Star Trek-style hand-held medical scanners similar to the tricoder featured in the television series may soon become a reality. These portable devices can revolutionize many aspects of health care.
Scientists have developed a new way to create electromagnetic Terahertz (THz) waves or T-rays. They have created T-rays with much stronger directional beam at room-temperature conditions. This can lead to T-ray imaging devices with more power and higher resolution.
Due to a breakthrough in nanotechnology and nanofabrication, future T-ray systems generated can be smaller, more portable and much cheaper than current devices.
Since T-rays would be capable of detecting biological changes, such as, increased blood flow around tumor growths and other changes in the body, the T-ray scanner could function like a Star Trek-style medical tricorder.
According to research co-author Stefan Maier, "T-rays promise to revolutionize medical scanning to make it faster and more convenient, potentially relieving patients from the inconvenience of complicated diagnostic procedures and the stress of waiting for accurate results."
T-ray hand-held medical devices can have many promising applications.
In the case of large-scale triage, emergency teams responding to natural disasters or terrorist-related disasters can assess people who require urgent medical care. Using a Star Trek-style hand-held medical scanner, people with major internal injuries can be diagnosed quickly and given top priority for medical care.
Star Trek-style hand-held medical scanners are not available yet. Any individual or company that can develop this device can win a big prize.
The technology envisioned by this global competition involves a portable, wireless device in the palm of your hand that can monitor and diagnose your health conditions. This radical innovation in healthcare will allow unprecedented access to personal health metrics. It can give individuals far greater choices in when, where and how they receive health care.
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