Moderne technische Hilfen für die kardiovaskuläre Medizin

Abstract

Despite basic physiologic principles being well known for more than 300 years, the diagnosis and therapy of cardiovascular diseases are still in their early beginnings. For example, 100 years ago sudden cardiac arrest was regarded as the result of toxic gases. The diagnosis of ventricular fibrillation or treatment with a defibrillator are very recent developments. We are currently experiencing a technological revolution, which is rapidly changing cardiovascular medicine. This publication is focused on electrical devices and tries to identify some of the innovation mainstreams using a few examples to demonstrate these. Four megatrends are explained in more detail: the influence of wireless technology, information technology, micro systems technology, and thinking in systems. This paper is aimed at stimulating active researchers and engineers to detect the rapid changes that we often do not observe in our daily work. The author hopes that this stimulation will lead to new ideas and combinations.