The past year has been an exciting year for medical advances. Here are his five ways that I think will revolutionize healthcare.
First, artificial technologies in the fields of cardiology and radiology. A lung cancer screening program called Sybil has emerged from MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital. The program detects early-stage lung cancer, even before the characteristic nodules form, with an impressive 90% sensitivity.
Rather than competing with doctors, AI will become a co-pilot on an advanced airliner, a tool that can be used to improve doctors' performance and reduce red tape.
digital interface. Human brain implants have restored vision, speech, hearing, and motor skills to people who have lost them. Advances in technology have made it possible for paralyzed people to not only walk, but also regain feeling in their legs.
Wearable monitors using artificial intelligence can detect problems before the patient, allowing for faster medical intervention. For example, InfoBionic features a cardiac device that can send data directly to your doctor to diagnose rhythm problems and see if treatment is working.
Use of animal organs. The world of transplantation is making great strides in his 2023 year, many of which are happening at my own institution, NYU Langone Health. Dr. Robert Montgomery, Surgeon General and heart recipient himself, successfully transplanted two pig kidneys into human recipients, the first in 2021 and the second in 2023. . In the latter case, the patient survived for more than two months because the transplanted kidney functioned and produced urine.
In 2022, a pig heart transplant was successfully performed at New York University.
Also this year, Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, director of plastic surgery at New York University, performed a series of face transplant surgeries, this time only adding an eye to properly treat patients who lost one in a traumatic accident.
The man is still blind, but Rodriguez said blood flow to the back of his eye has recently been restored and some of his retinal cells are still alive.
gene editing. Most scientists have long known that CRISPR technology has a bright future, and this year it finally hit the market as an effective treatment for sickle cell anemia.
Thanks to gene therapy, many more treatments are on the way for everything from genetic diseases to cancer and all kinds of chronic diseases.
vaccine. When Operation Warp Speed began in the spring of 2020, few thought we would have an even partially effective coronavirus vaccine by that winter, but by 2021 we would have an effective antiviral drug. Paxrovid was completed and received full approval in May 202.
And two new respiratory virus (RSV) vaccines have arrived. These are very effective and safe for both elderly people and pregnant women who may be frequently hospitalized, allowing them to protect not only themselves but also their unborn child.
In 2024, all of these technologies will advance and become more commonplace, but what I'm most hopeful about is that instead of government officials pretending to be doctors, we doctors will be able to help our patients. Listen to their concerns and don't pontificate on supposed solutions.
We must remember that patients were feeling the collateral damage of lockdowns and closures long before we did. It's time to listen before you speak, as we were once taught to do in medical school.
Dr. Mark Siegel is a clinical professor of medicine at New York University Langone Health and medical director of Doctor Radio, as well as a medical analyst for Fox News.
