Diagnostic tools:

Diagnostic tools are Stethoscope, Sphygmomanometer, Electrocardiography, Ultrasound, Computerized Axial Tomography, X-Ray, and Radiology.

Stethoscope

Stethoscope, an instrument used for auscultation that is, to detect and study sounds arising within organs such as the heart, lung, and stomach prior to treatment. The stethoscope consists of a bell and diaphragm, or receiving head, connected by a Y-joint and rubber tubing to two earpieces. The sounds may also be amplified electronically.

Sphygmomanometer

Pressure is measured in millimeters (mm) of mercury by an instrument called a sphygmomanometer, consisting of an inflatable rubber cuff connected to a pressure-detecting device with a dial. The cuff is wrapped around the upper left arm and inflated by squeezing a rubber bulb connected to it by a tube. Meanwhile, the doctor making the examination listens to a stethoscope applied to an artery in the lower arm. As the cuff expands, it gradually compresses the artery. The point at which the cuff stops the circulation and at which no pulsations can be heard is read as the systolic pressure, which is more commonly read, however, as the cuff is slowly deflated, at the point when the circulation is restored. A spurting sound can then be heard as the heart contraction forces blood through the artery. The cuff is then allowed gradually to deflate further until the blood is flowing smoothly again. A reading at this point shows the diastolic pressure that occurs during relaxation of the heart. During a single cardiac cycle or heartbeat, the blood pressure varies from maximum during systole to minimum during diastole. Usually both measurements are given as a ratio expression of the highest over the lowest.

Electrocardiography

A procedure by which a doctor obtains tracing of the electrical activity of the heart. The rhythmic beating of the heart is maintained by an orderly series of discharges originating in the sinus node of the right atrium and proceeding through the atrioventricular node and the bundle of neuromuscular fibers to the ventricles. By attaching electrodes to various parts of the body, a record of this current can be obtained.

Ultrasound

Diagnostic and therapeutic technique in which a very high frequency sound is directed into the body to examine the arterial system, the heart, the pancreas, the peritoneal cavity, the urinary tract, the ovaries, the venous system, the brain; and the spinal cord. When ultrasound is used to examine the heart, it is known as echocardiography. The best-known application of ultrasound is the examination of the fetus during pregnancy. Unlike X-rays, ultrasound is completely safe during pregnancy, with no risk to either mother or baby. It is used to monitor the growth, development and well-being of the fetus and can be used to check the due date. The size of the fetus head can be measured to estimate its age. If twins are likely or if fertility drugs had been administered prior to conception, ultrasound may be used to confirm the number of fetuses present. It can be used to detect fetal abnormalities such as spinal bifida, severe congenital heart diseases, where in each case early diagnosis allows appropriate treatment to be given during the rest of pregnancy and at birth

Computerized axial tomography

Computerized Axial Tomography (CT or CAT), non-invasive diagnostic technique using a type of X-ray device that provides a clear view of soft internal organ tissues in the body. CT is used to diagnose various conditions, in particular cancer. A CT scan is the computer analysis of a sharply limited, thin X-ray beam passed circumferentially through an area of the body, producing a cross-sectional image, or slice.

X-ray

X-Ray, penetrating electromagnetic radiation, having a shorter wavelength than light, and produced by bombarding a target usually made of tungsten with high-speed electrons. The principal uses of X radiation are in the fields of scientific research, industry and medicine. X-ray photographs, called radiographs and fluoroscopy are used extensively in medicine as diagnostic tools. In radiotherapy, X-rays are used to treat certain diseases, notably cancer by exposing tumors to X radiation.

Radiology

In medicine, the branch that concerns the use of radiant energy in the diagnosis and treatment of disease is called radiology. Radiant energy, which can take the form of X-rays or other types of radiation, is energy that results from atomic disintegration. Both diagnostic and therapeutic radiology, which are practiced by doctors of medicine and osteopathy, involve the use of ionizing radiation.

ADVANCED SURGICAL TECHNIQUES

Advanced surgical techniques are surgery, microscope, lasers, microsurgery, transplantation, cancer, chemotherapy, gene therapy, immune system, AIDS,

Microscope

Microscope, any of several types of instruments used to obtain a magnified image of minute objects or minute details of objects. The most widely used microscopes are optical microscopes, which use visible light to create a magnified image of an object. The simplest form of optical microscope is the double-convex lens with a short focal length. These lenses can magnify an object by up to 15 times. In general, however, a compound microscope is used, which has multiple lenses to provide more magnification than a single convex lens could alone. Some optical microscopes can magnify an object by 2,000 times or more.

Laser

Laser- Light amplification by stimulated emission of radiations through devices which amplify light and produce coherent beams of light ranging from infrared to ultraviolet. A light beam is coherent when its waves, or photons, propagate in step, or in phase, with one another. Laser light, therefore, can be made extremely intense, highly directional, and very pure in color. Laser devices now extend into the X-ray frequency range. Masers are similar devices for microwaves.

Microsurgery

A Surgical technique, which uses fine instruments to operate surgeries under a microscope or magnifying glass.

ETHICS AND MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

While further developments of these and other areas in medical technology hold much promise they also pose great ethical problems. Many of the patients who would have died from chronic illnesses a few decades ago now survive them, because of enhancements in medical technology. Through artificial respirators, defibrillator's, kidney dialysis machines, and other life-support equipment as well as other devices, those same patients now are often able to survive into old age. The medical technologists, faced by more ethical issues than ever before as medical technology races ahead sometimes without anyone considering whether it should be applied, require a consistent framework of medical ethics in which all health-care professionals can make satisfactory moral choices.