The Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry revealed the winners of its eleventh annual Medical Design Excellence Awards this month. Sponsored by MD&DI and organized by Canon Communications, the prestigious award recognizes achievements of medical device manufacturers, their suppliers and the many people behind the scenes--engineers, scientists, designers, and clinicians--who are responsible for groundbreaking innovations changing the face of healthcare.

"Winners must meet extremely high-criteria in five areas," notes Steve Halasey, spokesman for Canon Communications. "An independent panel judges submissions on design and engineering innovation, user-related innovation, patient benefits, business benefits, and the overall healthcare improvement resulting from this product."

The newly-designed TONO-PEN AVIA Tonometer was this year's winner for Medical Design Excellence.
Built by Reichert, Inc. of Depew, NY, the TONO-PEN is designed to be a portable, hand-held device that can diagnose glaucoma and other intraocular pressure disorders, allowing patients to be screened wherever they are.

"The Pen is easily portable, yet loses none of the accuracy of a stand-alone fixed device," Halasey notes. "The benefits are huge for the home-bound or those in wheel-chairs or with other travel issues because there is no need for a clinic visit. Of course, there are also huge advantages for those living in poor areas that have no access to any clinics."

The TONO-PEN is designed to eliminate operator error and functions in any position, making it ideal to use on all patients. Activated by the push of a button, the IOP measurement is displayed on two large, easy-to-read LCD screens. The device utilizes micro strain gauge technology and a 1.0mm transducer tip, but with a more ergonomic design, four times longer lasting battery larger LCD screens than previous models. It also does not require daily calibration.

In all, the MD&DI Design Excellence Award jury selected 33 winners in 10 medical product categories including Critical-Care,Dental Intruments, In Vitro Diagnostics, Radiological and Electromechanical Devices and Surgical Equipment, Instruments and Supplies.

Winning products will be honored June 4 during the Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) East 2008 Conference, held at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.

More Voices