Technology of good: advancement in the service of health

By Vivaldo Breternitz, Information System specialist and professor at Mackenzie University
 

Some Brazilian hospitals already have hybrid rooms; in them, sophisticated imaging tests are performed in real time during surgeries. A recent concept in the medical-hospital area, hybrid rooms consist of the union between the operating room and the room for non-surgical intervention procedures associated with high definition imaging equipment. The space is designed for exams to be used before, during and after interventions, providing more safety and precision in complex procedures.

Usually associated with these rooms are workstations all-in-one. With features touch screen, like smartphones, they allow physicians to access and record information about surgical appointments, laboratory results, diagnostic test reports and images. Clinical data can also be checked during surgeries, through screens arranged around the surgical field.

The 3D printing technique, which is rapidly becoming popular, allows for customization unprecedented in the history of medicine and dentistry. Using different materials, 3D printers create prostheses, replicas of body parts and bespoke implants – it is hoped that in a short time it will be possible to “print” human organs and tissues, which would replace the originals when necessary.

Still somewhat distant from the Brazilian reality, the “Human Brain Project” (HBP), which has been developed within the European Union and has as its main objective to understand how the human brain works, in order to develop solutions in the health area and technological tools that can help in this area.

One of the products of the project is the Neuromorphic Computing Platform (NCP), which can be presented in a simplistic way, as a supercomputer that mimics the synapses of the central nervous system of human beings, thus being able to "think", make decisions and correct your own mistakes. 

This computer is totally different from conventional machines, which are programmed to perform specific tasks using rigid logic. The NCP, operating like a human brain, can change the course of its actions according to changes in the external environment and even “correct” any mistakes it has made.
What is expected is that our weakened public health system can incorporate these innovations in a way that benefits the entire population.