 "Top 10 medical innovations in the last decade")
The field of healthcare and technology has been growing in leaps and bounds during the last decade. From 3D bioprinting, robotic prosthetics to advances in stem cell research, we’re sure that modern medicine looks very different from the wildest imagination of scientists a few decades ago. With more information about and access to the internal workings of the human body (and in real-time at that) and the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, nothing seems impossible. Here are some of the medical innovations from the past decade that changed the face of medicine as we knew it.
1. New generation of health monitors
Other than the daily digital healthcare monitors like smartwatches, scientists have developed stick-on medical tattoos called electronic skin which help in tracking things like your heart rate, pulse, blood sugar and respiratory rate. Moreover, the information is sent directly to your smartphone so it can be read in real-time. One of the most interesting developments in health trackers is the development of pregnancy monitors. These are small wearable devices that would let expecting mothers track fetal health at home.
2. Advancements in Genomics
Many health conditions start inside our DNA and can be prevented if identified in time. But DNA isolation and sequencing was such a tedious procedure to achieve that the preparation alone took days. With the help of a new device called Juno, the desktop DNA lab, in the year 2015, the sequencing of the complete human DNA could be done within three hours. Apart from identifying the diseases gene, this technology would also help in quick identification of new strains of microbes so effective antibiotics can be developed against them before they cause major damage to human life.
3. Personalised medicine
With innovations in health monitoring, genomics and informatics, the concept of ‘one pill for all’ is now truly being replaced by a more personal approach to treatment. Therapies are being tailored to individual lifestyle and genetic makeup. Personalised medicines will not only hasten recovery but also help save more lives. It is already being used in the treatment of some types of cancer.
4. Advanced 3D printing
After it became mainstream in the early 2000s, 3D printing has evolved significantly in the last decade. It is used now for much more than prosthetics and has advanced to personalised implants, surgical tools and other devices that can help in surgery. In 2010, a company in Italy got the first approval from the FDA to use 3D printed orthopaedic implants. Recently, doctors in Belfast used a 3D printed kidney (obtained from a CT scan of the patient) to identify the exact location and size of the patient’s tumour. This helped them practise before the surgery as the patient had a potentially cancerous cyst on his kidney.
5. Regenerative therapies
Regenerative therapy is a relatively new technique that mainly includes tissue engineering and cell therapy. It also focusses on the body’s own healing capabilities to treat diseases. Carticel was the first such FDA approved product that uses a person’s own chondrocytes (cartilage cells) to heal cartilage injuries. This is now replaced by a more advanced version called MACI (Matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation). In this technique, doctors take out a small piece of a person’s cartilage, grow it in the lab and plant the grown piece at the injury site. With further advancements in this technique, it would be possible to regenerate entire organs, eventually reducing the need for organ donors.
6. Lab-grown lungs
To deal with the increasing rates of deadly lung diseases (like asthma and COPD), researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have managed to make a lung from scratch. They took the collagen layer of a dead pig’s lung, remade it into an entire organ inside the lab and implanted it into another pig. Miraculously the implanted lung worked like a normal organ. Though the procedure has not yet been replicated in humans, it is a medical breakthrough in the field of lung transplant, which can give life to many.
7. Medical mirror
Well, it can’t tell you if you’re the fairest of them all, but it can surely tell you your heart rate. Invented in the year 2011, the medical mirror consists of a panel of two-sided glass with a built-in webcam with LCD monitor on the other side. It has an automated face tracker that detects the subtle changes in the blood vessels of the face, every time your heart beats. The faster these changes, the faster is your heartbeat.
8. New drug to treat ALS
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes eventual paralysis and death. You might have heard of the ALS ice bucket challenge, where many influential people helped raise awareness about the condition on social media in 2014. In the year 2017, scientists in Japan developed a new drug called radicava (or edaravone) that prevents oxidative stress, which is the reason behind nerve damage and ALS progression.
9. Needle-free injections
Needle-free injection technology (NFIT) is a new concept that focusses on using various methods (shock waves, pressure, etc) to introduce medicines into the body, thus eliminating the role of sharp needles. One of the latest NFITs, jet injections, was introduced in the year 2017 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jet injections deliver a rapid, high-pressure stream of medicine (as thin as a strand of hair) through the skin in adjustable dosages. It is connected to a smartphone app that tracks each dose and the medicine’s effects.
10. IoMT (Internet of medical things)
IoMT is the idea of merging healthcare with information technology. IoMT is used in remote monitoring of patients and to provide information to caregivers. One of the most interesting IoMTs is a pill with a tiny sensor that records the time that it is taken and transmits information to a patch worn by the patient which is then sent to their smartphone. This helps people with mental illnesses like schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s track their medicine intake. For more information, please read our article on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) _._ Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health.