The high-tech hand surgery interface

We have reviewed a potpourri of high-tech advances of interest to the hand surgeon: electronically controlled prostheses, functional neuromuscular stimulation, computer graphics, data base computer programs, 3-D imaging, magnetic resonance imaging, and lasers--fields that point toward new directions in medicine, in general, and in our specialty, in particular, as we enter the twenty-first century. With clearer understanding of the basics, we can overcome the natural tendencies of negativism fostered by the complexities of the new ideas and proceed with optimism and curiosity.