医疗器械在医疗领域中起着重要作用,从预防到诊断,从治疗到康复,都离不开医疗器械。医疗器械在20世纪中的发展超过了人类自穴居时代以来发展的总和,如果与百年前相比,那么在所有产品群中几乎都有石破天惊的创新,可以说,没有医疗器械的发展,也就没有20世纪医疗上的巨大进步,而20世纪医学上的创新所带来的结果是实实在在可以感觉到的,例如存活率高了,人们的寿命长了,生活质量改善了。然而,近些年来医疗费用的上涨也到了社会难予承受的程度。在中国,有“看病难、看病贵”的问题,即使在经济高度发达的美国,医疗也是困扰近几届美国政府的大问题。美国有人撰文提出,医疗上的危机、人口的老龄化和肥胖病的流行是袭向美国的几近灭顶的狂风暴雨(perfect storm)。当然,造成这一局面有多方面因素,我们这里讨论的仅限于医疗器械。面对医疗费用的急剧上升,国际国内的有识之士这些年来一直在呼吁:让现代工程成为降低医疗费用的一种手段。在欧美,研发“可降低医疗费用”的医疗器械,以及让高新技术成为降低医疗成本的手段已成为热门话题。这方面的文章和相关报导陆续见于欧美的媒体,下面这篇文章刊载于2006年12月号IEEE-News。我们选译这一篇文章,是因为这是一个来自美国“高层论坛”的信息,我们相信,文中的一些观点对我们会有所启迪。——编辑部 Medical devices play an important role in the medical field. From prevention to diagnosis, from treatment to rehabilitation, medical devices are indispensable. The development of medical devices in the 20th century surpassed the total development of humans since the cave-dwelling era. If compared with a century ago, almost all of the product groups were inundated with innovations. It can be said that there is no development of medical devices. There is no great medical advancement in the 20th century, and the results of medical innovation in the 20th century can be truly felt. For example, the survival rate is high, people’s life is long, and their quality of life is improved. However, the rise in medical expenses in recent years has also reached an unacceptable level in society. In China, there is a problem of “difficulties in seeing a doctor and expensive medical treatment.” Even in the highly developed economy of the United States, medical care is a big problem that plagues the US government in recent times. Some writers in the United States have suggested that the medical crisis, population aging, and obesity epidemic are the perfect storms that hit the United States. Of course, there are many factors contributing to this situation, and what we discuss here is limited to medical devices. Faced with the rapid rise in medical expenses, insightful people at home and abroad have been appealing for years: Let modern engineering be a means to reduce medical expenses. In Europe and the United States, the development of medical devices that can reduce medical costs and the use of high-tech as a means to reduce medical costs have become hot topics. Articles and related articles in this regard were successively seen in European and American media. The following article was published in the December 2006 issue of IEEE-News. We chose to translate this article because it is a message from the “high-level forum” of the United States. We believe that some of the points in the article will inspire us. - Editorial Department