When it comes to medical applications for imaging, monitoring and patient care, the demands of connectors and passive components are varied. TTi Europe identified and supplied examples of each for applications as diverse as patient monitoring and therapeutic- or sterile-equipment protection, as well as supporting healthcare training. The availability of basic healthcare and sanitation throughout much of the world has created higher rates of survival through childhood and longer adult life expectancy. This has generated a boom in the population in many countries and an accelerating upward shift in the proportion of people surviving into older age.
To provide better-quality and cost-effective care—not only for the elderly but for all sectors of the population—an increasing emphasis is being put on the use of electronic equipment in medicine. In the countries that are now becoming more industrial as they emerge from poverty, there is a strong growth in the demand for advanced medical equipment in order to increase the effectiveness of the finite medical resources available.
Health spending
Thoughout the world, spending on healthcare is forecast to substantially outpace GDP growth, from 9% of the worldwide GDP in 2005 to 11% by 2015. Sadly, the increased demand is not only for the elderly: "modern" lifestyles have caused rises in so-called lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
The availability and effectiveness of electronic healthcare equipment has led to new approaches in medicine—such as telemedecine—to confront these issues. But there remain many challenges and opportunities in medical electronics (Figure 1).
The cost-effectiveness of addressing the complete "care cycle" rather than simply waiting for the patient to develop symptoms is increasingly recognised as a sensible approach to healthcare: the adage "prevention is better than cure" surely applies. This approach is generating a demand for improved preventative screening systems for various forms of cancer, as well as heart disease and chronic conditions, that can be treated early if the "warning" signs or early conditions are identified. As well as prevention, substantial cost savings are made, and patient welfare is improved when people treat themselves at home. This has led to the creation of a demand for smaller and more portable equipment, such as home defibrillators, inhalers and diabetes care devices. Product innovation is the key to making electronic healthcare equipment more accessible and easy to use, enabling these new demands to be better met.
Healthcare imaging
Electronic healthcare equipment can be categorised into four main sectors: diagnostic and imaging equipment, patient monitoring, therapeutic equipment, and hospital and patient care. In all sectors, equipment manufacturers need access to high-quality passive electronic components and interconnection systems suited to medical applications. TTi has helped healthcare OEMs with component solutions from key franchises—interconnect- and membrane-switch manufacturer Molex, and passive-component manufacturer Murata.
With these two franchises, the distributor has addressed challenges of advanced healthcare equipment, providing new component solutions in—for example—diagnostic and imaging equipment. In these areas, technology drivers include the move from analogue to digital, where real-time imaging with improved image quality and computer-aided detection has benefits for patients and medical practicioners alike, with enhanced images of scans delivered faster and refreshed more rapidly for an accurate image, whether of a developing baby or lungs.
To address these issues, new equipment will use higher power levels and denser backplanes. The higher power levels will mean that there is a demand for higher current connectors with better filtering in the power sections. It also leads to the increased use of non-magnetic RF/fibre connectivity.
Remote monitoring
In patient monitoring, the application trends are multiple. Generally, there is a trend towards portability, which has pressures for power consumption. Another trend is for ultra-low power operation. To ease patient comfort and to relieve the workload in hospitals and doctors' surgeries, the trend for remote testing—and, therefore, wireless technology—has also been identified. Finally, the increase in the use of non-invasive devices is becoming more popular and more prevalent. To achieve the small form factor required for portable healthcare, copper flex circuits with integrated membrane switches from Molex, for example, allow for compact design. They are also designed for easy cleaning and disinfection (Figure 2), which is so important in healthcare environments, especially in shared areas. To address the requirements for remote monitoring and data acquisition, another franchise, Murata, supplies RF coils, SAW filters and resonators, chip antennae and complete Bluetooth modules for use in communications systems and instrumentation (Figure 3).
Therapeutic equipment is the category covering applications where treatment is applied to the patient. Some examples of this equipment are feeding pumps, respirators, pacemakers and dialysis. The development of new equipment, with increased portability, simpler user interfaces and disposable assemblies, is enabling increased availability of this treatment in the patient's home at affordable prices. Adding networking and wireless connectivity provides hospital staff with the capability to remotely monitor self-administered treatment (Figure 4).
Prevention above treatment
Hospital and patient care includes surgical equipment, prosthetics, hospital beds and after-care. In the surgery rooms or operating theatres, surgeons now use powered surgical tools, and advances in machine vision are enabling the use of robots to undertake surgical procedures. However, the avoidance of cross infection is an absolute priority, and electronic items coming in contact with patients must be capable of autoclave sterilisation. In the hospital ward, the cleaning and disinfection of equipment is made easier by the increased use of fibre-optic interfaces with overmoulded cables to protect the cables within. To meet this demand, Molex provides both a range of overmoulded cables and custom solutions for medical interconnection applications to enable a clean environment during man-machine-interface treatments or when using a computer keyboard and screen at the patient's bedside.
The franchise and distributor partnership is well-established. TTi has specified connectors, backplane products, processor and IC sockets, custom and non-magnetic RF, fibre and MID solutions, custom overmould assemblies, as well as copper flex and membrane switches from Molex for use in medical environments and equipment. It has also supplied ceramic, passive electronic components and modules—including capacitors, filters, sensors and piezoelectric devices—from Murata.
To futher increase the understanding of the demands of this highly-specialised area of electronics design, the distributor is undertaking a staff training programme, together with the two franchise companies, covering the specific requirements of healthcare electronics. Tools and resources to deliver application support for medical-equipment developers will be provided, enabling the companies' teams to produce the new generation of healthcare systems that are needed throughout the world, says TTi.
Figure 1: Medical-technology market segments.
Figure 2: The connectors and switches offered by Molex.
Figure 3: Murata's component portfolio can be used for medical equipment.
Figure 4: Health begins at home, as portable equipment allows patients to be monitored without being in the hospital.
