Saturday, December 11, 2010

how technologies save us

Nowadays, with the developed ecologies of medical surgeries, doctors are allowed to do more precise identification and surgery on you as to cure you.

In the ancient’s era, once a person got an internal respiratory, circulatory or alimentary disease, doctors were not really sure what the acute disease is. And they had only the medicine or potion to cure the disease, doctors observed the exterior symptoms or patients’ description on symptoms. Which shown that the doctor had not truly identify the disorder of the patients and which even with the curing process, the patients still could not recover. It is so common in the ancient’s world. Without the technology, people died easily when there were high infectious diseases, such as the Bubonic plague. Without the technologies in the 1800s, the control of the plague was done inadequately. It claimed millions of people life in the Europe and Asia.

This is the topic of today, the medical technology.

In deed, medical technology is a board and controversial term on any practical application of the medication field knowledge.

In aspect, we can identify the base of the growth of medical technology, the hardware (equipment and facilities) also the software (knowledge and skill)


They both related to each other, such as the improve of equipment such as the invention of endoscopy in 1950, Helicobacter pylori was being discover in 1982 by Dr. Barry Marshall and Dr. Robin Warren of Perth, Western Australia.


It shows the relationship of how both of them improve the medical field in getting a better knowing in curling the peptic ulcer.


Medical technology can devote into 5 different divisions
prevention, diagnosis, treatment, support, and administration


I will introducing you one by one

How does hardware participate in the medical field?

There are tons of examples; therefore I do have an idea on concentrating the attention on the participation in the alimentary, respiratory and circulatory disorder securing process.

Other than the ancients type of Chinese Pulse diagnosis which is rather depends on the doctor’s experience, there are the stethoscopes invented in the 1800s which the doctors are able to hear the condition of the patients. On January 18, 1896 an X-ray machine was formally displayed by H.L. Smith. The invention of the X-ray machine did helps a lot in the process of diagnosis. It’s then commonly used, with the improvement of the photographic technology; the gastroscope with camera was developed in 1950 by a Japanese team of a doctor and optical engineers.

They are all great invention helping us in diagnosing the disorder inside our systems.

After the diagnosis, there shall be the treatment.

Talking about treatment, there are 2 method, medicine and injection as the protein form hormone or the surgery.

The development on the part of treatment is a great leap. Nowadays, there are several big pharmacy companies synthesizing new medicine, so do the hormones.( such as insulin which stimulate body organs to function the glycogenesis as to lower the Blood Glucose level)

I shall have another blog page talking about how the development of medicine later onwards. Now I am giving a gross view of the growth of technology in medical field.

However on the surgery perspective, non-invasive procedure was a gorgeous success.
Given an simple example on how the non-invasive procedure helps.

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma
a cancer originating in the nasopharynx
to undergo an open operation( the traditional one) it took at least half a day to complete. the operation procedure was first havinga cut in the neck of the patient, as to expose the infected area, thus, there will need a long time to recover from the trauma wonded from the surgery ( document from Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong) Yet, with the new non-invasive procedure, the aids of the endoscope, only a small hole was opened during the operation and have the tumor removed and so as the non- invasive operation will have a less recoverable time also less pain. However a higher operation cost and takes longer time.
or there's another example from internet

Talking about the support

There's The Cardiac Pacemaker
or any artificial body.
A small device which protect us when our body couldn't function,
or there the Stem cell to grow your own body part as heart

down below i attached a blog with the diagram show how the stem cells function to assist the cardiac patients.
Tho same blog searched from Dora





Reverence:

Development of Medical Technology:
Opportunities for Assessment
<http://www.fas.org/ota/reports/7617.pdf>
Wikis





People i commented on
Dora Lam
Claudia

3 comments:

  1. Medical technology is great! It really helps doctors diagnosis the problem, and the treatment for the problem is made much simpler, and less painful. As you mentioned the Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, to have an open surgery would be quite risky as when you cut open the neck, the neck spews blood out which will result in major blood loss. But with technology, that won't have to happen anymore! Medical technology has made people more reassured to conduct surgery, more convenient, and less painful (the healing process). Medical technology has to keep going because our lives depend on it!

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  2. It captivates my mind when I hear of a new invention that can help cure an illness or even help detect and illness earlier. There are certain individuals that are inventing new medical technologies that are easier to use and are less painful, like Dora mentioned. Medical technologies are truly becoming something many people depend on. There will most likely be new inventions of medical technologies in the future!

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  3. It is unbelievable what technology is capable of, especially medical technology. The advancements in this field are saving the lives of millions. Despite these outstanding achievements, there are many issues that the public are worried about. One is the reliability and risk of new technology. As you mentioned in your blog, there a new non-invasive procedure has been developed for nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The recovery time may be reduced, but is the risk for complications greater since the operators have a very limited view on the area begin operated? Second is the ethics involved with medical advancements, for example, the development of artificial organs. Some people believe that such studies are immoral and not natural.

    I enjoyed your blog and the information you provided. I liked how you divided the medical technologies in five different categories, as well as the reference to hardware and software. By comparing the topic to other subjects such as computers, for instance, it gives the reader a better understanding.

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