Invasive surgery avoided through teleportation or matter-to-energy conversion?

Question

I know little of physics. Imagine if medical procedures once "invasive" due to cutting, like the retrieval of an organ, became less invasive because of a device that would allow the organ/body part to somehow pass through the skin unharmed. "Star Trek's" teleportation is fiction. What is a believable method? I read a little about "gravity waves", that they can pass through things unchanged, but I don't understand their application to the conversion of matter to energy in this situation. Could an organ be converted to a gravity wave, pass through skin, and then be usuable?
In Greg Iles "Footprints of God", the brain was scanned with an MRI and was uploaded to a computer, and the computer became the person. Replication/cloning leaves too much room for error. Could anything allow something to pass through the skin unchanged? Could a solid matter to energy conversion take place to allow an organ to pass through the skin, to then be converted back? What device(real or not) could do it?

This is a serious question. I am analyzing what would happen legally to human rights if procedures that are invasive now were rendered non-invasive due to physics/technology. I really want to know if it could ever be done. If so, surgery would no longer be surgery. If it is impossible, then it's simply a matter of whether Big Brother would decide to pass laws that subject people to invasive surgeries anyhow.

Answer 1

There are current medical procedures which are not invasive, including the use of radiation, ultrasound, and electromagnetic radiation of all kinds including lasers. The point of all surgeries is the use of an external process to force a change in a body. That is what would be regulated, not the particular method. As a physical phenomenon, gravity waves (if they exist) would not be relevant.

We know of no technology or physical process today that could do what you describe. That doesn't mean it's impossible. But from what we know of matter and the structure of materials, it's extremely unlikely.

Answer 2

What you are asking for is currently in practice and currently in litigation.
X-rays and micro waves of low energy can be aimed through the body and not bother anything.
But some smart person though "what if we aimed several x-rays or micro waves through the body from different angles so that all the beams crossed at the same special spot where the body is having a problem like a group of cancer cells deep inside. And it works. only the 3D spot where the beams cross is the energy high enough to destroy the cancer cells. Which the body then dismantles and discards through the kidneys and liver over the next several weeks.

All well and good. Then the problem comes in and the cause of the recall of the equipment and the law suit. If you are 3D shooting at cells next to healthy and vitally important cells and you miss and hit the wrong spot you can do allot of damage.
This has happened and the British Company has had to make an international recall and the maker is getting taken to court.

Remember Star Trek didn't have many shows about lawyers?
To boldly go where no Lawyers are yet. That is where the fun is

Answer 3

Surgery by teleportation or matter-to-energy conversion is highly unlikely. Although some science fiction items have come true (such as CDs and flip phones), there are some science fiction items are very fictional. The most science fiction items that are likely to remain fiction for a long time include the teleportation device regardless of gravity waves or matter to energy ideas. Other items to remain fiction for a long time include anti-gravity, warp drive, sub-space communication, food replicators, cold fusion, force shields, deflector beams, tractor beams. Items that are likely to become true are bio-scanners similar to Star Trek's tricorder. Because electric and magnetic fields can pass through the skin and be picked up as signals that can be processed for a readout. If you are interested in matter to energy conversion, you may wish to review the movies "The Fly" both the original and the remake.

Answer 4

Not with todays level of technology. Sounds like a good idea though. You would have to be able to teleport old organs out simutaneously with teleporting the new organ in so the patient would not suffer from massive blood loss, go into shock and die!! If it were possible, think how long we could all live for by just replacing the worn old body parts with new ones.

Answer 5

No. We don't know what gravity waves are exactly, but they don't appear to be matter - so you can't convert matter to gravity waves. And converting an organ to energy would be like setting off a fusion reaction in the body - even if you COULD do it, it would be like setting off a bomb.

Answer 6

haha