ABSTRACT
The developing world comprises approximately 82% of the current overall population on Earth (approx. >7.16 billion-July/2013) and constitutes the greatest challenge insofar as the provision of at least rudimentary and sustainable medical technologies and expertise [1-3]. The chronic lack of medical adequacy in these regions (e.g., sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, South America) pervades smaller towns and villages that are relatively easily accessed. One might rightly surmise that the situation for the inhabitants of locales that are scarcely
CONTENTS
15.1 Current Status of Remote Medicine ................................................................................545 15.1.1 Telemedicine ...........................................................................................................546 15.1.2 Digital Medical Informatics .................................................................................549 15.1.3 Digital Communications .......................................................................................550 15.1.4 Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Remote Regions and the Developing World ... 552
15.1.4.1 Overlap between MRI Products and the Developing World ............ 552 15.1.4.2 Budget MRI Systems for the Developing World ................................. 553 15.1.4.3 Mobile MRI Systems: Serving the Wider Community ...................... 555 15.1.4.4 Portable MRI Systems on Wheels: New Hope for Patients ............... 556 15.1.4.5 Developing Trends in MRI .................................................................... 559 15.1.4.6 Innovations Poised to Shift the MRI Paradigm .................................. 560 15.1.4.7 Bold Future: Advent of the Incredible Shrinking MRI ...................... 561
15.1.5 Remote Robotic Telesurgery .................................................................................565 15.1.5.1 ZEUS Remote Intercontinental Surgery ..............................................565 15.1.5.2 ZEUS Remote Undersea/Space Surgery ..............................................565 15.1.5.3 Da Vinci Remote 3D Display with Haptic Tactile Feedback ............. 566 15.1.5.4 Trauma Pod ..............................................................................................566 15.1.5.5 Mobile Robotic Telesurgery ...................................................................568 15.1.5.6 Portable Intensive Care Unit .................................................................. 569
15.2 Nanomedical Devices in Remote Regions and the Developing World ..................... 570 15.2.1 VCSN and GMSD Imaging ................................................................................... 571 15.2.2 Prospective Nanomedical Contrast Imaging Agents ....................................... 572 15.2.3 Prospective Nanomedical Hyperthermic and Photothermal Therapeutics ... 573 15.2.4 Prospective Nanomedical Precision Drug Delivery ......................................... 574
References ..................................................................................................................................... 578
accessible at the best of times is likely to be abysmal and overwhelming. Individuals in these regions often have no option but to travel hundreds of miles to access the closest doctor or health facility. What we take for granted and consider as elemental infrastructural components (e.g., drivable roads, clean water, basic sanitation) are nonexistent; hence, there are signicant, or indeed severe, logistical restrictions.
