The robotic arm, called Pathfinder, is similar in shape and function to a human arm. It will seek out a vital organ in the patient, probably the liver, and then extract a piece of tissue. The surgeon in Italy will be guided by ultrasound images taken simultaneously by the arm. He will be able to see live video and ultrasound pictures from the robot, sent down a special high-speed telephone line. To control the robot, the surgeon will hold 3D computer mouse that can operate both the arm and the needle.
Once the needle is in place over the patient, the surgeon can use the mouse to insert it and remove a biopsy sample for examination. According to Patrick Finlay, the managing director of Armstrong Healthcare, the Pathfinder is actually more accurate than a surgeon’s hand, with no risk of shaking or wavering.
Source: Roger Dobson, The Guardian 7 December 1997.
Case study: Deeper Blue checks cancer drugs
The supercomputer technology giving world champion Gary Kasparov a run for his money is to help halve the time it takes to bring new drugs to market.
According to IBM, which developed the Deeper Blue chess-playing computer, the ability to compute millions of calculations a second will be used within two years to enable scientists to model new drugs and test their effects. They claim this could reduce the average 12-year development period for a drug to about 6 years.
A supercomputer the company is building will be able to model within a day the effect of 1m atoms on each other during a split second. Instead of using valuable laboratory time and space, scientists can model a variety of chemicals on the computer and mimic the condition they are designed to combat. The supercomputer can then calculate the reaction of the drug, showing scientists whether they are on the right track within day, rather than months.
Source: Sean Hargrave, The Sunday Times, 11 May 1997.
Expert systems used in medical diagnosis
Expert systems are computer programs that attempt to replicate the performance of a human expert on some specialised reasoning task. Also called knowledge-based systems, they are able to store and manipulate knowledge so that they can help a user to solve a problem or make a decision.
An expert system of this type is being developed in Australia to assist doctors in the diagnosis of melanoma, one of the most common types of cancer that manifests itself as dark patches similar to moles on the skin. In order to build the expert system, 45 different cancerous melanomas and 176 similar but benign non-melanomas were photographed and the images processed to remove hair, oil bubbles, etc. to extract the essential features. From these pictures and the known correct diagnoses, asset of ‘rules’ can be programmed into the expert system so that when presented with a photograph of a new skin lesion, the computer can make a diagnosis with a high degree of accuracy. The next step is to develop a real-time device.
Skin Polar-probe Operation
- An image of the lesion is captured by the Polar-probe camera system and downloaded onto the Polar-probe computer system.
- Calibration is performed. Image pre-processing follows to mask out hairs and oil bubbles oil bubbles and to identify the boundaries of the lesion.
- The image is analysed by the Skin Polar-probe software algorithms to extract diagnostic features of the lesion that facilitate the identification of melanoma using multiple descriminants such as colour segmentation, lesion patterns and geometry.
- The computer algorithms, developed in collaboration with CSIRO, compare the values with stored values inside the computer database. The stored values are based on a large amount of empirical data that has been collected in a data library by Polartechnics and the Sydney Melanoma Unit, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
- The Skin Polar-probe computes the data using the detection algorithms and a decision is made as to whether the lesion is a melanoma or not.
- The physician is informed of the computer’s diagnosis immediately.
(Reproduction with permission from Polartechnics Ltd, Sydney, Australia)
- Discussion: What are the benefits and drawbacks of using of using such a system for the diagnosis of melanomas?
Computers and the disabled
About ten percent of people in Britain have some kind of disability. For many of them, new computer technology can dramatically improve their quality of life, their ability to communicate and their opportunities for independence and employment.
Today there are systems based on a personal computer that can talk, listen, teach, communicate and translate. People with control over just an eyelid or a toe, for example, can communicate by means of the proper equipment attached to a PC.
- Scanners can convert printed text to verbal output for the visually impaired;
- Voice recognition equipment converts speech to printed or displayed output for the hearing impaired;
- People with physical disabilities can use special pointing devices, pens or touch screens instead of keying devices for interacting with a computer;
- Vision systems have sensors built into special glasses;
- Implanted computerised devices can help physically impaired people to become mobile.
Case study: Eyes in the sky
A satellite navigation system for the blind is expected to transform the way visually handicapped people get around towns and cities, and will make travelling to unfamiliar places overseas less of an ordeal and more of a pleasure. It is to be tested by several visually handicapped people in Birmingham.
The system hinges on the Global Positioning System (GPS) of satellites encircling the earth. Receivers picking up the signals from the satellites can calculate precisely where they are on earth. People from yachtsmen to motorists using in-cars navigation devices now use the systems.
The blind person’s version is essentially a portable computer plus a satellite receiver. The computer, fitted with a speech synthesiser so that it can ‘talk’ to the user, contains electronic Ordinance Survey maps of an area or city. A blind person trained on a keyboard taps into the system his or her location and where they want to go, and it automatically plots the route.
Once this has been done, the user is ready to go and steps out of the house. The computer will then say things like “Walk 100 yards, turn left and then right”. It will also inform you of landmarks on the way, such as a fire station, and mention the numbers of houses or buildings on a street.
Source: Nick Nuttall, The Sunday Times, 27 March 1996.
Exercises
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Computers and microprocessors are being used to help the physically disabled in many different ways. For each of two different types of handicap, briefly describe a way in which patients can be helped by this new technology.
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Briefly describe two examples of how computers could aid surgeons performing operations. You must show clearly the role of the computer in your answer.
- Research an application of information technology in one of the following areas: medicine, the home, education, helping people to overcome disabilities, environmental work. Prepare and deliver a short presentation. Your sources could include magazines and newspapers, TV programs such as Tomorrow’s World, the Internet and library textbooks.
Section 1 – Information: Nature, Role and Content
Rai Karra Page 4/20/2007
