Down to Earth Healthcare

A look at how technologies developed for the space industry have led to improvements in healthcare on Earth.

The film is divided into four sections as follows:

SAVING LIVES: a general look at the concept of technology transfer to healthcare; the Promedus organisation; keyhole surgery, miniature eyepiece lenses; training via vrtual reality computer systems; the use of stents in surgical procedures, shape memory alloys.

HEALTH AND FITNESS: manned spaceflight and the International Space Station; the action of microgravity on human physiology and bone formation, heart failure and osteoporosis; the use of carbon fibre in artificial hips, computer modelling of stress; shape-memory alloys, use in bone fusion; diet and fitness.

TELEMEDICINE: the concept of remote operations - telecommunications, information transfer, ultrasound, robotics; secure systems of handling confidential medical data. NEW DEVICES: the Promedus organisation; effects of microgravity on the vestibular organ, eye-head coordination; the use of ocular monitoring systems in space and medical training, the Eyecatcher system; ionising radiation, detection in satellites and humans (Radfet sensors); miniature pump, use in drug administration; pressure sensor-suit, applications in monitoring babies at risk from SIDS; monitoring intra-ocular pressure.