An interstitial fluid removal device including a first needle, a second needle, a fluid injector and an interstitial fluid extractor. The first needle is configured for insertion in a tissue of a multicellular organism to provide a fluid inlet channel. The second needle is configured for insertion in a tissue of a multicellular organism to provide an interstitial fluid outlet channel. The fluid injector is arranged in fluid communication with both a fluid source and the first needle and configured to inject a fluid in the tissue of the multicellular organism. The fluid extractor is arranged in fluid communication with the second needle and configured to extract interstitial fluid from the tissue of the multicellular organism. The fluid injector and the fluid extractor are independently and/or simultaneously operable with respect to each other.

Devices and methods for withdrawing bodily fluid from a patient are disclosed herein. A handheld device configured in accordance with the present technology can include a housing having an opening, a skin-piercing assembly located at least partially within the housing, and an actuator movable relative to the housing along a deployment direction. The skin-piercing assembly can include a skin-piercing feature and a biasing member. The biasing member can be coupled to the skin-piercing feature to bias the skin-piercing feature along the deployment direction. Movement of the actuator along the deployment direction to a predetermined position can increase a load on the biasing member to at least a partially loaded state. Movement of the actuator along the deployment direction beyond the predetermined position can release the load on the biasing member so that the biasing member actively drives the skin-piercing feature along the deployment direction.

A blood sample collection system, may include a housing, the housing including a blood collection port; and a baffle chamber; a needle formed through the housing and into the blood collection port; and a baffle formed within the baffle chamber to counteract a vacuum within a blood collection tube when pierced by the needle.

Systems, methods, and interfaces are described herein for noninvasively determining an optimal coronary sinus branch to cannulate for a medical electrical lead. One exemplary method involves applying an electrode apparatus having a plurality of electrodes to a torso of a patient. One of a right ventricular (RV) lead is introduced to a right ventricle or a right atrial (RA) lead is introduced to a right atrium. Noninvasively ultrasonic energy is introduced to a target tissue selected from a set of target tissues. In response to delivering ultrasonic energy to the cardiac tissue, a processing unit receives a torso-surface potential signal from each of a plurality of electrodes distributed on a torso of a patient for the target tissue. Signals are sensed from one of the RA lead and the RV lead in response to delivering ultrasonic energy. For at least a subset of the plurality of electrodes, calculating, with the processing unit, a torso-surface activation time based on the signal sensed from the electrode. Determining whether the tissue site or the another tissue site provides optimal cardiac resynchronization.

Systems, methods, and interfaces are described herein for noninvasively determining an optimal coronary sinus branch to cannulate for a medical electrical lead. One exemplary method involves applying an electrode apparatus having a plurality of electrodes to a torso of a patient. One of a right ventricular (RV) lead is introduced to a right ventricle or a right atrial (RA) lead is introduced to a right atrium. Noninvasively ultrasonic energy is introduced to a target tissue selected from a set of target tissues. In response to delivering ultrasonic energy to the cardiac tissue, a processing unit receives a torso-surface potential signal from each of a plurality of electrodes distributed on a torso of a patient for the target tissue. Signals are sensed from one of the RA lead and the RV lead in response to delivering ultrasonic energy. For at least a subset of the plurality of electrodes, calculating, with the processing unit, a torso-surface activation time based on the signal sensed from the electrode. Determining whether the tissue site or the another tissue site provides optimal cardiac resynchronization.

Disclosed is an ex vivo method for detecting plural predefined oral biomarkers within biological material present in a human oral cavity when oral cancerous activity is present in said cavity, the method comprising the steps of: i) providing a solid support for accepting a sample of biological material from the oral cavity; ii) transferring a sample of the biological material to the solid support, iii) performing one or more ex vivo plural assays to detect the presence of said plural biomarkers on the solid support, in the form of one or more nucleic acid sequences, and/or one or more proteins, and/or one or more enzymes indicative of said oral cancerous activity. A sample swab 10 suitable for use with the above methods is disclosed also.

A sensor insertion device includes: a housing; a needle member comprising a needle portion configured to be inserted in the living body with a sensor and to be movable in the housing in an insertion direction and a pulling-out direction; a first urging member configured to urge the needle member in the insertion direction to move the needle member to a first position; a second urging member configured to urge the needle member in the pulling-out direction to move the needle member that has reached the first position to a second position; and a switching mechanism configured to perform selective switching from movement of the needle member by an urging force of the first urging member to movement of the needle member by an urging force of the second urging member when the needle member reaches the first position.

The various embodiments disclosed herein are devices that deliver electrical stimulation and/or vibration stimulation to the surface of skin in proximity to insulin injections and/or glucose testing in order to decrease or eliminate the pain of these procedures.

A blood sample collection system, may include a housing, the housing including a blood collection port; and a baffle chamber; a needle formed through the housing and into the blood collection port; and a baffle formed within the baffle chamber to counteract a vacuum within a blood collection tube when pierced by the needle.

A cannula insertion system for inserting a cannula into a blood vessel of a human or animal includes one or more sensors to provide one or more sensor signals representative for a location of the blood vessel, a processing device to determine a location of the blood vessel on the basis of the one or more sensor signals, a cannula insertion device to insert the cannula into the blood vessel, a positioning system supporting the cannula insertion device, and a control device arranged to control the positioning system to position, on the basis of the determined location of the blood vessel. The one or more sensors include a contact sensor to be placed on a target area of the skin of the human or animal to enable measurement with the contact sensor. The cannula insertion system includes a coupler liquid application device to apply contact liquid to the skin.