The Medical Tricorder Is Almost Here

Sensor Wristband for ‘Round-the-Clock Health and Fitness Monitoring http://t.co/nWY875HbcX
— Portable Genomics (@portablegenomic) September 9, 2013

"Nanonsensors, imaging technology and genomics could combine to create a future where individuals are empowered to manage their own medical care. Empowering patients with digital health monitoring presents a significant way to drive impactful change."

"Forget Star Trek—the medical tricorder is almost here and a tech revolution is just getting started" http://t.co/I6KpItttzF @nationalpost
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) September 9, 2013

"Nanonsensors, imaging technology and genomics could combine to create a future where individuals are empowered to manage their own medical care. (...) A tense work meeting prompting rapid heartbeat and increased blood pressure? An app might suggest which steps will return the body to equilibrium. Imagine the effects on the fight against cancer — we could all have blood vessel sensors that text message us when they come across a circulating tumour cell, or a protein marker for cancer. Perhaps we could cure cardiovascular disease, because other sensors help us to effectively control our LDL cholesterol, or identify biomarkers of inflammation. (...) But we’re still years away from such a scenario, and policy makers and the medical community are going to have to wrap their heads around some of these changes before such a future can even arrive. Is the wish for more convenient and customizable care unreasonable in a high-tech world? If individuals want the changes, then a health technology revolution is coming. (...) due in March 2014 is the Scanadu Scout, an egg-shaped “medical tricorder” that works with an app to determine all sorts of medical diagnostic data when you press it to your forehead. (...) This summer saw the preliminary release of Google Glass, the spectacle-mounted wearable computer that’s rumoured to be bringing as large a disruption to the way we live as the launch of the original iPhone. Next year comes the expected launch of the Apple iWatch, a smartphone-type device that one wears on the wrist."

Dr. Aw: Forget Star Trek — the medical tricorder is almost here and a tech revolution is just getting started

Dr. James Aw | 13/09/09 | Last Updated: 13/09/09 4:01 PM ET

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images files "Will Google Glass, pictured, and Apple's iWatch be the Star Trek medical tricorders we've been waiting for? Most likely, writes Dr. Aw, but the future could be even more technology-infused, with diagnostic nanorobots that would beam information about our bodies to experts in real time, or allow for levels of self-care not thought possible in the past."