The future of medical imaging: more personalized and efficient application design

Personalization of healthcare

The great 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson only allowed her doctors to examine her from a few feet away through an open door, which shows how reclusive she was.

If she were alive today, she might benefit from advances in medical imaging that would have catered to her quiet personality and could have diagnosed the nephritis that killed Emily Dickinson at age 55.

In our tech-savvy future, it's possible to imagine bathroom mirrors with retinal scanners on the back that could detect retinopathy or important disease precursors. In Dickinson's case, such a mirror would have noticed the gradual swelling of her face (a symptom of Whitehead's disease) and alerted her doctor.

This technology is also an effective way to improve healthcare for those who are too busy to make regular visits to the hospital for checkups. In addition, for those who are doctor-phobic (fear of the doctor prevents them from regular checkups), medical imaging technology can enable a variety of non-invasive diagnostics.

For healthcare providers and patients, technological advances are making personalized healthcare a reality: managing chronic diseases, predicting major illnesses, and allowing patients to spend their final days in the comfort of their own homes. These advances are also making healthcare part of our daily lives.

Here are some concrete examples:

Some bathroom devices have built-in devices that can detect potential medical problems. For example, a toilet that can analyze urine and detect kidney infections or the development of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Another example is a bathroom scale that can detect sudden changes in weight or body fat. These devices can automatically upload data to the patient's doctor and schedule an appointment for the patient based on the doctor's pre-set settings.

These diagnostic devices, such as retinal scanners, can be combined with patients' existing consumer electronics (such as digital cameras) to provide more diagnostic and treatment methods and provide this information to relevant medical personnel.

These sensors installed in the home can measure a person's physical condition and determine whether they need medical help. This is an example of how healthcare can become a preventive measure and reach deep into the home.

An alarm clock could remind someone to wake up for a scheduled doctor's appointment, perhaps based on information gathered by other healthcare devices in the home, such as a retinal scanner embedded in a bathroom mirror. This example gives new meaning to the term "personal area network (PAN)", in which multiple home devices regularly and non-invasively monitor and record a person's vital signs.

Devices can be installed in the home and remotely connected to a healthcare provider’s network. A gyroscope-based product is being developed for elderly patients to wear and detect if they have fallen. 1 The device can be connected to the patient’s PAN and send a message for help. Events like falls and prolonged sitting (which can be a symptom of a physical or mental problem) can also be documented and reported to the patient’s doctor.

In remote surgery, world-renowned experts can use holographic images to direct surgical robots thousands of miles away to perform surgery. This method can bring the best medical applications to the world, allowing patients to enjoy the treatment of world-renowned experts in their local area.

In a virtual location call, doctors use video conferencing (a service that many telecom operators plan to offer to the consumer market) and diagnostic equipment for the home (such as a portable ultrasound system). Virtual location calls may be popular in rural areas2 or in large cities with severe traffic congestion. Virtual location calls also allow patients to access health care for those who cannot see a doctor (perhaps because they are bedridden, have a phobia of doctors, or have limited transportation). Such virtual location calls can replace other treatment methods and bring more health care to patients, regardless of the obstacles.

Healthcare is now a 24/7 service, not just an occasional one, and can be enjoyed without interrupting your daily routine. All of these examples improve patient care and allow for early detection of health problems before they become serious. This allows patients to receive more comprehensive healthcare than if they had to squeeze in weekly or monthly visits to the hospital for checkups.

In addition, automated monitoring eliminates the need for patients to remember to record information. As healthcare becomes a 24/7 service, automated information processing reduces the cost of providing healthcare services.

For some patients, these technologies can provide access to healthcare that would otherwise be out of reach for reasons such as finances or distance. A great example is the work of cardiologist Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty, who combined digital X-rays with satellite broadband to bring healthcare to people in remote rural areas of India. 3 In India, one in four people suffers a heart attack every minute. 4 Dr. Shetty’s telemedicine initiative has had a significant impact in India by bringing cardiac healthcare to people living in remote areas.

Development of medical imaging technology

Medical imaging technology is constantly evolving and improving, all with the goal of improving patient care and treatment. Here are some examples.

X-rays have evolved from film to digital files. In India, this shift has revolutionized healthcare by simplifying processing methods. Dr. Shetty's clinic now processes 3,000 X-rays every 24 hours. Thanks to the widespread use of digital signal processing (DSP), X-ray signals can now be converted into digital images at the point of acquisition without losing image clarity. Digital files have many benefits, including eliminating the cost and time required to process film and more reliable information storage. The ability to render digital images in real time has enabled the use of digital X-ray machines during surgery, allowing doctors to see the exact image at the exact time of the operation.

MRI has evolved from slow and blurry to fast and high definition. Today's magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide high-quality images in a very short time. Just a few years ago, only the top-of-the-line equipment could achieve such speed. Today's MRI also has a high degree of flexibility and the ability to take pictures of the spine in its natural, weight-bearing, standing position.

Today's MRI will also enable some future technological breakthroughs. For example, with diffusion MRI, researchers can create brain maps using nerve fiber tract imaging to study the relationship between different brain regions. At the same time, functional MRI scans the brain quickly to measure signal changes caused by changes in neural activity. These high-definition images can give researchers a deeper understanding of how the brain works, thereby improving treatments.

Ultrasound portability. Ultrasound devices have become more compact over the past few years, as cart-based ultrasound systems have been replaced by portable or handheld ultrasound devices. This reduction in size will enable a wide range of healthcare applications that demonstrate how advances in medical technology are bringing healthcare to patients rather than forcing them to travel long distances to seek medical care. In addition, portable and handheld ultrasound systems are bringing healthcare to rural and remote areas, disaster areas, hospital wards, life assistance agencies, and ambulances.

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Retinal implants become a reality. Researchers at the University of Southern California's Doheny Eye Institute5 are developing artificial retina technology that could restore vision to people with retinitis pigmentosa and macular degeneration.

A common theme running through all of these examples is the use of digital signal processing. DSP is being used in many applications that have had an impact on the medical community and our lives. More importantly, this technology is still in its infancy in terms of its impact on medicine and healthcare.

How Telecommunications Help Medical Imaging

Advances in medical imaging technologies are often driven by developments in communications networks. They have greatly improved care for patients while also reducing costs for healthcare providers and insurers.

NightHawk Radiology Services6 is an example. Instead of having all the radiology staff working all night, the hospital emergency room can send an X-ray image via broadband Internet to NightHawk's facilities in Sydney, Australia or Zurich, Switzerland. NightHawk staff will then read and process the X-ray image and send a diagnosis back to the emergency room doctor.

Telemedicine is another example of how medical imaging and telecommunications technologies complement each other. Videoconferencing and a new type of telepresence technology called telepresence7 are increasingly being used in the healthcare sector in both developed and developing countries. Videoconferencing and telepresence are often used in conjunction with medical imaging systems such as ultrasound equipment to enable telemedicine applications, which are often subsidized by governments because they bring healthcare to areas where healthcare services are expensive or scarce.

The Missouri Telehealth Network8 services include teledermatology. Patients at rural health clinics can place their skin under a video camera to be viewed and diagnosed by a dermatologist hundreds of miles away, providing the equivalent of an in-person video conference. For patients with limited time or transportation, telehealth can mean the difference between receiving treatment and living with the disease. If someone has stage 1 melanoma, early detection through telehealth can mean the difference between life and death.