title: Microsystem technologies for medical applications.
abstract: Medical technologies are evolving at a very rapid pace. Portable communication devices and other handheld electronics are influencing our expectations of future medical tools. The advanced medical technologies of our future will not necessarily be large expensive systems. They are just as likely to be small and disposable. This paper reviews how microsystems are already impacting health care as commercial products or in clinical development. Example systems for point-of-care testing (POCT), patient monitoring tools, systemic drug delivery, local drug delivery, and surgical tools are described. These technologies are moving care from hospitals to outpatient settings, physicians' offices, community health centers, nursing homes, and the patients' homes. Microsystems that are rapidly adopted fulfill significant medical needs and are compatible with existing clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. mjcima@mit.edu
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Cima
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D055616:Microtechnology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems