What is Medical Equipment and Types of

Medical Equipment ?

Medical equipment also known as armamentarium. its is designed to aid in the

diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of medical conditions. The development of new
advance featured medical equipment helps a patient to easily recover from their
disease.
Some of the most commonly used pieces of diagnostic
equipment include MRI, ultrasound machines, PET scanners (which use cameras
and tracer fluid to produce images of a patient’s internal organs in orde r to detect
signs of cancer or other diseases), CT scanners (which use x-ray sand dye to do the
same job as PET scanner)

There are Several Basic Types of Hospital

Medical Equipment are :
There are more than 10,000 types of medical devices available. Life support medical
equipment is used to maintain a patient’s bodily function. This includes medical
ventilators, incubators, anaesthetic machines, heart -lung machines, ECMO, and
dialysis machines.
Medical monitors allow medical staff to measure a patient’s me dical state. Monitors
may measure patient vital signs and other parameters including ECG, EEG, and blood
pressure.
Laboratory Medical equipment automates or helps analyze blood, urine, genes, and
dissolved gases in the blood.
Diagnostic Medical Equipment may also be used in the home for certain purposes,
e.g. for the control of diabetes mellitus
Therapeutic: physical therapy machines like continuous passive range of motion
(CPM) machines
A bio medical equipment technician (BMET) is a vital component of the healthcare
delivery system. Employed primarily by hospitals, BMETs are the people responsible
for maintaining a facility’s medical equipment. BMET mainly act as an interface
between doctor and equipment.
Medical Diagnosis & Medical Equipment

Medical diagnosis is the process of

determining which disease or condition explains a person’s symptoms and signs. It is
most often referred to as diagnosis with the medical context being implicit. The
information required for diagnosis is typically collected from a history and physical
examination of the person seeking medical care. Often, one or more diagnostic
procedures, such as diagnostic tests, are also done during the process. Sometimes
Posthumous diagnosis is considered a kind of medical diagnosis. Medical
equipment is designed to aid in the diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of medical
conditions. The development of new advance featured medical equipment helps a
patient to easily recover from their disease.
1. Medical imaging : Medical imaging is the techni que and process of creating visual
representations of the interior of a body for clinical analysis and medical intervention,
as well as visual representation of the function of some organs or tissues
(physiology). Medical imaging seeks to reveal internal structures hidden by the skin
and bones, as well as to diagnose and treat disease. Medical imaging also
establishes a database of normal anatomy and physiology to make it possible to
identify abnormalities. Although imaging of removed organs and tissues can be
performed for medical reasons, such procedures are usually considered part of
pathology instead of medical imaging.
2. Medical ultrasound : (also known as diagnostic sonography or ultrasonography) is
a diagnostic imaging technique based on the application of ultrasound. It is used to
see internal body structures such as tendons, muscles, joints, vessels and internal
organs. Its aim is often to find a source of a disease or to exclude any pathology. The
practice of examining pregnant women using ultrasound is called obstetric
ultrasound, and is widely used.
Ultrasound is sound waves with frequencies which are higher than those audible to
humans (>20,000 Hz). Ultrasonic images also known as sonograms are made by
sending pulses of ultrasound into tissue using a probe. The sound echoes off the
tissue; with different tissues reflecting varying degrees of sound. These echoes are
recorded and displayed as an image to the operator.
Many different types of images can be formed using sonographic instruments. The
most well-known type is a B-mode image, which displays the acoustic impedance of a
two-dimensional cross-section of tissue. Other types of image can display blood flow,
motion of tissue over time, the location of blood, the presence of specific molecules,
the stiffness of tissue, or the anatomy of a three -dimensional region.
Compared to other prominent methods of medical imaging, ultrasound has several
advantages. It provides images in real -time, it is portable and can be brought to the
bedside, it is substantially lower in cost, and it does not use harmful ioni sing radiation.
Drawbacks of ultrasonography include various limits on its field of view including
patient cooperation and physique, difficulty imaging structures behind bone and air,
and its dependence on a skilled operator.
3. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) :- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a
medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the
physiological processes of the body in both health and disease. MRI scanners use
strong magnetic fields, radio waves, and field gradients to generate images of the
inside of the body.
MRI does not involve x -rays, which distinguishes it from computed tomography (CT or
CAT). While the hazards of x-rays are now well-controlled in most medical contexts,
MRI can still be seen as superior to CT in this regard. MRI can often yield different
diagnostic information compared with CT. There can be risks and discomfort
associated with MRI scans. Compared with CT, MRI sca ns typically: take more time,
are louder, and usually require that the subject go into a narrow tube. In addition,
people with some medical implants or other non -removable metal inside the body may
be unable to safely undergo an MRI examination.
MRI is based upon the science of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Certain
atomic nuclei can absorb and emit radio frequency energy when placed in an external
magnetic field. In clinical and research MRI, hydrogen atoms are most-often used to
generate a detectable radio-frequency signal that is received by antennas in close
proximity to the anatomy being examined. Hydrogen atoms exist naturally in people
and other biological organisms in abund ance, particularly in water and fat. For this
reason, most MRI scans essentially map the location of water and fat in the body.
Pulses of radio waves excite the nuclear spin energy transition, and magnetic field
gradients localise the signal in space. By v arying the parameters of the pulse
sequence, different contrasts can be generated between tissues based on the
relaxation properties of the hydrogen atoms therein. Since its early development in the
1970s and 1980s,MRI has proven to be a highly versatile imaging technique.
While MRI is most prominently used in diagnostic medicine and biomedical research, it
can also be used to form images of non -living objects. MRI scans are capable of
producing a variety of chemical and physical data, in addition to detailed spatial
images.
Positron emission tomography (PET) : is a nuclear medicine, functional imaging
technique that is used to observe metabolic processes in the body. The system detects
pairs of gamma rays emitted indirectly by a positron -emitting radionuclide (tracer),
which is introduced into the body on a biologically active molecule. Three -dimensional
images of tracer concentration within the body are then constructed by computer
analysis. In modern PET-CT scanners, three dimensional imaging is often
accomplished with the aid of a CT X-ray scan performed on the patient during the
same session, in the same machine.
If the biologically active molecule chosen for PET is fludeoxy glucose (FDG), an
analogue of glucose, the concentrations of tracer imaged will indicate tissue metabolic
activity as it corresponds to the regional glucose uptake. Use of this tracer to explore
the possibility of cancer metastasis (i.e., spreading to oth er sites) is the most common
type of PET scan in standard medical care (90% of current scans). However, although
on a minority basis, many other radioactive tracers are used in PET to image the
tissue concentration of other types of molecules of interest. One of the disadvantages
of PET scanners is their operating cost.
4. CT scan : A CT scan (often referred to as a CAT scan) makes use of computer -
processed combinations of many X-ray images taken from different angles to produce
cross-sectional (tomographic) images of specific areas of a scanned object, allowing
the user to see inside the object without cutting.
Medical Equipment : Digital geometry processing is used to generate a three -
dimensional image of the inside of the object from a large series of two -dimensional
radio-graphic images taken around a single axis of rotation. Medical imaging is the
most common application of X-ray CT. Its cross-sectional images are used for
diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in various medical disciplines. The rest of th is
article discusses medical-imaging X-ray CT; industrial applications of X-ray CT are
discussed at industrial computed tomography scanning.
The term “computed tomography” (CT) is often used to refer to X -ray CT, because it is
the most commonly known form. But, many other types of CT exist, such as positron
emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed
tomography (SPECT). Older and less preferred terms that also refer to X -ray CT are
computed axial tomography (CAT scan) and computer aided to mography. X-ray
tomography is one form of radiography, along with many other forms of tomographic
and non-tomographic radiography.
CT produces a volume of data that can be manipulated in order to demonstrate various
bodily structures based on their ability to block the X-ray beam. Although, historically,
the images generated were in the axial or transverse plane, perpendicular to the long
axis of the body, modern scanners allow this volume of data to be reformatted in
various planes or even as volumetric (3 D) representations of structures. Although most
common in medicine, Medical equipment like CT scanner is also used in other fields,
such as nondestructive materials testing. Another example is archaeological uses such
as imaging the contents of sarcophagi. Individuals responsible for performing CT
exams are called radiographers or radiologic technologists
5. X-ray generator : An X-ray generator is a device that produces X-rays. It is
commonly used in a variety of applications including medicine, fluorescence, electronic
assembly inspection, and measurement of material thickness in manufacturing
operations. In medical applications, X -ray generators are used b y radiographers to
acquire x-ray images of the internal structures (e.g., bones) of living organisms, and
also in sterilization.
Treatment medical equipment : includes infusion pumps, medical
lasers and LASIK surgical machines.
1.Infusion pump : An infusion pump infuses fluids, medication or nutrients into a
patient’s circulatory system. It is generally used intravenously, although subcutaneous,
arterial and epidural infusions are occasionally used.
Infusion pumps can administer fluids in ways that would be impractically expensive or
unreliable if performed manually by nursing staff. For example, they can administer as
little as 0.1 ml per hour injections (too small for a drip), injections every minute,
injections with repeated boluses requested by the patie nt, up to maximum number per
hour (e.g. in patient-controlled analgesia), or fluids whose volumes vary by the time of
day.
Because they can also produce quite high but controlled pressures, they can inject
controlled amounts of fluids subcutaneously (benea th the skin), or epidurally (just
within the surface of the central nervous system – a very popular local spinal
anaesthesia for childbirth).
2. Laser : A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification
based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The term “laser”
originated as an acronym for “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation”.
The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore H. Maiman at Hughes Research
Laboratories, based on theoretical w ork by Charles Hard Townes and Arthur Leonard
Schawlow. A laser differs from other sources of light in that it emits light coherently.
Spatial coherence allows a laser to be focused to a tight spot, enabling applications
such as laser cutting and lithograp hy. Spatial coherence also allows a laser beam to
stay narrow over great distances (collimation), enabling applications such as laser
pointers. Lasers can also have high temporal coherence, which allows them to emit
light with a very narrow spectrum, i.e., they can emit a single colour of light. Temporal
coherence can be used to produce pulses of light as short as a fem to second.
Among their many applications, lasers are used in optical disk drives, laser printers,
and bar code scanners; DNA sequencing ins truments, fiber-optic and free-space
optical communication; laser surgery and skin treatments; cutting and welding
materials; military and law enforcement devices for marking targets and measuring
range and speed; and laser lighting displays in entertainme nt.
3. LASIK : LASIK or Lasik (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), commonly referred to
as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the
correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. The LASIK surgery is perf ormed by
an ophthalmologist who uses a laser or microkeratome to reshape the eye’s cornea in
order to improve visual acuity. For most patients, LASIK provides a permanent
alternative to eyeglasses or contact lenses.
LASIK is most similar to another surgica l corrective procedure, photorefractive
keratectomy (PRK), and both represent advances over radial keratotomy in the
surgical treatment of refractive errors of vision. For patients with moderate to high
myopia or thin corneas which cannot be treated with L ASIK and PRK, the phakic
intraocular lens is an alternative. As of 2011, over 11 million LASIK procedures had
been performed in the United States and as of 2009 over 28 million have been
performed worldwide.