Today, the medical field is making many exciting advancements. Artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced medications, surgeries, and pain relief techniques are making a difference in patient care while providing relief to patients around the world. The American International School of Medicine examines some of the newest advances in biotechnology, exploring how these healthcare advancements will help patients lead healthier, more comfortable lives, and will give students greater access to study modern technology and experience greater job satisfaction.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence or AI is beginning to show a positive impact on patient care. Using AI systems, doctors can arrive at better diagnoses and coordinate medical records. AI systems are also able to analyze radiographic imaging results, meaning that doctors will have more data, allowing them to have fewer potential trouble spots.
AI is exciting because it will not replace the physician, but because it will help the physician do their work faster and more accurately. More patients will be helped, and the physician will have the satisfaction that they have been able to do their work efficiently.
Robotics
The first surgical robot, the DaVinci, is already well-known in the medical field. The DaVinci robot, while fully controlled by a human surgeon, can perform microsurgery with tiny tools. This means that doctors can treat problems less invasively, leading to better results and shorter recovery times.
As robotics technology develops, the robots will become more independent of a physician’s guidance, but a doctor will always be necessary to guide the surgery and look out for any problems that may arise. Also, post-operative care will continue to be heavily guided by the physician.
Immunotherapy and Gene Therapy
Many new types of medication are helping very sick patients. Immunotherapy and gene therapy are highly advanced treatments that help the body respond to illness or injury naturally. Immunotherapy drugs are being developed for cancer and immune deficiency disorders like lupus or Multiple Sclerosis. Gene therapy is used to help patients with genetic problems, injecting normal genes, or stem cells to help the patient’s body recover on its own.
Smart Medical Devices
Many low-tech medical devices have been updated for the twenty-first century. For example, asthma inhalers are frequently misused because patients do not always understand their physicians’ instructions. However, bluetooth-enabled inhalers send data from the inhaler to a smartphone app, letting the patient know exactly where they need to make adjustments. Patients who used these inhalers needed less medicine over time had better symptom control, and finally health & wellness outcomes.
Wireless Sensors for the Brain
Advanced plastics have made it possible for wireless sensors to be placed in the brain. These sensors are bioresorbable and provide better results than traditional electrodes. Since the sensors dissolve, there are fewer reasons for patients to have surgery. This is one of the more intriguing advancements, according to the American International School of Medicine.
3-D Printing
3-D printing is a technology which has revolutionized the making of prosthetics. In the past, prosthetics were incredibly expensive to design, fit, and use. Today, 3-D printing makes it possible for patients to receive better prosthetics faster and at a lower cost. In the future, 3-D printing has also been looked at to “print” medications, which contain more than one drug as well as have the potential for patients to have better access to certain medications.
Artificial Organs
3-D printing has advanced to the point where researchers can print blood vessels, synthetic ovaries, and a pancreas. Since these organs are grown using the patient’s own cells, they will be less likely to organ rejection.
Virtual Reality
VR technologies enable physicians to see their work area in more detail, allowing them to perform more practice in real-world settings and a greater ability to diagnose complex ailments with better specificity. VR is especially helpful for surgeons. Using data from magnetic resonance imaging scans (MRIs) and computed tomography (CT) scans, a complete 3D model of a patient’s body can be built. This enables doctors to examine their patient and subsequently, the ability to perform better-targeted surgeries.
Wearables
Many people are familiar with the Fitbit and Apple Watch, which track health-related data throughout the day and night. The use of these products has gone beyond simple fitness tracking. The latest Apple Watch can monitor heart rhythms and has given several patients the first signs that they are experiencing a heart rhythm dysfunction. Other wearables, like the artificial pancreas, are revolutionizing the care of diabetes.
Gene Editing
Procedures like CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) are highly advanced gene-editing techniques. The CRISPR technique works by manipulating bacteria and viruses to help cut out infected DNA. Modifying genes has incredible possibilities for furthering the science of medicine.
However, these processes are fraught with medical and ethical questions. As medical science progresses, these processes will be used more often with great care taken to preserve the patient’s privacy and integrity.
Rapidly Advancing Technology
The American International School of Medicine is ready to help interested students learn more about these fascinating developments in medical technology. When these students complete their education, they will be able to contribute to the advancement of medical techniques.
