Undercover medical research

No one can say I don't put 100% of myself into my work. In preparing for this, our annual Medical Technology issue, I actually developed cholelithiasis (gall stones) and, for the first time since I was born, was admitted to a hospital — Long Island College Hospital, a part of SUNY Downstate Medical Center — for an operation.

From the emergency room, I was quickly transported to radiology where I expected I would be given some sort of X ray or MRI. Imagine my surprise, when I was wheeled up next to an ultrasonography machine. I explained to the technician that I was fairly certain I was not pregnant, which is the only instance I knew of from prior experience in which ultrasound was used. But sure enough, when she applied the wand to my torso, there was a gall stone about the size of a golf ball nicely lodged in my gallbladder.

The ultrasound specialist explained to me that diagnostic ultrasonography is being used today as an imaging technique for looking at all sorts of internal body structures: muscles, joints, internal organs, and so on. Not only is ultrasound being used for diagnosis, it is also being used theraputically, bringing heat or vibration to bear. Hence it can be used to clean teeth, treat cysts or tumors, break up kidney stones, and remove cataracts.

As October's cover article “HCC ultrasound promises to advance diagnostic clinical procedures” (by Danny Kreindler, Senior Director of Technical Marketing and FAE at Cephasonics) explains, ultrasound's potential for medical applications is now being widely explored at research institutions, particularly using multichannel ultrasound. As he says, “Ultrasound is the modality of choice due to more and better data throughput, higher-resolution imaging, decreasing cost, and less patient risk.” A few of the areas being explored are the use of two-dimensional arrays of ultrasound sensors to create highly detailed 3D images, a less painful alternative to mammography, and remote diagnosis.

Thanks to such technologies and MEMS and wireless communications, sensors are playing an ever-increasing role in medicine and healthcare. In the on-line issue, you'll find additional articles — by Freescale Semiconductor's Kavian Karimi, Executive Director – Global Strategy & Business Development, (“Sensor fusion and potential healthcare benefits“), Renesas Electronics America's Nelson Quintana, Director of Marketing (“Wireless medical device interface and security“), and Microchip Technology's Steve Kennelly, Senior Manager (“Interfacing MCUs to medical sensors“) — that give particular examples of how those technologies are changing the face of medicine.

But after spending a week in the hospital, the thing for which I was most grateful was the attention of the doctors, nurses, and orderlies who made my stay more comfortable and pleasant than I had reason to expect. On leaving, I jokingly told the staff that I planned to spend my next vacation there. The more technology can do to make it possible for patients to receive the type of individual attention I did, the more it will truly benefit all of us.