Have you ever wondered how the dosage, preparation, compounding, and dispensation of drugs are computed? Well, this science and technology of weight and measures is referred to as medical metrology. Patients’ safety is a priority in the health sector. Hence, all measurement and calibration devices must be controlled and standardized periodically. Medical metrology helps in ensuring medical practitioners make an accurate diagnosis and subsequent effective treatment. Manufacturers of medical devices continue to refine their products by improving accuracy by matching the manufacturing process with a suitable device. With technological advances and an array of options, these devices have become smaller and more sophisticated.
Accurate and straightforward medical devices
Medical device manufacturers can increase their revenue and reduce production costs by ensuring they are of high quality. This is achieved by focusing on design and production. Thus, manufacturers need sophisticated metrology solutions to aid in proving the quality of the products. Manufacturers also need to anticipate problems and put in place a strategy to work through the issues. A quality measurement program seeks to find failures, not to confirm whether all the products are good. The manufacturing process must stabilize itself first before automation to prevent unforeseen issues. This includes using new and untried materials and creating three-dimensional parts of individual objects like heart implants from the patient’s metrology-level data.
Patients have a wide selection of metrology devices to choose from. While some patients are eager to try the latest technology, some patients prefer standard tried-and-true equipment. Some seek even more advanced devices that give them more accurate data. Manufacturers seek new metrology solutions that increase data procession and lowers production costs. These metrology devices are more reliable and require less training to operate.
Cost-effective devices
The appropriate medical metrology equipment for device manufacturers must balance cost, speed, accuracy, and ease of use. An example of such equipment is a top vision metrology system with a wide field of view. Manufacturers are going for equipment that can display live videos, zoom images, and have touchscreen-enabled software to increase devices’ accuracy. Easy to use means the equipment can take measurements by only touching some feature on the monitor screen. Most metrology equipment companies offer a variety of multi-sensor and vision systems.
3-D technology and measurements are growing in medical manufacturing as the latest devices are manufactured using prototyping and integrated methods. Thus, medical metrology is responding by capturing 3-dimensional data and with high resolution too.
CT Scanning and Medical Metrology
As medicine makes more technological strides, CT and X-Ray have become crucial components of manufacturing medical devices. Some medical customers rely on 2D X-ray equipment to perform a full inspection of the body, looking for any issues quickly. Recently, some manufacturers have made x-ray-based microscopes that can deliver CT data. The small size of the devices enables scanning many CT samples. The penetration length of a CT is limited by material’s density, with most vital medical devices made of plastics that makes penetration easier. The growing demand for 3D printing in medicine makes CT scanning application easy. For example, orthopedic implants benefit from high porosity, suitable for CT scanning, and providing more accurate data.
Multiple Sensors
Medical devices must mold the body of a patient. Doctors use smaller medical devices, for example, in surgery to magnify minute blood vessels, increase the success rate of the procedures, and reduce the duration of operating. A multi-sensor system incorporates tactile sensors, laser scanners, and video, which help measure small features and odd shapes. Other medical devices help in tracking patients using electronic signatures and providing more accurate inspection reports. Users are attracted to colorful histograms and surface maps that give a real visual of their bodies.
