With the convergence of in vitro and in vivo diagnostics tools, the healthcare industry can both reduce costs and improve healthcare, says Francois Nolte, business manager of medical solutions at Siemens.
Nolte, who will speak at the ITWeb eHealthcare Conference to be held on 9 and 10 May at The Forum, Bryanston, says: "Currently there are two streams of diagnosis - in vivo, which is diagnosing by looking at the body from the outside in, like x-rays; and in vitro, which is a diagnosis from the inside out, like blood tests."
<B>ITWeb eHealthcare 2007 Conference</B>
It will provide private and public sector healthcare professionals with a knowledge and networking platform to learn about the latest trends in IT healthcare solutions.
He says these two streams are on a convergence path with IT, like the case of patient records. This could provide a very exciting future for healthcare technology, he adds. "It is clear the larger players are moving towards this, by buying pharmaceutical companies."
According to Nolte, by combining these technologies, patient diagnosis can be made sooner because all information will be consolidated. In general, "the sooner you diagnose an illness, the cheaper the treatment will be," he says.
By putting an intelligent IT layer over the diagnostic tools, it creates a pool of information, giving the industry more information about individual patients and the population pool in general. The pool of information will give access to specific information like previous dispensation for disease.
Nolte, who will also talk about 'Tools in healthcare' at the conference, says: "It's a preventative measure not a reactive measure; medicine is becoming personalised."
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