The April 29, 2021 online edition of MPO (Medical Product Outsourcing) magazine features 5 Guidelines for Productizing an Optically Based Medical Device written by Brian King, Principal Optical Systems Engineer at StarFish Medical.
Sub-headed Pitfalls most relevant to optical medical devices, but many are applicable to medical devices without optics, the article highlights pitfalls most relevant to optical medical devices, but many are equally applicable to medical devices with no optics other than indicator lights—or even devices with no optics at all.
King notes, “Optical techniques are core to many of today’s medical devices—from pulse-flow oximeters to laser scalpels, and OCT retinal imagers to fluorescence-guided surgery. They will be core to tomorrow’s emerging technologies. I’ve seen highly successful optical efforts and few pitfalls that appear time and time again along the path to a successful product.”
His concluding comments reiterate the value of following these guidelines, “Most of the above advice is just good practice. However, it’s remarkable how easy it is for a team member or whole team to lose sight of this in the furor of the design cycle. Keep them constantly in mind, and your road to a successful product will be a far less rocky one.”
Brian King is Principal Optical Systems Engineer at StarFish Medical. Previously Manager of Optical Engineering and Systems Engineering at Cymer Semiconductor, Brian was an Assistant Professor at McMaster University. Brian holds a B.Sc in Mathematical Physics from SFU, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.