As 2019 comes to an end, I begin to think back not only over the last year, but the last decade.  Let’s take a look at some of the medical advances over the last ten years.

10 Medical Breakthroughs in the last decade

1. Human Genome Discoveries – Starting in 2000 a rough draft of the human genes was released. By 2003 the final draft was published.  The hope of this project is in preventive medicine.  The information gathered from this project will help practitioners focus on preventive medicine.  As scientists understand the human genes better they will be able to predict possibilities on what direction to take to maintain health for their patients.
2. Information Technology – Since changing patient charts over from pen and paper to computers, consistency in patient care is now available.  Each care provider is able to access all of the patient’s chart and is able to see what each health care provider has contributed to the care of that individual.  Patients have access to doctors through “telemedicine”.  Telemedicine allows patients to interact with physicians who are many miles away.  Physicians who specialize in specific areas of medicine are able to provide patient care via Skype on the computer screen.  Patients are now able to receive care with specialist that would otherwise not be available.
3. Anti-Smoking laws and Campaigns Restrict Public Smoking – While this may seem on the surface, an invasion of individual freedoms, it however is indeed a big step forward in the protection of non-smokers.  Smokers are not the only ones who get lung cancer from smoking.  Second hand smoke causes lung cancer in non-smokes as well.  People who worked in bars and restaurants where smoking was allowed were subjected to second hand smoke.  As a result, these people had a higher incidence of lung cancer than non-smokers who were not exposed to tobacco smoke.  These laws have encouraged smokers to stop.
4. Heart Disease Deaths Drop by 40 Percent – Advances in recognition of the symptoms of heart attack and having quick responses have made a major advancement in survival rates.  New treatments in heart disease have made a large turn around in prevention of heart disease.  Advanced surgical techniques have proved to make recovery faster and heart surgery safer.  Preventive care in heart disease has contributed to the drop in patient deaths from heart disease.
5. Stem Cell Research: Laboratory Breakthroughs and Some Clinical Advances – Stem cell research has been used in many areas of patient care including to regrowth of heart tissue, cancer research and patient survival and in regenerative medicine.  The future in stem cell research is exciting.
6. Targeted Therapies for Cancer Expand With New Drugs – Cancer treatment is now able to target cancer cells without affecting healthy cells.  DNA medications have helped to increase survival rates without the devastating side effects of cancer fighting drugs in past years.
7. Combination Drug Therapy Extends HIV Survival – We don’t hear as much about HIV as we did in past years.  The combination of drugs has increased the life expectancy from 3 to 5 years after diagnosis to a patient diagnosed in their 20s living to the age of 69.
8. Minimally Invasive and Robotic Techniques Revolutionize Surgery – The normal surgical scar was long and took weeks to heal.  Today surgical scars are just a few inches because of robotic surgery.  Recovery time is short compared to ten years ago.  With less invasive surgical techniques the patient experiences less pain and shorter recovery time.
9. Study Finds Heart, Cancer Risk with Hormone Replacement Therapy – Forty-seven years ago, I learned in pharmacology class that a woman should never take hormone replacement therapy after the age of thirty-five.  The risk for heart attack and stroke was increased with HRT.  This fact has now been supported by research.  This information includes men taking HRT as well as women.  Studies show that the increase in cancer is higher when an individual is taking HRT.
10. Advances in MRI Technology – New advances in MRI imagining gives health care providers a look into the working of the human brain.  Known as functional MRI or fMRI, science can now trace the changes in oxygen flow in the brain.  How does tracing the oxygen flow in the brain help scientists understand the brain better? By tracking changes in the oxygen levels and blood flow in the brain, science is able to track the neurons in the brain.  As the brain activity is being observed while the patient is answering questions, researchers are able to have an insight into the working brain.  These observations are helping scientists understand brain cancer, autism, dementia, and autoimmune diseases.