Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 8.1
A
healthcare pyramid
organizing biomedical devices according to number in use and sophistication. The base
of the healthcare pyramid comprises the ubiquitous sterile-disposable medical devices such as syringes (a) and specimen
collection tubes (b) that underlie modern medical practice. These medical devices are used in the billion annually and rep-
resent the greatest volume application of biomaterials. At a slightly higher level of technical sophistication are diagnostic
devices that have surface treatments and/or additives such as tissue-culture flasks (c) and microbiological plates (d). Tem-
porary implants such as contact lenses (e) and peripheral catheters (f) lie yet higher in the pyramid, with commensurate
technical sophistication and lower-volume use of biomaterials. The highest level of sophistication at the apex of the pyramid
is occupied by permanent implants such as artificial hips (g) and heart valves (h). Boundaries between strata of the healthcare
pyramid are not actually sharp as diagrammed but rather overlap to a significant degree, depending on actual end-use
application. Images taken from Wikimedia Commons with permission to copy, distribute, or modify.
represent the quintessential component of human
and veterinary healthcare without which medical
practice would effectively collapse. One only
needs to reflect on dire situations created by natu-
ral disasters, poverty, or war that limit access to
sterile disposables to see how critical these com-
ponents of the healthcare pyramid really are. The
technical sophistication of sterile disposables may
be rudimentary compared to that employed in
higher strata of the healthcare pyramid, but the
absolute technological sophistication should not
be underestimated, especially with regard to high-
volume manufacturing. The underlying technol-
ogy is not simple, merely taken for granted.
Diagnostic devices are slightly more sophisti-
cated than medical-procedure devices because
biomaterials used in fabrication typically require
special surface treatments or packaged culture
media of some kind. Examples shown in
Figure
8.1
are tissue-culture labware for the growth of
animal cells in the laboratory and microbiologi-
cal plates for detection of bacterial pathogens.
As with the medical-procedure devices, diag-
nostic devices are used in very high volume and
are core to routine delivery of modern health-
care. Diagnostic devices and medical-procedure
devices together represent the largest volume
usage of biomaterials.
