News from ACOG: Skills Demonstration Video for the Localization and Removal of Non-Palpable Contraceptive Implants

This year’s film festival at the at American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) 2018 annual meeting at Austin, Texas offered more audience-friendly format with three 1-hour sessions with 30 minutes break in between the first 2 sessions.

The organizers reviewed 96 videos this year, and while videos about minimally invasive surgical techniques are very popular, they were outnumbered by patient education and anatomic videos.

This popular video about how to localize and remove a non-palpable contraceptive implant earned a spot among the top 3 videos.

This video was developed by Jhpiego, an international, non-profit health organization affiliated with The Johns Hopkins University for clinicians who provide implant services to be able to locate and perform a difficult removal of a deeply placed implant as well as sonographers and other healthcare providers who participate in localizing deep implants.  

 Ob/Gyn Updated Facebook page

New reabsorbable contraceptive arm implant acclaimed as one of the top Emerging Medical Innovation.

Courtesy:Hera Health Solutions

Eucontra is a resorbable contraceptive arm implant made from a biodegradable material that differs from current contraceptive implants in that it does not need to be removed when the implant’s effective period is over. It found a spot in top three Emerging Medical Innovations in the 16th Annual Design of Medical Devices Conference.

The conference was held at University of Minnesota and claimed by the organizers as the world’s largest premiere medical devices conference. Minnesota has a rich history regarding medical device innovations and a great deal of medical device technologies, particularly implantable devices, originated in this state.

Eucontra is an implant made up of electrospun poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) nanofibres and Etonogestrel that surface degrades over the three-year span that the hormone is released. It can be used with the current applicators and it is radiopaque and shows up in Ultrasound. It is 99.99% effective in preventing pregnancy.

The company, Hera Health Solutions is looking for funding to further support these designs with proof of concept and start manufacturing the product for the international market.

The current implantable contraceptive device needs to be surgically removed after 3 years when the drug runs out. Over 25 million devices have been distributed outside USA in the year 2015 and this means over 8 million implants will need to be removed surgically by 2020.

The device is often lost, migrating from the site of implant, necessitating a difficult removal and long time in operative room.

Here is a video about the new innovative Eucontra device. 

                                         Eucontra Concept