Will The Medical Tricorder From Star Trek Become Real?

Analyzing disease instantly: the medical tricorder has been one of the most exciting futuristic technologies in medicine since Star Trek. But will it ever get to the black bag of General Practitioners? As a movie fan, I love talking about how the science fiction movies of the last 100 years have shaped our ideas about medical technology. When university students doing film studies asked me to give a talk on how sci-fi influenced medical technology, I dedicated a whole section to technology inspired by Star Trek. The long list includes telepresence, the hypospray for painless injections, voice–activated communicators, the iPad, diagnostic beds that tracked numerous vital signs, and of course the famous medical tricorder. A working tricorder When Dr McCoy grabbed his tricorder and scanned a patient, the portable, hand–held device immediately listed vital signs, other parameters, and a diagnosis. It was the Swiss Army knife for physicians. When our class discussion turned to potential medical uses, a doubtful student asked how such a thing could work in real when it came from science fiction. I then gave him another list to consider. A visual display device from Star Trek is Google Glass now. The heads–up display in Minority Report is air touch technology. Iron Man is currently being developed by DARPA. The self–directed vacuum cleaner from The Jetsons now exists as Roomba. I could go on. A working tricorder could bring about a new era in medicine. Instead of expensive...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Portable Diagnostics GC1 Source Type: blogs