Medicine  

Few fields have affected medicine as much as electrical engineering has in the past few years. From MRI machines to robotic prosthetics, electrical engineers have helped bring about tremendous innovation in medicine. 

Many fields have achieved advancements when it comes to healthcare, but few have done as much as electrical engineering has. This field has done everything from changing the way we look inside the body to treating certain conditions that would otherwise result in death. Let's take a look at five health-related feats that electrical engineering has performed.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a more accurate way to see within the body without the need for exploratory surgery or high levels of radiation. MRIs are a direct result of electrical engineering principles put to use. These non-invasive techniques use super-powered magnets to compute images of organs and other structures within the body. Further improvements in MRI are being led by the field of electrical engineering. These include higher resolution images, and faster MRI scans.

Better Defibrillators

Another improvement produced by electrical engineering involves defibrillators. Not only are they significantly more effective, but they also utilize a lower charge due to improvements made by electrical engineers. Defibrillators have also become small enough to be implanted within the chest. This is particularly useful for patients suffering from conditions that could result in the heart stopping.

Myoelectric and Robotic Prostheses

Myoelectric and robotic prostheses represent the current pinnacle of artificial limbs. They utilize electrical engineering to provide powerful limbs capable of climbing stairs, handling objects, and even providing a certain amount of feedback for the user. The reason electrical engineering is so integral to these devices revolves around the way they work. They must be efficient, which in turn allows them to be as light as possible. They must also incorporate intelligent processors to maximize their ability to act just like natural limbs would.

Robot-Assisted Operations

Surgery has traditionally been limited by the versatility of a surgeon's hands. They can only move in so many ways, which in turn requires large incisions and lengthy operations. Robot-assisted operations are a recent development stemming from electrical engineering. They utilize minimally invasive techniques designed to minimize the strain on a patient's body and the trauma required to perform procedures. This results in faster recoveries, less pain and fewer complications. Further advancements from electrical engineering will help to make these procedures more natural for surgeons to use.

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Bridging Spinal Problems

One of the larger health revolutions that electrical engineering is driving revolves around bridging the link between broken nerves. Implants are being developed that are capable of transmitting electrical impulses along the spinal cord, which is allowing para- and quadriplegics to feel their toes and walk again. While the ability for these implants to perform is currently limited, they do hold a large amount of promise in restoring normal function to victims of traumatic incidents and disease.

While many people will associate electrical engineering with a more mundane and mechanical world, it has revolutionized the fields of health and healthcare. Patients are better able to be diagnosed and treated thanks to it. As electrical engineering advances, so too will healthcare advance. This will lead to new innovations, many of which can be used to further improve the world of health. If you are interested in making an impact in the field, consider an MS in Electrical Engineering. The right knowledge can open up many opportunities for you to make a difference too.

By Anita Ginsburg

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Author Bio - Anita Ginsburg is a freelance writer from Denver, CO and often writes about business, finance, education and home. She graduated from Colorado State University in 2004. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family when she isn’t writing.

 Medicine  

Cutting edge medical advancements are helping to detect diseases early and provide a tailored treatment that is highly effective in treating and curing illness. Here is a glimpse into the high-tech health care resulting from the newest in medical technology.

Not long ago, AIDS was considered as an untreatable disease. Cancer was considered as a disease with low chances of survival. Elders living alone had great difficulties reaching for help. The difficulties associated with monitoring high-risk patients 24/7 often led to their death. All these are changing now due to the emergence high-tech health care. Recent developments in patient surveillance and tracking are helping to closely monitor the high-risk patients. Advancements in genome sequencing and Pharmacogenomics are helping to detect diseases early and provide a tailored treatment that is highly effective in curing diseases, including cancer. Here is a glimpse into the high-tech health care resulting from the advancements in medical technology.

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Sensors, Wearable Devices, and Remote Monitoring Tools

New wearable medical devices can now detect and send alerts when a patient falls down. Bandages can detect infections by monitoring the pH level. Patients at high risk can be fitted with devices such as a cardiac cast that can monitor the heartbeat and send data to a monitoring center. Digestible sensors can transmit information about the human body, including organs. Patients can now stay at home rather than in the hospital, helping to cut down the hospital cost and the readmission requirements.

Robotic Surgery, Drug Discovery

A surgeon can now perform advanced surgeries by using a robotic hand that can reach through a small cut made in the body. This technique is used for several complex surgical tasks, including coronary artery bypass, kidney transplant, and gallbladder removal. Researchers can now use Hudson products like robotic assay screening and development system for drug discovery using different detection methods such as enzyme-linked immunoabsorption, reporter gene luminescence, and fluorescence energy transfer. Robotic systems can also be used to determine the pharmaceutical profile of a patient.

3D Printing

Biological materials such as blood vessels, heart tissues, and embryonic stem cells can now be printed using 3D printers. 3D printing has also been used for patching a broken heart as well as replacing organs. There have been advances in developing skins for patients by printing skin cells using this technique.

Optogenetics

Advances in neuroscience have made it possible for scientists to control the neurons in the brain. This technique is used for understanding the cause and curing different mental disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.

There are greater benefits to humankind due to the advancements in medical technology. The high tech health care is ascending, and is helping to achieve things that were considered impossible not long ago. The emergence of big data analytics in discovering medical patterns is helping to understand diseases and treatments better. Use of robotics in surgical and drug discovery area seems very promising. Health monitoring devices are now even being integrated into smartphones, making the medical technology go mainstream. As medical tech grows, so will our quality of life.

By Anica Oaks

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About the Author - Anica is a freelance writer and web enthusiast. You can read some of her published work at her Google+ page.

 Medicine  

With today's advanced surgical equipment and techniques, undergoing surgery is safer than ever. Take a look at five ways going under the knife is not as scary a prospect as it once was.

Once considered very risky, surgery complications in the past commonly included excessive bleeding, post-operative infections and long recoveries. However, thanks to advanced surgical equipmentand techniques, undergoing surgery is safer than ever. Nowadays surgery doesn't always mean going "under-the-knife." Here are five reasons why surgery is safer than ever:

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Smaller Incisions

Thanks to advances in medical instruments, surgery is safer than ever because incisions are smaller than ever. The use of specialized scopes, such as laparoscopes and arthroscopes, eliminates the need for an invasive surgery. Instead, only a small incision is needed to place the scope in the area needed. In particular, the use of scopes has nearly wiped out the necessity of the once-common "exploratory surgery."

Lasers

Laser surgery has made scalpel-free procedures possible. Lasers are used to remove tissues or repair blood vessels. For example, laser surgery is now a standard for tattoo removal, wart removal and the removal of precancerous skin blemishes. Lasers are minimally invasive and encourage better healing.

Sterile Environment

Much more is known about bacteria and viruses than even twenty years ago. Practices have been perfected to keep the surgical area free of pathogens. For instance, surgeons, nurses, surgical assistants and anyone else in the operating room is required to use sterile scrubs, as well as use proper hygiene practices, including hand-washing with a special soap before surgery. The operating room and equipment are cleaned thoroughly with disinfectant before each surgery. For example, medical and dental professionals use Glutaraldehyde, a powerful chemical disinfectant, to create a sterile environment in which to work.  Most hospitals do not allow onlookers in the room because of "universal precautions," which means that medical providers must treat any person or thing that comes into the operating room as non-sterile.

Robotic Surgery

Surgery has been made safer and even more minimally invasive with robots and computers. While it might seem like something out of a science-fiction movie, robotic-assisted surgery is still controlled by a surgeon. This tool simply gives the surgeon a better way to access the surgical area in a way that leaves more tissues intact than if he used his hands. This means a smaller likelihood of infection and a better recovery for the patient.

Blood Transfusions

For years, blood donations were not screened. This led to the prevalence of diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis being transmitted via blood transfusions received; many of these cases occurred when a blood transfusion was needed during surgery. However, blood transfusions today are thoroughly screened to prevent the spread of such diseases.

While surgery still carries risks, infection, sepsis and disease after surgery is not as likely as it once was. Thanks to advances in techniques and equipment, surgery is safer than ever.

By Meghan Belnap

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Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. on Friday opened a laboratory dedicated to building surgery robots within the Asan Institute for Life Sciences, the company said.

The center, run by medical professors at the Asan Medical Center, will focus on localizing high-tech robotic equipment used for surgeries on joints and ligaments.

"We're working to build an upgrade of a robotic surgical system for artificial joint operations that allows a more elaborate procedure in a shorter period of time," an official at Hyundai Heavy said.

"Some of hand-operated parts will come automated in the new version."
In the opening ceremony of the laboratory Friday, the company announced plans to develop high value-added medical robots especially for brain and spine surgeries in collaboration with Asan Medical Center.

The two in October signed an agreement to work in partnerships to lead the market for medical robotics in which 30 medical professors, including chief of Asan Institute for Life Sciences Kim Choung-soo, will participate.

The shipbuilder has been investing in the area as one of its growth engine projects to diversify its source of income. It targets a 60 per cent share in the global market for artificial joint surgical robots in 2016 by raising 200 billion won (S$223.7 million) in sales.

Asan Medical Center has more than 2,500 cases of successful clinical experiences since it began operating surgeries with medical robots in 2007 July.

Hyundai Heavy currently is the world's fifth-biggest medical robots developer with a 9 per cent market share.

The global market for medical robots is projected to grow to $1.3 billion in 2016 from estimate of $790 million for last year, ABI Research, a New York based think tank said.

AsiaOne

Only two years after its first use, the da Vinci robot surgical system was recently used to complete its 1,000th procedure at the Jackson Madison County Hospital in Tennessee.  

http://www.davincisurgery.com/