The Laser Probe, The iKnife, and The Cutting Edge of Surgery

If the thought of going under the knife fills you with fear, be reassured. No longer is surgery the brutal and hazardous experience faced by our ancestors. Thanks to wonders such as laparoscopy, robotic solutions, and, more recently, the iKnife and the laser probe, surgical intervention is getting safer all the time.

Archaeologists believe that people have been carrying out surgery for up to 11,000 years. Cranial surgery, known as trephination, probably dates back to the Neolithic era. It involved drilling a hole in the skull of a living person.

Speculation suggests it was done to cure disorders such as convulsions, fractures, headaches, and infections. The Ancient Egyptians used the same operation for "letting out" headaches and migraine.

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Technological advances make surgery safer and more precise all the time. In robotic surgery, the surgeon
controls the instruments from a console. MRI-guided surgery shows where the tumor is, but the iKnife
can detect its exact borders.

Source: medicalnewstoday

Funny Picture 19: My Response to: "How is Your Research Going on?"

Source: giphy

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Funny Picture 17: "Nurse, can you double check the instruments?"

Source: medicalnewstoday

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Automated Analyzers Add Efficiency to Laboratory Testing

Automation, broadly defined, is the mechanization of the steps in a procedure. Through mechanization of analyses there is increased reproducibility of results. Automation allows a reduction of human error and laboratory expenses, which is important in these economic times, as laboratories are challenged with budgetary constraints.

In 1957 the first completely automatic method for colorimetric analysis was reported,1 and then the analytical system used was brought to the market as the AutoAnalyzer by the company Technicon. Since then, continuous scientific and technological advances as well as developments in robotics and information technology have led to the introduction of the wide range of automated analyzers currently in the market, which can be applied to different working laboratory environments. Though automation reduces the hands-on intervention and the time needed to set up, run, and analyze results, human intervention is still required for loading/unloading, operation, and instrument maintenance, as well as for the interpretation of results.

Read more: Automated Analyzers Add Efficiency to Laboratory Testing

Source: RocheDiagnosticsUSA