Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Technology => Topic started by: thedoc on 26/06/2012 18:31:10
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We discover a diagnostics development unit resembling that of a star-trek sick bay to monitor many aspects of your body at once...
Read a transcript of the interview by clicking here (http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/2144/)
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I think there were a few less wires in the Star Trek sickbay!!!
But, obviously technology is changing. Every ER patient is now routinely connected to an EKG, Pulse-OX monitor, and automatic BP cuff, all with alarms and central monitoring. And, I can imagine more real-time testing and monitoring being added to patient rooms in the future.
Of course in Star Trek, they just waved a tricorder in front of a patient to immediately assess all vital information. And surgery and injections were done without penetrating the skin.
I could imagine that a CAT scan or MRI might become a routine part of future admissions. And a computer could potentially do a better retina scan than a doctor is able to do, as well as saving images for future reference.
Some of the new MRI machines are much less tube-like than those in the past, but they are still a bit bulkier than the Star Trek scanners.
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.two-views.com%2Fimages%2Fopen_mri.jpg&hash=8ab0cf908c1ed28ff3711f1ed9662c2b)
I could imagine bedside labs becoming routine. Patients with a catheter should have accurate real-time monitoring of kidney function, WBC, and bacteria, without ordering labs.
Blood may still need to be taken, but wouldn't it be nice to get instant analytical results.
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If in future everyone were fitted with a biochip which continually analysed the blood, and did a DNA analysis on anything odd it saw floating around.... then the tricorder would only need a wireless receiver to pick up a patient's vital signs (and many not-so-vital signs).
A non-contact pathology lab!