FUNDAMENTALS OF

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING

UNIT 1-Part 1
Course Objectives:

1. To make the students learn the basics of Biomedical Engineering.

2. To make the students comprehend the concepts of excitable cells
and organ systems.
3. To make the students understand the applications of basic
medical devices and medical technology advancements.
Course outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to
• CO-1 Identify the major roles of biomedical engineer.
• CO-2 Gain knowledge of bioelectricity.
• CO-3 Get familiarized with major organ systems and their
functions.
• CO-4 Describe the functions of medical instruments.
• CO-5 Understand the advancements of medical technology.
Unit I
• Modern health care system
• Areas of biomedical engineering
• Roles of biomedical engineers
• Clinical Engineering: Professional Societies
• Human experimentation
• Regulation of medical device innovation
• Ethical issues in Feasibility, emergency, and treatment
• Role of biomedical engineer in the FDA process
Before 20th Century…

• The individual’s dwelling was the major site for treatment and
recuperation
• relatives and neighbors constituted an able and willing nursing staff
• Midwives delivered babies
• those illnesses not cured by home remedies were left to run their fatal
course.
Modern health care- Evolution
• 20th Century- Beginning of modern medical practice

• the tremendous explosion in scientific knowledge and technology

lead to the development of the American health care system
• the hospital as its focal point and the specialist physician and nurse as
its most visible operatives.
Modern health care- Evolution
• Rapid advances in basic sciences-chemistry, physiology,
pharmacology
• Interdisciplinary cross-fertilization
• Physical science discoveries enabled medical research
• 1903-William Einthoven-ECG machine-electrical changes
measured during heart beating-new age for CV medicine and
electrical measurement techniques
Modern health care- Evolution
• Development of X-Rays-W.K.Roentgen-human body opened to
medical inspection
• Initially -X-rays-diagnosis of bone fractures, dislocations
• Separate Radiology division in every department-surgery, gynaecology
• 1930s-visualization of practically all organ systems with the use of
barium salt and other radio-opaque materials
Modern health care- Evolution
• Mid 1930s, early 1940s-use of antibiotics like sulfanilamide, pencillin
• reduced the main danger of cross infection among patients
• Surgeries with less deaths due to infection
• 1900- incompatibility between blood groups
• 1930s- blood banks with adequate refrigeration
• (till then fresh donors were bled and warm blood transfused)
• 1950s-Electron microscope-visualising small cells
• Body scanners-detect tumors using radioactive materials-nuclear
medicine departments
Modern health care- Evolution
• Advanced technology developed for military objectives
• Electronic devices
• After Second World War-surplus electronic equipment
• Trial with same equipment- results disappointing
• Initially-development costs were high
• Design medical instruments instead of modifying existing ones
Illustration of various
transplantation possibilities
Photograph depicting an early electrocardiograph machine
Modern ECG machines
the surgical scene in the late 1920s and early 1930s
Modern operation theatre
Laser surgery, a new tool in the physician’s arsenal
Hospitals

• General hospitals – treat wide range of conditions

• Community Memorial Hospital, St. John’s, Ventura County Medical
Center
• Specialty hospitals – treat certain conditions or age groups - Burns,
oncology, pediatric, etc.
• Government hospitals – operated by government agencies
• Veteran’s hospitals, state psychiatric hospitals, state rehab centers.
• University medical centers – provide services, research and education
(training).
Classifications of Hospitals
• Based on funding received
• Private hospital funded by patient fees and/or an organization
providing support
• Religious hospital (St. John’s) funded by patient fees and support
from religious institution
• Non-profit hospital funded by patient fees and donations
• Government hospital funded by tax money and patient fees
Long Term Care Facilities (LTCF)
• Provide care for elderly, people with physical/mental disabilities, or people
with chronic or long term illnesses
• Patients called residents or clients
• Nursing homes – geriatric patients
• Basic physical and emotional care for patients who cannot care for
themselves
• Offer different levels of care based on needs for daily living
• Skilled nursing and rehabilitative care from major illness or surgery, cancer
treatment, or daily treatments like dialysis or heart monitoring.
Dental and Optometry
• Can vary from private offices to larger clinics
• Both dental and optometry services can now be found in malls or department
stores!
Clinics
• Refers to group of physicians who share a facility
• All types of specialties found in clinics
• Hospitals have outpatient clinics for treatment that does not require hospital
admittance
• Public Health Department has clinics for pediatric care, immunizations
• Medical schools have clinics for medical students to work/train in
• Often offer free care
• Home health care
• Provide care in patient’s home
• Types of care:
• Nursing
• personal care: bathing, dressing
• Therapy: occupational, speech, respiratory
• Homemaking: meals, cleaning, washing
• Can be funded by many sources.
• Growing industry as population ages
• Emergency Care Services
• Provide care for sudden illness or accidents/trauma
• Includes: ambulance services, rescue squads, emergency rooms in
hospitals
• Hospice agencies
• Provide care for the terminally ill who have life expectancy of 6 months
• Care provided at home
• Allows person to die with dignity and in comfort
• Provides psychological, social, spiritual, and physical support to individual
and family.
• Mental Health facilities
• Deal with mental diseases and disorders
• Examples:
• Guidance and counseling centers
• Psychiatric clinic and hospitals
• Chemical abuse treatment centers
• Physical abuse treatment centers
• Rehabilitation facilities
• Provide care directed at helping patient with physical or mental
disabilities to obtain maximum independence
• Can be associated with hospitals, clinics, or private centers
• Services can include physical, occupational, speech, recreational, and
hearing therapies.
 Biomedical Engineering
• Many of the problems confronting health professionals today
are of extreme importance to the engineer because they
involve
• the fundamental aspects of device and systems analysis
• Design
• practical application
all of which lie at the heart of processes that are fundamental to
engineering practice.
These medically relevant design problems can range from
• very complex large-scale problems as the design and implementation
of automated clinical laboratories and hospital information systems
• to the creation of relatively small and simple devices, such as
recording electrodes and transducers that are used to monitor the
activity of specific physiological processes in either a research or
clinical setting.
They encompass the many complexities of remote monitoring and
telemetry and include the requirements of emergency vehicles,
operating rooms, and intensive care units.
 Biomedical Engineering
• The field has moved from being concerned primarily with the
development of medical devices in the 1950s and 1960s to include a
more wide-ranging set of activities.
 Biomedical Engineering
• appears to have the most comprehensive meaning.
• Biomedical engineers apply electrical, chemical, optical, mechanical,
and other engineering principles to understand, modify, or control
biological (i.e., human and animal) systems.
• Biomedical engineers working within a hospital are more properly
called clinical engineers
• but this theoretical distinction is not always observed in practice
• The breadth of activity of biomedical engineers is significant.
Areas include
• Application of engineering system analysis (physiologic modeling, simulation, and
control to biological problems
• Detection, measurement, and monitoring of physiologic signals (i.e., biosensors
and biomedical instrumentation)
• Diagnostic interpretation via signal-processing techniques of bioelectric data &
Therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures and devices (rehabilitation
engineering)
• Devices for replacement or augmentation of bodily functions (artificial organs)
• Computer analysis of patient-related data and clinical decision making (i.e.,
medical informatics and artificial intelligence)
• Medical imaging; that is, the graphical display of anatomic detail or physiologic
function
• creation of new biologic products (i.e., biotechnology and tissue engineering)
• Biomedical Engineering- Solving problems in medicine and biology
using engineering methods and technology
• Clinical Engineering-Application of engineering methods and
technology to the safe and effective provision of health care
• Mission-ensure the safe and effective application of technology to patient
care
• Customers-Clinical staff and patients
Interactions of clinical engineer in hospital
Clinical Engineers
• employed in hospitals or clinical settings are called Clinical engineers
• responsible for all the high-technology instruments and systems used in
hospitals today
• training of medical personnel in equipment safety;
• for the design, selection, and use of technology to deliver safe and effective
health care.
• Clinical engineers provide extensive engineering services for the clinical
staff and serve as a significant resource for the entire hospital
• Possess in-depth knowledge regarding available in-house technological
capabilities as well as the technical resources available from outside firms.
• Modern clinical engineer enables the hospital to make effective and
efficient use of most if not all of its technological resources.
 Pursuits of biomedical engineers
• Research in new materials for implanted artificial organs
• Development of new diagnostic instruments for blood analysis
• Writing software for analysis of medical research data
• Analysis of medical device hazards for safety and efficacy
• Development of new diagnostic imaging systems
• Design of telemetry systems for patient monitoring
• Design of biomedical sensors
• Development of expert systems for diagnosis and treatment of diseases
• Design of closed-loop control systems for drug administration
• Modeling of the physiologic systems of the human body
• Design of instrumentation for sports medicine
• Development of new dental materials
• Design of communication aids for individuals with disabilities
• Study of pulmonary fluid dynamics
• Study of biomechanics of the human body & Development of
material to be used as replacement for human skin
Role of biomedical engineers
• Biomedical engineering involves training essentially three types of
individuals: clinical engineer in health care, biomedical design engineer for
industry and the research scientist.
• Biomedical engineers must understand the biological situation to apply
their judgment and contribute their knowledge toward the solution of the
given problem as well as to defend their methods in terms that the life
scientist can understand.
• Activities of the engineer–scientist inevitably involve instrument
development because the exploitation of sophisticated measurement
techniques is often necessary to perform the biological side of the
experimental work.
• Biomedical engineer is a true partner of the biological scientist and has
become an integral part of the research teams being formed in many
institutes to develop techniques and experiments that will unfold the
mysteries of the human organism.
• Biomedical engineering educational programs are continually being
challenged to develop curricula that will provide an adequate
exposure and knowledge about the biological environment, without
sacrificing essential engineering skills.
• The ultimate role of the biomedical engineer is to make health care
practitioners and administrators aware of the needs for these new
professionals and the roles for which they are being trained.
• The great potential, challenge, and promise in this endeavor offer not
only significant technological benefits but also humanitarian benefits