|
|
Ever-patient Computer Was Pressed: The ever-patient computer was pressed into service as a microscopist, rapidly scanning and analyzing ordinary photomicrographs at a pleasantly inhuman rate. The most successful of these systems was named CHLOE, after the hard-to-locate lady of the song. Such systems permit the rapid karyotyping (chromosome analysis) of human cells, greatly facilitating the diagnosis of forms of mental retardation, sexual anomalies, and other disorders associated with chromosome abnormalities.
All data from the various tests are fed into a computer, which then compares the results with previously established standards. Several days later the computer data are all assembled, and the computer prints out for the physician a summary of all relevant information as well as comparisons with the results in previous examinations. At the end of the series of 20 steps in the center, the patient may be recommended for additional tests, for repeating certain tests if the results are unexpected, for immediate referral to his physician, or for a routine visit to his physician at a later date.
The expansion of such centers requires further research and development of instrumentation that measures significant physical characteristics without seriously inconveniencing the patient. Also, computer techniques for analyzing the data (whether it be a single signal such as an electrocardiogram reading or a set of interrelated measurements) must be improved. When these improvements have been made, biomedical engineers hope, for example, to be able to detect the conditions in a patient that are conducive to heart attacks in sufficient time to permit effective corrective measures. |
|
|
|
|
