Integrated Electronics in Medicine

Abstract

This chapter discusses the status of custom-integrated electronics in medicine. By considering subcutaneous electronics, it might be said that there is no more clear-cut or demanding need in medicine for custom integrated circuits. The uncompromising requirements for small size and weight, low-power drain, and high reliability can best be met by custom integrated electronics. The relatively vast functional capability that can be incorporated in implantable systems through custom integrated circuits opens profound new opportunities in medicine. Multifunction implantable telemetry systems in research animals offer opportunities for exploration of new concepts of biological system behavior and establishment of new quantitative standards of behavior. Implantable telemetry should become an invaluable and very widely used tool in future animal research as a consequence of custom integrated circuits. The need for custom integrated circuits in supercutaneous electronics might be termed less acute than in chronic implants. Nevertheless, there are two prime classes of applications in which the use of custom integrated circuits could be quite significant. The less significant of these appears to be patient monitoring systems for continuous data collection under normal living conditions. The future of custom integrated circuits in this class of application hinges largely on the degree of medical value attached to information derived from supercutaneous patient monitoring systems.