Medical device

A medical device is any device intended to be used in the health care.

Medical devices that were used for surgery in ancient Rome.

Discovery of what would be considered a medical device by modern standards dates as far back as c. 7000 BC in Baluchistan where Neolithic dentists used flint-tipped drills and bowstrings.^[1] Study of archeology and Roman medical literature also indicate that many types of medical devices were in widespread use during the time of ancient Rome.^[2]

Section 201(h) of the USA's Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic (FD&C) Act defines a device as an "instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, contrivance, implant, in vitro reagent, or other similar or related article, including a component part, or accessory which is medical equipment.^[3]

Pictures of medical devices

• 
  stethoscope
• 
  Infusion pump
• 
  Artificial pacemaker
• 
  Curette in sterile pouch.
• 
  Spoon-shaped curette
• 
  Spinal boards wait to be used at the York Region EMS logistics headquarters in Ontario.
• 
  Bags of medical supplies and defibrillators at the York Region EMS Logistics Headquarters in Ontario, Canada.
• 
  Anoscope, proctoscope and rectoscope

Related pages

• Health technology
• Gynecology and obstetrics
• Medical ultrasonography
• Obstetric sonography