Robotic Surgery

Robotic surgery is a newer concept in the medical practice that makes it easier for doctors to successfully complete complex surgeries. With a robotic arm that is used to make incisions and view the insides of the body, doctors can accurately perform any surgery needed. They are used to remove cancerous tumors in the body and they do this by only making a one to two centimeters incision. They also use an endoscope which is used to see inside the body through the incision during surgery. They use this to locate the malignant tumor and perform the excision. The blood loss during surgery is also lower than an average surgery which will allow the patient to recover quickly. This will give the patient a greater chance of having a successful surgery and return back to full health. Robotic surgery is a safe and precise way to remove malignant tumors in the body.

Cyber Knife

The Cyber Knife is a machine that uses laser technology to pinpoint extreme amounts of radiation to a tumor anywhere in the body. They are used for cancerous and non-cancerous tumors, especially on those that have no cure. This is great for patients that have pancreatic and kidney tumors that either have no cure or are extremely hard to treat. These precise doses of radiation help to kill the tumor without making any incisions of any kind. The device is completely robotic and it is the very first of its kind. It pinpoints the location of the tumor and shoots a high amount of radiation directly on the tumor to kill the tumor. These procedures are great for patients who have tumors in difficult places to operate on such as the brain, spine, or pancreas. Any tumor that is near the central nervous system or a vital organ can make it very difficult to remove. This device helps destroy the tumor without risking the health of the surrounding organs or tissue.

CT scans

A CT scan or "cat scan" is used to see what is inside soft tissues located in the body. CT scans are used mainly in the cranial cavity due to the large amount of soft tissue located in within the skull. They are used to take pictures of the inner organs beneath the bone and connective tissues. A machine like this would be most commonly used to detect a problem within the cerebrum, cerebellum, or spinal cord located in the cranial cavity. These are vital organs to the body's major functions so it is imperative that you can detect malfunctions without having to risk damaging them in an unnecessary surgery. A CT scan is what found the tennis ball-size tumor in my cousin's head and allowed doctors to determine the location of the tumor within the brain before entering the skull in surgery. They were able to asses the danger of the surgery before hand because they knew it was close to the occipital lobe of the brain where the eyes function. It is machines like these that make our hospitals more efficient and safer for patients.

Muscle Stimulator

A muscle stimulator has been a machine that has been helping people rehabilitate their injuries for a long time. They are mainly used for exercise and for muscle fitness, but they can also help strengthen muscles that have been weakened from recent injury. If you have a broken bone and are in a cast for an extended period of time, the muscles that are attached to that bone are not being used. Over time, the muscles begin to weaken from lack of use. This can cause the injury to resurface after the patient is released because they lack muscle stability. Lack of stability in any appendage can cause bones to brake from added stress or muscles to hyper-extend from an excessive amount of flexibility. To prevent this, a muscle stimulator allows the muscle to flex and gain in build without putting added stress on the bones surrounding it.

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging)

An MRI machine is found in hospitals and doctor's offices all over the country, but what do they do exactly. They use magnetic waves to take detailed photographs of the inside of the body. It gives you a picture that looks as if you sliced the organ or body part in half to look inside without any actual cutting. It is how doctors see injuries in their patients before they have to cut open for surgery. This gives doctors a chance to evaluate the problem before they operate to fix it. These types of images are used to detect most types of injuries done to the soft tissue throughout the body. They can be used to show a minuscule stress fracture of a bone and they can be used to detect tears or rips in the connective tissue. By essentially scanning the inside of the body, the MRI machine is a great example of how modern technology benefits the medical industry.