In the last couple of years, electronics in general and medical electronics in particular have made fantastic progress. Progress, which even a few years ago would have been unthinkable.

Miniaturisation has made it possible to bring under control a tremendous amount of power, computation, and highly complex controls to one’s fingertips in a package that may occupy only a portion of an ordinary desktop. A single operator can now control an atomic reactor, the production of a steel plant, and literally monitor the life of a human being in its physical aspects. The degree of complexity and compactness of medical electronic equipment has resulted in its wide use in hospitals today. An operation theatre, for example, is nowadays crammed with extremely sophisticated instruments, each of which performs a vital function.