[Nanotechnology in medicine]

In the past, micro and nano technology were expected to have a considerable meaning for industry and especially for life sciences. The media were prodigal with visions of a tremendous rise of the life span and an enormous amelioration of life quality due to micro and nano submarines in the body and due to novel implants. In spite of these, developments in these disciplines proved to be by far more difficult and therefore lengthy in practice than expected. It is therefore necessary to verify realistically how such high technologies may support medicine. In this article, realised works are treated and new research works presented. Developments in endoscopy, novel materials und the lab on chip reached a sophisticated state of development and are therefore to be included in clinical practice for the future.