Product Application Focus: Medical Electronics
"Seeing is believing" is a phrase doctors live by. To provide the best patient care, both the teaching and practice of modern medicine depend heavily not only on the ability to see real-world conditions and events, but also to make visual many different types of nongraphical as well as graphical data. Thus healthcare is one of the major professional markets for high-end display systems.
HDTV monitors in an NYU Cardiology School operating room.
Medical display technology is undergoing rapid change, according to U.S. Medical Display Monitor Market , a report from Frost & Sullivan (Palo Alto, CA) issued last year. The report notes that CRTs are now being quickly replaced by longer-lived and technically superior LCDs, and points out that there is double-digit demand for such displays for use in picture-archiving communications systems (PACS), which are replacing film-based X-rays with digital imaging. At the same time, there is increased desire to use high-definition video displays in surgical arenas to improve training and communication.
In surgery
At NYU's Cardiology School in New York City, system integrator VTS Medical North America (Melville, NY) recently installed HDTV systems in several operating rooms. The high-definition systems were needed to replace standard-definition CRTs because the older equipment could not provide the kind of resolution needed to provide accurate images of today's open-heart operations.
The new systems incorporate some very large Sony Electronics (Park Ridge, NJ) HDD color LCDs�the 42-in. FWD42LX1/S and 32-in. FWD32LX1/S�as well as Sony's SDM-S93B 19-in. flat-panel VGA information displays. The large displays not only provide better resolution, but also render color more accurately, thus providing a more realistic view of operations and operating procedures.
MultiSync large-screen LCDs from NEC Display Solutions of America (Itasca, IL) also support HTDV in medical environments. Available in sizes to 46-in. with viewing angles up to 176°, the screens can be mounted on rolling cards for portability and integrated with third-party shields and optional touchscreens.
It's not only large-size LCDs that are improving OR operations. Aimed for use with minimally invasive surgical equipment, Radiance series 19-in. LCDs from National Display Systems (Morgan Hill, CA) make use of two proprietary image-improving technologies: PPT and ILR. Picture-Perfect Technology (PPT) eliminates jagged edges that appear when interlaced video is used with progressive-scan displays, while Image Lag Reduction (ILR) anticipates the LCD drive required from one video frame to the next and modifies the subpixel drive level to significantly increase display response time.
NDS has also introduced 3- and 4-Mpixel PrimeVue series color displays for use in radiological departments. The 3-Mpixel DICOM system is intended for use as a primary reading device for cross-sectional and fusion images, providing 400-cd/m2 luminance, 400:1 contrast ratio, and a 6,631-level gray-scale palette. It has built-in DICOM calibration with six factory-set DVPs and one user-definable peak-luminance and CR preset to make set up and reconfiguration a mouse-click operation.
A researcher at Philips examines an X-ray on a high-contrast, high-definition prototype LCD.
The HDTV-format 4-Mpixel unit can provide dual 1,280 x 1,600 cross-sectional viewing or for combined viewing with ultrasound images. It has a 450:1 contrast ratio and provides 250 cd/m2 luminance. Both systems can be driven by the same NVIDIA graphic cards as the more traditional monochromatic radiology displays.
Planar Systems (Beaverton, OR) recently unveiled the 23-in. SD2320W stereoscopic monitor, which allows users wearing polarized lenses to view stereo images regardless of their position with respect to the screen. The company points out that 3-D systems appear well suited for medical applications such as mamographic examinations, letting physicians improve early detection of breast cancer by viewing tissue in depth.
Philips (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) has been in the forefront of developing displays for medicine. One of their latest systems, however, relies on a traditional display�the TV. Launched this spring in the U.S., the Motiva interactive healthcare platform uses broadband television along with at-home vital-sign measurement devices to connect patients to healthcare providers and medical support system.
Using an interactive television interface, patients access personalized content delivered via a cable TV connection, standard set-top box, and special remote control designed for older users. A nurse/care manager monitors the patient's condition and is alerted if follow-up is necessary.
�Richard Comerford