Just like any other industry, the healthcare industry is also evolving and continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
There are high chance that there will be a world where surgeries are performed with robotic precision and personalized therapies can be crafted based on individual genetic profiles. These advancements are not just science fiction but have become modern medicine.
From the precision offered by advanced medical devices to regenerative medicine rebuilding tissues, each innovation holds promise to revolutionize patient care. Our goal today is to explore 5 technologies reshaping healthcare that offer new hope for patients and providers alike.
3D Printing in Healthcare
In 2000, 3D printing came as a new medical wonder. You can think of a printer making body parts that fit well and it can make parts to help you move better. It can also make soft body parts with care. This is just the start of what 3D printing can do for health.
3D printing gives care that is made just for you. Every new thing starts with a plan on a computer so that it can make body parts that fit you. In addition to making customized prosthetics and surgical tools, this technology can also build anatomical models to assist in surgical diagnostics.
In the US, 94 out of 100 doctors who used 3D printed models last year said it was good and it helped them plan before doing work on patients. Joseph DeSimone, a Stanford professor and founder of a digital manufacturing company, calls the “bespoke nature of 3D printing game-changing.”
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Robot-Assisted Surgery (RAS)
Robot-Assisted Surgery is a new way to do better work on patients as it integrates advanced robotics with the expertise of surgeons that controls surgery in high accuracy in delicate procedures.
This new way is not just to change the old way, it’s about enhancing them. Surgeons use robotic systems to perform minimally invasive surgeries with smaller incisions which reduces the recovery times and minimizes postoperative complications.
If we talk about patients, then they get benefit from less pain, shorter hospital stays, and faster recoveries. Let me tell you about some news from June 2024. Connie Moser, a Jeffersonville-based woman, was diagnosed with an abdominal hernia. But since it wasn’t bothering her at the time, Moser decided to forgo treatment.
Then, things took a terrible turn. She started experiencing terrible stomach pain and vomited consistently for three days. When she was incapacitated, Connie’s husband took her to the newly-opened Norton Medical Center nearby.
The facility luckily had DaVinci (a surgical robot whose assistance led to a quick surgery). It prevented things from escalating further. Because of the quick assisted surgery, Connie was able to avoid a major abdominal surgery. She was even discharged in less than 48 hours of it.
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Advanced Medical Devices
Advanced medical devices are very important in new health care as they mix new ideas with care for people. These devices helps transformation, enhancing diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes across diverse medical disciplines
From infusion pumps to imaging systems, advanced medical devices show how new ideas help health care. However, not all medical devices have exceeded expectations successfully. Some have also failed to live up to their purpose and caused many patients to suffer unnecessarily.
The transvaginal mesh serves as an ideal example of the latter. TorHoerman Law notes that the device was designed to treat Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) and Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) in women.
However, after many women suffered injuries and complications from the mesh, the US Food and Drug Association (FDA) banned its sales in 2019. Following the ban, over 100,000 women have filed a vaginal mesh lawsuit against its manufacturers and they demanded compensation.
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Gene Editing Technologies (CRISPR)
Think of a toolkit that allows scientists to precisely edit genetic code, correcting mutations that cause genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia. This technology about addressing the root causes of genetic disorders at their source.
Gene Editing Technologies like CRISPR-Cas9 are at the front of new ways to treat people. It functions like molecular scissors which is capable of snipping out faulty genes and replacing them with corrected sequences.
This level of precision holds promise for personalized medicine. It also opens doors to potential cures for previously untreatable conditions which offers hope to patients and families affected by genetic diseases.
Recently, researchers at the University of Amsterdam, announced that they were able to successfully eliminate HIV from infected cells using CRISPR-Cas9. A synopsis of their work is due to be presented at an upcoming ECCMID conference.
Their work is currently only “proof of concept,” and the process of using it to make a cure might be a time-consuming one. But even then, it is nothing short of a medical marvel.
Regenerative Medicine
While we are on the subject of medical innovations, how could we miss regenerative medicine? It uses the body’s power to fix itself. It has changed how doctors treat people.
At its core, this uses stem cells, growth factors along with biomaterials to stimulate the body’s natural healing processes.
It uses tissue engineering to create bioartificial organs and 3D-printed scaffolds that guide tissue growth. These innovations created the way for customized treatments that can address the root causes of disease, rather than just managing symptoms.
If you are wondering how far-reaching is the extent of regenerative medicine, here’s your answer:
Just last month, a team of researchers from Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine designed a ground-breaking generative medicine. Their invention has created a therapy that could speed up the recovery process of diabetic wounds. If this isn’t a paradigm-shifting revolution in healthcare, we don’t know what else could be.
Conclusion
New technology is making healthcare better. In the future, we’ll have amazing tools to fight diseases. Each patient will get special care that works just for them. These new ideas are changing how we treat sick people. They are also showing us we can do things in medicine we never thought possible before.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is stem cell preservation a good idea?
Preserving stem cells from sources like umbilical cord blood allows for future use in treating various diseases and injuries. This is because these cells can differentiate into different cell types and promote tissue regeneration. This approach ensures access to personalized therapies that may not be available otherwise.
What is next-generation sequencing?
Next-generation sequencing (NGS) refers to advanced techniques that enable rapid, high-throughput sequencing of DNA or RNA molecules. Unlike traditional Sanger sequencing, NGS methods parallelize the sequencing process that can allow millions of DNA fragments to be sequenced simultaneously.
How have Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) impacted healthcare?
These new ways to see things have changed how doctors learn. They can now train in ways that look very real. This helps doctors get better at what they do. It is also safe because they are not working on real people yet.
