10 Recent Medical Breakthroughs That Sound Like Science Fiction
1. The
Bionic Eye
The “Argus II” takes a video signal
from a camera built into sunglasses and wirelessly transmits that image to
implants in the retinas of people who have lost their vision. Though it’s been
available in Europe since 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
only approved the eye earlier this year. “This really is like Star Trek
technology,” Dr. Roizen says.
The system isn't perfect. It lets a blind person regain basic functions like
walking on a sidewalk without stepping off a curb, and distinguishing black
from white socks, but only lets you read one giant-sized word at a time on a
Kindle. Plus, as the retina itself heals over the implant, the quality of
vision decreases. The Argus II is currently only approved for people who have lost
their sight from retinal pigmentosis—which affects 1 in 4,000 Americans. But
the technology could soon help the more than 1.75 million people who suffer
from macular degeneration.
2. The
Cancer Gene Fingerprint
Not all cancers are equally
lethal—cancer in your prostate means a longer survival rate than a malignancy
in your brain, for example. But even prostate cancer comes in multiple flavors
ranging from manageable to very bad. By analyzing the mutated genome of a
tumor, doctors can now pinpoint whether a cancer is sensitive to a certain
chemotherapy, or one that doesn’t respond at all to current treatments. Knowing
the subtype might mean jumping directly to a clinical trial that could save
your life.
3. The
Seizure Stopper
For the 840,000 epileptics suffering from
sudden, uncontrollable seizures, the NeuroPace is like “a defibrillator for
your brain,” Dr. Roizen says. The system includes sensors implanted in the
brain that can spot the first tremors of an oncoming seizure. Then it sends
electrical pulses that counteract the brain's own haywire signals, stopping the
seizure in its tracks. Even more impressive: The NeuroPace can be fine-tuned by
doctors based on its performance. In the first year it was available, seizure
episodes were reduced by an average of 40 percent—but 2 years later, they
dropped by 53 percent.
4. The
Hepatitis Cure
Until recently, treatment for
hepatitis C fell into the good-but-not-great category, with only around 70
percent of patients being cured. And that was after as much as 48 weeks of a
strict anti-viral drug regimen, including injections of interferon—which causes
a number of debilitating side effects. But the new drug Sofosbuvir is a much
more potent killer of hep C, with success in as many as 95 percent of patients.
Even more, the medication only has to be administered for 12 weeks, sans
interferon injections.
For the 840,000 epileptics suffering
from sudden, uncontrollable seizures, the NeuroPace is like “a defibrillator
for your brain,” Dr. Roizen says. The system includes sensors implanted in the
brain that can spot the first tremors of an oncoming seizure. Then it sends
electrical pulses that counteract the brain's own haywire signals, stopping the
seizure in its tracks. Even more impressive: The NeuroPace can be fine-tuned by
doctors based on its performance. In the first year it was available, seizure
episodes were reduced by an average of 40 percent—but 2 years later, they
dropped by 53 percent.
5. The
Anesthesiologist's iPad
Surgeons may get more glory, but
anesthesiologists probably play the most vital role in keeping you alive during
surgery. They're the last face you see before you're put into a medicated sleep
so deep you don't even notice that your body is being peeled open. Between
keeping track of your heart rate, breathing, and brain functions, an
anesthesiologist also needs to be familiar with the ins and outs of the
procedure so they can adjust sedatives and painkillers—without causing
complications. The new “perioperative information management systems” include
software on touchscreen-enabled computers that can warn doctors if things are
going south, keep track of the surgeon's workflows, and document every step of
the procedure. All are essential when surgeries last up to 16 hours and docs
need to pass the reins to a fresh pair of eyes.
6. The
Fecal Transplant
The idea of taking someone else's
poop and giving it a new home in your own colon may sound repulsive, but the
treatment has proven remarkably effective in curing infections of C.difficile—a nasty bacteria that kills 15,000 people
each year. Take heart: The digested food waste in feces isn't itself the cure. You're
simply gaining some of the helpful bacteria living in the donor's gut—like a
farmer choosing the hardiest crops to seed next year's fields.
7. The
Heart-Saving Hormone
Around 1 in 4 people who are
hospitalized for heart failure don't last much longer than a year. But a new
drug called Serelaxin has upped the odds of survival by as much as 37 percent,
according to a University of California, San Francisco study. It's a synthetic
version of the hormone relaxin, which is produced by pregnant women to help with
the increased stress carrying a fetus places on the heart. “It not only opens
up your blood vessels to supply your organs oxygen, but it has
anti-inflammatory properties,” Dr. Roizen says. Serelaxin's life-saving
potential is profound enough that in June, the FDA dubbed it a “breakthrough
therapy,” putting it on a faster track for approval in hospitals.
8. The
Robot Doctor
If you're undergoing a colonoscopy,
you'll want something to take the edge off (for obvious reasons). But even a
light sedative to help you snooze while doctors spelunk your butt requires the
presence of an anesthesiologist—which translates to $1 billion in additional
medical expenses, according to a study in theJournal of the American Medical
Association. Enter the Sedasys: a computer with an attachment on the
IV that meters out the correct amount of sedative and monitors vitals. It even
includes an earpiece to wake patients up if necessary. That allows docs to
administer “light to moderate” sedation on their own, with a single anesthesiologist
supervising multiple patients. “If Michael Jackson's doctor had this and knew
how to use it, then Michael Jackson would still be alive today,” says Dr.
Roizen.
9. The
Better Heart-Attack Risk Test
Today you get a cholesterol test to
assess your risk of heart attack, but soon you'll be more worried about your
trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) levels. Why? People with the highest levels of
TMAO in their blood have 2.5 times the risk of a heart attack compared to those
with the lowest levels, according to a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine. TMAO is a compound
produced by intestine bacteria—yep, the same ones involved in fecal
transplants—after you eat choline, which is found in eggs, red meat, and dairy.
10.
The Precision-Guided Cancer Treatment
The difficult goal in any cancer
treatment is to kill the tumor while leaving healthy cells alone. Recently, a
better understanding of what makes cancer cells tick has allowed scientists to
develop a class of drugs that pinpoint a weakness in cancer's uncontrolled
growth. For example, in lymphomas and leukemias, scientists have determined
that the growth is controlled by a protein called Bruton's tyrosine kinase
(BTK). After years of experimentation, doctors developed a new drug called
Ibrutinib that blocks BTK.
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