Advances in Medical Technology :: Medicine

Advances in Medical Technology Since the 1800s medical technology as made remarkable advances. The most basic instrument for a surgeon, which was a field in which Dr. Frankenstein was a pioneer, is the scalpel. There have been no drastic changes in the scalpel since it was first constructed. What has occurred are the refinements to the instrument. When Dr. Frankenstein wielded the instrument it was a simple steel blade with an ivory handle. Although the instrument was adequate it was not completely sterile because of the ivory handle. The fact that it was also kept in a velvet lined case did also prevented the scalpel from being 100% sterile. The scalpel of today is not only completely made from stainless steel, but there are now scalpels that are disposable. How the disposable scalpel works is" a one piece handle molding including a unique integral one-way hinge" (The Granton Knife Company). This one time use blade decreases the risk of cross infection. Even though scalpels are always disinfected after each use this is just an added precaution to prevent infection. The main reason that no drastic design changes have occurred to the basic steel blade scalpel is because " the physiology of the human hand and body have not changed since ancient times, surgical tools manifest a remarkable constancy". (The Science of Incision, Barry M. Katz) Steel blades are not the only form that a scalpel takes. Scalpels are now in the form of lasers. The use of lasers began with a laser knife. The CO2 laser was used to remove cancerous tissue. Later the Nd:Yag laser was used. Lasers knifes are not the only addition to new medical technology. The introduction of the computer-tomography (CT) scanner and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have greatly helped doctors to make a better diagnosis. When video imaging became available in the 1970s doctors discovered that by " inserting a fiber-optic endoscope through a cannula they could explore otherwise quite unimaginable places without invasive surgery". This technique led to the laparoscopic surgery "where the surgeon manipulates elongated tools through a cannula" (Katz), but instead of watching the patient the surgeon watches a video monitor. This type of surgery has forced the doctors to develop eye-hand coordination that is counterintuitive to the style in which these doctors were originally trained. The original question that was posed to me was how I felt about technology.