Latest Medical Breakthroughs

Latest Medical Breakthroughs Each year there are new medical breakthroughs that make you sit up and take notice. Many of these breakthroughs make lives better and some even save lives. At one point all medical equipment was considered a medical breakthrough, so everything has its place and importance as it is developed.

Virtual Reality What if patients could see what was going to happen to them the following day in surgery? With virtual reality, that is happening now. Patients can wear goggles and see a surgical procedure that is similar to the one they are scheduled for. It may help ease their stress, and make them feel more a part of their own medical care. Virtual reality is also being used in children's medicine. When a child has virtual goggles on, and receives an injection, the strangest thing happens; they don’t even know the injection took place.

Study after study of 100 children found this to be the case.

Related: How to Become the Most Efficient Nursing Student Augmented Reality The new projection is that the digital contact lens patented by Google would become available in 2016. As it will measure blood glucose from tears, it is supposed to change diabetes treatment and management. In addition, Hololens from Microsoft also comes out in 2016 which will have a huge impact on fields from medical education to architecture and engineering. It could help medical students do dissections for many hours a day from any angles without the formaldehyde smell.

Smart Algorithms Analyzing Wearable Data 2015 was the year of wearable health trackers. A swarm of devices became available, Amazon launched its Wearable Marketplace and millions of activity trackers were sold. But gaining actionable insights from the constant stream of wearable data is not easy. We need clever algorithms and apps that merge data from several devices and apps, and help us draw meaningful conclusions. It would help lay people put more emphasis on prevention and have a healthier lifestyle.

Near-Artificial Intelligence in Radiology IBM’s Watson supercomputer has been used in oncology to assist medical decision-making. This is a giant leap forward for medical personnel. It proved the clear benefits of such a system by making diagnoses and

treatment cheaper and more efficient. IBM’s Medical Sieve project aims to diagnose most lesions with smart software, leaving room for radiologists to focus on the most important cases instead of checking hundreds of Food Scanners Food scanners like Scio and Tellspec have been in the limelight since around 2014, but as early developer prototypes have already been mailed to their first users in 2015, 2016 could be the year they become generally available.

This would enable anyone to find out what they are really about to eat, providing clear benefits not just to people looking to gain weight or eat healthier food, but people with dangerous allergies as well.

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3D Bioprinting Organovo has been in the focus because of 3D printing biomaterials for years. They have recently announced the success as they bioprinted liver tissues in 2014 and they seemed to be 4-6 years away from printing liver parts for transplantation. But first, these bioprinted livers could be finally used in the pharmaceutical industry to replace animal models when analyzing the toxicity of new drugs. If it goes through in 2017, the printing of actual liver tissue for transplantation could become a commercial service within the next decade.

Internet of Health Things At Home Last year, there was a device released that is considered a concept art of a bathroom of the future. All the elements in that image from the smart toothbrush to the digital mirror were partially available in 2015. But an array of sensors will reach the general public in 2017 making this a reality in our homes. The long-term goal is to make these devices communicate and learn from each other. This way we would not have to analyze the data of the devices ourselves, but the device manufacturers could merge their findings and share a digestible report with us when there is something to take care of.

It goes without saying, for patients that they readings done, it will be a huge improvement to have this information transmitted from home, rather than going in for a blood test, or other, much of it can now be done from the comfort of the home. Medical visits are going virtual, and for the most part people are accepting of this, and enjoy the idea they don’t have to travel to see their health care provider. Virtual doctor visits will never completely take the place of a face to face visit, however it should make visits for

common illnesses easy to get treatment for. Each new medical breakthrough will hopefully benefit the life of a patient, and actually many patients for years to come. Regardless of how anyone feels toward the world of today, modern medicine is a vast improvement over that of the previous century.

The next time a medical supply representative comes around to introduce a new device, pay close attention, it may be the next piece of equipment that revolutionized medical care or surgical procedures.

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