Another day, another top X list. Given the fact that it is from the Cleveland Clinic, and is well thought through, it deserves mention.
Here it is:
The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2007 are:
10. Convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of drugs: This emerging drug delivery method is being used to administer medication directly to the site where it is needed, without exposing the rest of the body to a drug’s effects.
9. Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS): This is the first implanted ventricular assist device (VAD) that senses when to increase or decrease the rate of blood flow. The device takes over most of the function of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, and helps generate the force necessary to propel oxygen-rich blood throughout the body.
8. Targeted cancer therapies: Using second generation, small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors to block or modulate disease and provide treatments for advanced cancers, such as renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Clear cell carcinoma is the most common type of kidney cancer which represents 2 percent of all adult cancers.
7. Endografting: This is a minimally invasive repair technique traditionally used in cardiology and now being used to treat vascular disease, such as thoracic abdominal aneurysms.
6. Ranibizumab: This drug therapy inhibits uncontrolled blood vessel formation in the eye, which is the primary cause of age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of new blindness in older Americans.
5. Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT): This therapy is used to ward off asthma attacks. BT involves the controlled application of heat in the lungs to improve pulmonary function and reduce asthma symptoms. Approximately 20 million Americans suffer from asthma, according to the American Lung Association.
4. OCT (optical coherence tomography): This is a noninvasive imaging technology used in the treatment and diagnosis of eye diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and macular holes.
3. Neurostimulation for Psychiatric Disorders: Neurostimulation, such as Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), is emerging as a significant treatment option for millions of Americans who are suffering from Treatment Resistant Depression and Treatment Resistant Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.
2. Designer Therapeutics Using Selective Receptor Antagonists: Creating therapeutics to block receptor activation that leads to improved patients’ outcomes. Examples include therapeutics that: block the peripheral side effects, such as constipation and nausea, of opioid medications for pain which can adversely affect patients and lengthen hospitalizations; control the body’s stress response to mediate eating and smoking; increase good cholesterol using niacin.
1. Cancer Vaccines: These targeted therapies are being used to prevent cancer and treat patients more specifically according to the type of cancer they have. One example of a cancer vaccine is the HPV vaccine developed to prevent cervical cancer caused by human papillomaviruses.
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