See the heart beat in real time from outside

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Ultrasound has gone a long way

Back in '71, when my wife was about 6
months along carrying our first born the
hospital where she worked got the first
ultrasound in the state. The Dr. (a friend
of my wife's) came running down to get
her so they could take images with their
new toy.

Comparing that very rough scan (barely
able to make out the outlines of the head
& body) with today demonstrates a very
dramatic improvement in all medical
imaging during my adulthood.

Bur the EKG is still king when it comes to
the heart in many situations. We have the
computer power now to not only monitor
heart patients 24 hours a day in the
hospital, but to have expert programs
provide the doctors with analytical
information and there is the technology
available today to discover patterns in a
patient's EKG to identify that patient
moving to an acute medical problem.

Before too long we should be able to give
the patient a sensor about the size of a
mouse that is held to the chest and
transmits data to a PC (or Mac). The
software in the patient's computer can
then send daily summaries to the doctor
monitoring the patient. It can also identify
problems that tell the patient to send the
data to the doctor's 24 hour monitoring
system, have someone drive the patient to
the doctor or hospital, or tell the patient
to call for an ambulance NOW. It would
also allow for a patient to call the doctor
or ER and have them be able to look at an
EKG in real time.

Ultrasounds aren't nearly there in terms of
the potential for high level technology in
the hands of the patient.

I've had ultrasounds, various x-rays, CT &
PET/CT scans. These days I get a copy of
the images and keep them in my MacBook
so I can show any doctor both the scan
report and the actual scan.

For this old guy the technology available
today and the technology that could be
available to the average patient is pretty
impressive.

Posted by: Ken_z   Posted on: 08/29/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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