Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
become increasingly important. In this respect imaging and sensor technology
develop into very important life science technologies as they allow monitoring of
patients over time. A new spectrum of non-invasive diagnostic tools will emerge
from this fast-expanding field. These new approaches advance analytics to the
whole-body level. Through new and fast computing systems, the imaging and
sensing techniques enable an immediate interpretation of the body and its parts, as
well as its biological functions. The combination of molecular data with the
imaging and sensing data generate an interior vision with a resolution of the
information in space and time. At the moment these techniques are advancing
rapidly in speed, precision, and application range, but it is still an engineering,
information and communication technologies (ICT) challenge to develop and adapt
these techniques for real-time data collection, transfer, and processing [
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In addition, appropriate interfaces among the patient, data, and health care pro-
fessionals are needed to produce the appropriate information output. These methods
will give rise to the hope that in the near future more sophisticated non-invasive
diagnostic tools will be available, with the possibility of integration of monitoring
the health status and environmental aspects. As technologies advance, other sample
sources in addition to blood and biopsy become accessible to provide the necessary
information via non-invasive diagnostic tools. In the future, urine, blood, saliva,
perspiration, and breath can also be analysed via portable devices that do not
require high-tech machinery such as fluorescence microscopy, surface plasmon
resonance, or colorimetry. The new devices will enable the monitoring of body
fluids or breath at the bedside and as point-of-care (PoC) tools in the general
practitioner's office or even at home. Connection of the devices to personal health
records is a necessary requirement to integrate the recordings directly and in real-
time with existing information and allow the general practitioner a faster evaluation
of the results.
The combined use of monitoring systems and enhanced data analysis will be
necessary to further advance in vitro diagnostics systems to provide precise and
complex analysis and follow-up. The in vivo systems address specific needs of
continuous monitoring via sensors; they help patients with chronic diseases or
senior citizens to live an autonomous life. This type of technology supporting the
use of remote systems and mobile computing technology also opens the per-
spective for better health care in remote areas, for poorer regions, or developing
countries where citizens have only limited access to health care. The basis for the
implementation of these technologies of ambient assisted living require a central
data repository including a personal health record and advancements in hardware
and software. With the approach of these technological opportunities legal and
ethical frameworks have to be discussed concerning the accessibility and use of the
data for the practitioner or other representatives of the health care system.
Immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization are techniques
with many variants that have already arrived in clinical practice to localize pro-
teins and nucleic acids in cells and tissues and monitor their distribution.
Remaining challenges are the automation of sample preparation, resolution beyond
subcellular levels, and the automation of image analysis with high precision and
