 |
Smart Technology: Aiding Diagnosis and Productivity
Smart technology will assist physicians in boosting their diagnostic accuracy in the future – and enhance productivity in the process.
- New technology will track the subconscious eye movements of physicians as they review images. Based on a calculation of the person's saccadic eye movement and dwell time, the technology will ask users if they want to take another look at aspects of images that appeared interesting, according to their unique eye movements, but were not marked or addressed in the original assessment of the image.
- Physician "rounds" may never be the same. With the touch of a finger, the physician's unique identification is established and the power of a PDA-size mobile imaging system is unleashed. As the doctor walks into a hospital room, the device retrieves the patient's information based on his or her identification bracelet and displays the person's medical images. On the PDA, or a larger bedside viewing device, the physician can display combined or "fused" images – such as PET and CT – zooming in on areas of interest when discussing treatment options with the patient.
- While improvements in spiral CT, high resolution MR, advanced ultrasound and other technologies produce three-dimensional pictures of anatomical and functional imaging, they are typically viewed in two-dimensional form – losing the ability to perceive depth and subtleties. New optical systems will permit physicians to view images in stereo with a huge field of three-dimensional vision, eliminating the current viewing requirement of headsets or goggles.
- With new imaging processes physicians will view combined or "fused" patient images such as CT and MRI scans along with a real-time view inside the patient. After a patient ingests a signal-emitting pill that focuses on the molecular activity of a tumor, physicians can use a handheld device to view a tumor in real-time.
Imaging on Demand
Anyone who has been pushed in a wheelchair down hospital corridors to the radiology department for an X-ray understands the amount of hospital resources consumed by a task repeated thousands of times each day across the country. Thanks to advancing technologies, obtaining these critical images is about to get faster, and a lot easier for patients. Similarly, technology innovators are harnessing the power of science and engineering to increase the productivity of the human and mechanical components of obtaining medical images.
- Picture a digital imaging detector built into a stretcher in an ambulance. In the few critical moments before reaching the hospital, emergency personnel take X-rays of the patient. The images, beamed wirelessly to the hospital, enable the emergency room staff to begin treatment immediately upon arrival. Using organic electronics, scientists are expanding flexibility in the capture of X-rays. Such technology may be embedded in a hospital bed, a wheelchair, or even a hospital gown, enabling X-rays to be taken with minimal inconvenience to the patient. In addition, such devices free up hospital resources by eliminating the need to transport patients.
- To improve the productivity of technicians, information encoded on a patient's identification bracelet is wirelessly transmitted and integrated into the computer radiography system, eliminating the need for technicians to enter the information by hand and reducing the chance for errors.
|
|
