Medical Applications of Computers

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Medical Applications of Computers

• Discovery

Bret Mohler CSC 385 4/20/06
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History of Discovery

• 1543 -- Andreas Vesalius presents "De Humani
  Corporis Fabrica," or "The Structure of the Human
  Body," which detailed the anatomy of the human
  body.
• 1675 -- Anton Leeuwenhoek, a haberdasher and
  part-time janitor, looking at a drop of rainwater
  under a microscope, discovered "little animals"
  -- or bacteria, a cause of myriad diseases.
• 1796 -- By using cowpox, which causes a mild
  disease in human beings, to protect a person from
  the deadlier smallpox, Edward Jenner discovered
  vaccination.
• 1842 -- Crawford Long, using ether to prevent his
  patients from feeling pain, developed surgical
  anesthesia.
• 1912 -- Nikolai Anichkov discovered that
  cholesterol was responsible for coronary artery
  disease, currently the world's most deadly
  disease.

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Computer Impact on Medicine

• MRI - Magnetic resonance imaging -is an imaging
  technique used primarily in medical settings to
  produce high quality images of the inside of the
  human body.
• Agarose gel electrophoresis - Electrophoresis
  uses a mechanism similar to sifting objects
  through a sieve. In the case of DNA-based gel
  electrophoresis, an electric field is used to
  push negatively charged DNA molecules through a
  gel matrix.
• Fiber Optics - strands of optically pure glass as
  thin as a human hair that carry digital
  information over long distances. This can improve
  imaging, laser, and communications for medical
  evvironments.

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Future of Medical Computers

• Virtual Surgery With advancements in
  communications, computer interfaces, and fine
  tuned computer controlled devices, surgeons can
  perform complex procedures remotely.
• Genetic Engineering With the human genome
  cracked it is now possible for scientists to
  locate areas of the genetic sequence and possible
  alter it to prevent certain complications later
  in the persons life.
• Super Computing advancements in computer
  networks, distributed computer software, and the
  need for massive calculations, has led to the
  development of distributed programs that have
  computers all over the world working on a common
  project Protein Folding

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Sources

• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
• http//www.psl.msu.edu/class/442/ten_medical_disco
  veries.htm
• http//www.howstuffworks.com/mri.htm
• http//www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/biot
  ech/gels/agardna.html