Diagnostic+and+therapeutic+tools



**Additional Information Lana Bilani**



[|DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC TOOLS]
Robotic Surgery Robotic surgery has developed greatly in recent times due to the paralleled advancements in IT. Robotic surgery is the use of robots to assist in or perform surgery. There are three classifications for robotic surgery: remote surgery, minimally invasive surgery, and unmanned surgery.  [|Remote surgery]is when a surgeon operates on a patient by controlling a surgical robot from a remote location. A designated fiber optic cable to ensure a safe and reliable connection, as well as minimal lag time. The estimated safe lag time for a remote surgery is estimated at 330milliseconds, however a designated fiber optic cable can deliver a 200millisecond lag time over a 14,000km round trip. The hardware needed include television screens, cameras and microphones, robotic controls at the surgeon's end, and the surgical robot at the patient's end. Of course, a team of doctors is still needed with the patient, however the surgery is performed only by the surgeon and the he or she controls, as well as the internet components such as the fiber optic cable that the telenetwork must exist on. The software needed is management software to transfer the surgeons movements from the controls to the robot performing the surgery. Minimally invasive surgery incorporated with robotics involves the use of cameras and cables to view the internal organs of the patient without having to make large incisions or carrying out a traumatic procedure. Small robotic arms can be inserted into small incisions made in the patient, and from there the surgeon can control these small arms and view the internal procedure via the camera on a television screen. The most well known robotic surgery system is the da Vinci Robotic Surgery system. This system was unveiled in 2006 and was used for 48,000 procedures that year. The surgeon sits away from the patient at a control panel and operates the robot as the robot operates in the patient, with the rest of the surgical team standing around the patient assisting. The da Vinci operating system is considered to be a minimally invasive surgery system. This system sells for 1.2 million US dollars, and is only found in select hospitals. This diagram on the right shows how the da Vinci surgery system works. Prosthetic Devices  Prosthetic devices have been around and aiding people for thousands of years, however with the advancement in modern technology and IT, they have become for more useful for people. Nowadays prosthetic devices can be controlled by the brain and can help with things from walking to seeing. This large advancement allowing people to control a part of their body such a a prosthetic arm or leg by thought allows for a lot less energy expenditure by the person. By connecting the wires of the device to the prosthetic device, it can be controlled by the user and have its own battery source. This integration of systems, the human and technological prosthetic ones, is what allows this new advancement in aiding the mobility and functionability of amputees. Similarly, those with hearing or vision impairments have a few solutions available to themselves. Hearing aids incorporate the use of microphones to allow a better range and quality of hearing for those who are losing their hearing. At the same time, those with no hearing at all can have a surgery to wire their brain to the actual hearing aid device, to restore hearing or allow them to hear for the first time. Similar technology is applied to the blind. Those with damaged eyes but healthy and functioning optic nerves can have a camera implanted into the surface of their eye, and then through an integrating chip, have it connected to the optic nerve. With training, the brain can learn to interpret the signals from the camera and learn to see. So far this technology is still in the beginning and yields only a 100 pixel image, however the technology is advancing on a daily basis and shows signs of great improvement. Diagnostic Software  [|Diagnostic software] in the medical field is growing more and more useful. Every year there are millions of deaths around the globe due to the inability to make an accurate diagnosis in time. With the increase in computer use and the computer literacy of people and doctors across the globe, medical diagnostic software is emerging with great prevalence. A real-time medical diagnostic software platform called NxOpinion allows doctors to have a diagnostic resource that is constantly updated. " NxOpinion prompts a physician to enter details about a patient's condition as if he or she were describing the case to a colleague. Based upon each new piece of information, NxOpinion suggests possible ailments and asks for other evidence - for example, "Have you taken a blood pressure reading in the leg?" - until the doctor is confident that he or she has pinpointed the most likely diagnosis and identified a viable treatment option." accessed August 24th, 2007 This can prove to be very helpful in situations where a diagnosis is needed quickly in an emergency. The program can be set to accommodate for a doctor with a high level of knowledge or just a medical student still studying. This specific program is based on the Microsoft platform, and though will be made available thus far free of cost, it can only be used with PC's rather than Mac's. Drug Development and Marketing  Drug development technology known as DDT requires mass amounts of money and equipment. When a pharmaceutical company plans on bring a new chemical entity drug on to the market, extensive research and testing must first be done. This requires various types of hardware such as computers, lab equipment such as electron microscopes and chemical screeners, storage systems for data, and so on. The software that is needed for this is some form of data management and analysis software, most likely provided in a custom designed or self-designed integrated software packages. This process reportedly costs anywhere from 200 million to 2000 million U.S. dollars, for just one new drug with a new chemical entity. The second aspect to pharmaceutical drugs is the marketing. When a new drug is formed, the group of people with the same biological factor that the drug works to mediate or cure are determined. With that consumer group picked out, drug companies have numerous methods to advertise their new drug. First they pick out a name, wisely, that allures the public. Take Viagra for example, a combination of Vigor and Niagra, to give the consumer the impression of strength and vigorous activity along with the freely and powerfully flowing Niagra falls. With the name picked out, the company then advertises on TV via commercials, or on the radio by audio commercials. Billboards can line streets with the name of a drug plastered on every corner, as well as on the side of a bus. The internet leads way to many advertising and marketing routes, through e-mail, websites, pop-ups, spam, and etc. Once they have a group to market to, they carry this out with researched precision, aiming to regain money lost from RnD. Advantages and Disadvantages
 * Advantages**


 * Break down of geographical barriers
 * Diagnostic capabilities increased and improved in areas that need it
 * Improvement of the quality of life to those who are handicapped and can use prosthetic devices
 * Increased safety of new drugs with the use of testing and research
 * Less invasive surgeries with the newer methods and use of robotics
 * Efficiency in time expenditure, whether it be travel time or recovery time
 * Disadvantages**

Social and Ethical Issues
 * High prices of new and advanced technology making it hard to access
 * Most of the technology is still in early stages
 * Reliability of communication systems for long distance connections
 * Pre-existing technological requirements needed to be able to access this further technology
 * Diagnostic software NxOpinion 's lack of cross-platform capability
 * Reliability**


 * Reliability of internet connections during telesurgery
 * Reliability of hardware used in surgery and drug research
 * Reliability of cases input into the diagnostic program
 * Reliability of data for all programs and software
 * Integrity**


 * Integrity of any data, whether at the creation for the diagnostic software, or the data input into the program
 * Security**


 * Security of persons personal and financial information whether in drug trials or when their case is input into a program such as NxOpinion
 * Privacy and Anonymity**


 * Privacy of those in telesurgery and therefore being videotaped
 * Privacy and anonymity of information submitted as research or case studies
 * Authenticity**

n/a
 * Making sure that the surgeon at the other end is actually a surgeon and not some insane person or medical student gone rogue
 * Intellectual Property**
 * Equality of Access**


 * Improves equality of access for those capable to have telesurgery
 * Not everyone can utilize the technology if they don't have the technology required for initial access
 * The NxOpinion software will most likely be made free and that will increase the equality of access
 * The lack of equality of access across the globe to vital drugs needed for many of the worlds quickly spreading ailments
 * Control**


 * Handing control over to the hands of a robot that is controlled by a human surgeon, however the robots do have a level of control over the surgeon for they filter out minute vibrations or disturbances in the analog signals sent by the surgeon's hand movements
 * Globalization and Cultural Diversity**


 * International medical interaction breaks down boundaries and promotes diversity
 * Policies and Standards**


 * Policies and standards of information storage and sharing
 * Policies and safety standards of new drugs brought into the market
 * Special training required for robotic surgery and telesurgery
 * People and Machines**


 * Rather than the doctor to patient interaction, it is now a doctor robot, robot patient interaction
 * Increases the abilities, accuracy, precision, speed and so on of the surgeon
 * Diagnostic software increases readily available diagnostic information to medical personnel of all levels