Six Questions for Francisco Pinedo

Six Questions for Francisco Pinedo
VA hospital chief of prosthetics
Image

Sam Morris



By Megan McCloskey

Mon, Dec 15, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Francisco Pinedo, chief of prosthetics at the VA hospital, lost part of his right arm in an ambush in Iraq when he was a 25-year-old Army staff sergeant. Now he is in charge of equipping veterans with prostheses such as hearing aids, implants and artificial limbs.

How did you lose your arm?

On one side of the Tigris River in Mosul, the insurgents would fire off mortars. Our job as infantry was to ambush them. The insurgents learned they couldn’t damage our vehicles, so they started going after people poking up from the hatch. One day they placed explosives on a telephone pole at that height, and it got me. I immediately knew I was going to lose my arm. I was conscious the whole time.

Would you still be in the military if it hadn’t happened?

No. There was only a few months left on my contract before I deployed, and I had a job lined up with the San Diego Police Department. I had just gotten married and my wife didn’t want to be a part of the Army life.

She told me my arm was gone. We argued about that for five minutes. I mean, I could feel it.

She told me my arm was gone. We argued about that for five minutes. I mean, I could feel it.

By Stephen Dobyns | Published Wednesday, July 9, 2008


She told me my arm was gone. We argued about that for five minutes. I mean, I could feel it.

Most stories begin with a person or an event. This one begins with a book.

Last summer I read The Brain That Changes Itself by research psychiatrist and psychologist Norman Doidge, M.D., which discusses developments in neuroscience, especially in the area of neuroplasticity. Now, if I were in a bar and the guy on the next stool leaned over and said to me what I’ve just written here, I’d give a wave to the bouncer. But hang on.

New Prosthetic Hand So Nimble an Amputee Can Type

New Prosthetic Hand So Nimble an Amputee Can Type

posted: 22 April 2008 ET


The i-LIMB has flexible hydraulic drives are located directly in the movable finger joints. Credit: Touch Bionics, Orthopedic University Hospital
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The i-LIMB has flexible hydraulic drives are located directly in the movable finger joints. Credit: Touch Bionics, Orthopedic University Hospital

The i-LIMB is nimble enough to create several common hand positions needed for gripping objects in different ways. Credit: Touch Bionics

The i-LIMB can type using the index finger, its creators say. Credit: Touch Bionics

U.S. Army Sgt. Juan Arredondo, outfitted with an i-LIMB after losing his hand in Iraq, says ht does things naturally. Credit: Touch Bionics A new prosthetic hand uses individually movable fingers to hold a credit card, use a keyboard and lift a heavy bag.

Vietnam Vet Helps Other Soldiers With Prosthetics

Vietnam Vet Helps Other Soldiers With Prosthetics
Reporting
Tom Mustin DENVER (CBS4) ― A 75-year-old Vietnam War veteran who lost his leg during heavy fighting in 1968 isn't letting his wounds slow him down. The amputee now works at the Denver VA Medical Center, helping design custom artificial limbs for fellow service members.

Sgt. Stanley Agena was in the Army during Vietnam. Now he serves in the VA Hospital's prosthetics wing.

"When I got hit, my leg was blown off, but it was barely hanging there," Agena said. "So I just ... crawling around helping the others."

Iraq War Creating Advances in Prosthetics

Iraq War Creating Advances in Prosthetics
March 24, 2008 10:10 PM EDT
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Iraq War Creating Advances in Prosthetics
The U.S. Army has helped expedite progress in getting the C-Leg to market.

Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq are getting bionic replacement parts, and the new hi-tech artificial legs are available in Las Vegas.
Dan Ramsey can relate to soldiers who have lost a limb. His own leg was blown off by a land mine in Vietnam -- an explosion that killed two other soldiers.
He's now an expert on replacements as a designer with Prosthetic Center of Excellence in Las Vegas. He says military demands speed up research and development.

Wounds of war bring home new ways of healing

Wounds of war bring home new ways of healing

Iraq War’s medical challenges spawn solutions for civilians

Eric Gay / AP file
Sgt. Tawan Williamson undewent rehabilitation therapy at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio last year. Williamson's left leg was shredded in Iraq when a bomb blew up under his Humvee in June 2006. A high-tech prosthetic leg allows him to run again.
View related photos

Day by day, images of a 4-week invasionFrom the first blasts that rocked Baghdad to the U.S. military's declaration that major combat was over, see images from every day of the conflict.

Commentary
By Dr. Edward V. Craig
Special to msnbc.com
updated 8:28 a.m. ET, Tues., March. 18, 2008

Dr. Edward V. Craig
Throughout history, the experiences of doctors in wartime have led to dramatic advances in civilian medical care.
Hippocrates, best known for the oath every graduating medical student takes, recognized this in 400 B.C. when he wrote that war was a surgeon’s best training ground. Each war has exposed physicians to injuries not seen previously, and the Iraq War — with its signature roadside bombs (in this war’s lingo “improvised explosive devices”) — is no exception.

First computer-controlled artifical leg

First computer-controlled artifical leg

February 15, 2008 | 8:09 PM

By Karina RuskSAN JOSE, CA (KGO) -- Many people who rely on a prosthetic limb have to really concentrate when they walk to prevent stumbling or falling. However, now there's a new computer-controlled artificial limb on the market, and it's one some South Bay amputees tried out Tuesday.

Imagining a bionic future

Imagining a bionic future

Prosthetics advanceResearch has yielded innovations such as thought-controlled arms and

Tues., Nov. 27, 2007

When Paul Selmer lost his right leg below the knee in a hunting accident, a doctor fitted him with a standard prosthesis that required a waist belt to swing the wooden foot with each step. Selmer remembers it feeling like a “sandbag.” ...

In February 2006 the Defense Research Advancement Projects Agency, or DARPA, committed close to $50 million to the improvement of prosthetic limbs. At the time, 387 soldiers had returned from Iraq and Afghanistan as amputees. As of October 2007, that number reached 751.

Bionics

Bionics?

New prosthetic knee joints vastly improve mobility of amputeesBy Brian Livingston
The space-age looking knee may look like something out of the Bionic Man television show but the truth is you won’t be able to leap tall buildings with it. You will, however, be able to walk with much more stability and confidence. That in itself is a major improvement for many amputees who are seeking unparalleled reliability.

New robotic arm powered by rockets

New robotic arm powered by rockets
Artificial limb is stronger and faster than commercial ones

The new rocket-powered robotic arm, shown in this diagram, is stronger and faster than the ones on the market. Here's how it works: The propellant cartridge contains pressurized liquid hydrogen peroxide, which is routed through two flexible lines (not shown) across the elbow joint and into two catalyst packs. The catalyst burns the hydrogen peroxide, generating steam that pushes pistons up and down — allowing the arm to move.

Rockets can help power robotic arms, which could help lead to "better, stronger, faster" bionic limbs, research now reveals.
A new prototype rocket-powered mechanical arm can lift about 20 to 25 pounds — three to four times more than current commercial prosthetic arms — and can do so three to four times faster.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20496850/

New Study Probes Phantom-Limb Pain Relief

New Study Probes Phantom-Limb Pain Relief
Aggressive Pain Care Recommended for Iraq and Afghanistan Amputees
CHICAGO, Feb. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Wounded veterans and others facing
limb amputations may avoid long-lasting phantom-limb pain through
aggressive pain management before and after surgery, according to a study
in The Journal of Pain.
Researchers at the University of Washington examined the impact of
intense pre-amputation pain and acute pain following amputation as
predictors of long- term pain. It was assumed pain before amputation can
produce pain 'memories' in the nervous system that persist after limb loss.
The condition is known as phantom-limb pain. Fifty-seven patients with
lower-limb amputations were evaluated. The average age was 44 and 70
percent required amputation from a traumatic injury.

A virtual take on cutting-edge medicine

A virtual take on cutting-edge medicine
Posted Feb. 26, 2007
Health Care
A virtual take on cutting-edge medicine

By David Ortiz,PBN Staff Writer
Dr. Roy Aaron recalls the first time he donned a head-mounted display – a device resembling a helmet with goggles that displays computer-generated images for the eyes – and was suddenly immersed in virtual reality.