Now that physician suspicion of the shift from analog to digital technology has been somewhat allayed by developments in instrumentation and processing during the 1990s, the topics reflect the depth and spectrum of information technology in surgery and radiology. They also further the burgeoning collaboration between disciplines, encompassing not only medicine, but also engineering, informatics, and healthcare management, and to some extent even the apparently more difficult collaboration between medical specialties. The Congress, and the nearly 300 papers, represent annual conferences of several international societies. There is no subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
New developments in computer assisted medical tools have improved medical workflow considerably. Advances in medical imaging, healthcare networking, surgical robotics and instrumentation and other imaging based technologies contribute towards a more flexible computer assisted medicine. With the advent of the electronic medical record (EMR) and suitable access management, collaboration between all healthcare parties, including the patient, also becomes possible.
Progress in specific computer assisted techniques (e.g. digital imaging, computer aided diagnosis, image guided surgery, MEMS, etc.) combined with computer assisted integration tools (e.g. PACS, EMR, middleware, Internet, telemedicine, etc.) offers a valuable complement to or replacement for existing procedures in healthcare. Physicians are now employing PACS and telemedicine systems as enabling infrastructures for improving quality of and access to healthcare. Tools based on CAD and CAS facilitate completely new paths in patient care.
To reflect this development, the depth and spectrum of topics included in this year's CARS Proceedings have been expanded to include all aspects of modern IT in radiology and surgery. In addition to the traditional CARS topics, special emphasis is also been given to endoluminal surgery, cardiovascular imaging, the electronic medical record and bio-intelligence.
CARS 2001 is the first volume to be published simultaneously in print and on the web. Buyers of the book will have access to this web edition of CARS 2001 proceedings at no additional charge.
