Electronics in medicine: Diagnostic imaging advances; microprocessors aid laser systems, prostheses

Amid universal concern over ever-increasing health-care costs and growing concern over technology's effect on those costs, biomedical engineering continues to make significant progress. Techniques for various diagnostic imaging modalities are still in the limelight. Transmission computer tomographic (CT) scanners with faster scans and variations of scanning schemes have been introduced. Making their commercial debut last year were emission CT scanners that use positron-emitting radionuclides or radiopharmaceuticals injected into, or swallowed by, a patient to permit tracing of metabolic processes. And ultrasonic imaging was further refined with improved detectors and scanning techniques. As imaging techniques become more sophisticated, they push the state of the art in computers, array processors, detectors, and data storage.