOTRl/M2Y0MTcyNjAwN2Mz/OWRlZi5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}