On Tuesday November 7th, The Cleveland Clinic, ranked as the third best hospital in America by U.S. News & World Report, published its list of the top ten medical breakthroughs impacting healthcare in 2007.
The list’s up-and-coming devices and therapies were selected by a panel of Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists.
Although we all think of a "top ten list" as a gimmick of comedian David Letterman, terms like "neurostimulation and "endografting" tells the reader that this a very serious list published by one of the prestigious healthcare institutions in the world. The list includes therapies for cancer, asthma, depression, heart failure, age-related macular degeneration, and vascular disease. But in David Letterman style here are the top ten medical innovations expected to have a major impact on our health in 2007:
The Cleveland Clinic's List of Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2007
10. Convection-enhanced delivery of drugs: An emerging drug delivery method 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): An implantable device that helps the left side of the heart push blood to the aorta, the body’s main blood vessel. The breakthrough is that the device also senses when to increase or decrease the rate of blood flow.
8. Targeted cancer therapies: Using cell growth inhibitors to treat cancers, such as renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer.
7. Endografting: A minimally invasive repair technique traditionally used in cardiology. It is now being used to treat vascular disease.
6. Ranibizumab: A drug therapy that inhibits uncontrolled blood vessel formation in the eye, which is the primary cause of age-related macular degeneration.
5. Bronchial Thermoplasty (BT): A therapy involving the controlled application of heat in the lungs to improve pulmonary function and curb asthma symptoms.
4. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT): A noninvasive imaging technology used in the treatment and diagnosis of eye diseases.
3. Neurostimulation ( i.e. vagus nerve stimulation therapy) for Psychiatric Disorders: Implantable devices that apply electronics and engineering to the human nervous system to treat those with treatment resistant depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.
2. Designer Therapeutics Using Selective Receptor Antagonists: Designing therapeutics to block the peripheral side effects of opioids that are used for treating such health issues as pain.
1. Cancer Vaccines: Targeted therapies used to prevent cancer and treat patients according to the type of cancer they have.
I have personal experience with medical breakthrough number 3. For me personally, vagus nerve stimulation therapy ranks number ONE. It completely changed my life when everything else had failed. Fortunately, the manufacturer of the vagus nerve stimulator, Cyberonics Inc., has recently managed to get the first ever device approved for depression. The ninety-minute out-patient procedure can be prescribed by your doctor/psychiatrist.
Charles Donovan was a patient in the FDA investigational trial of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. He was implanted with the vagus nerve stimulator in April of 2001. He chronicles his journey from the grips of depression thanks to vagus nerve stimulation therapy in his book:
Out of the Black Hole: The Patient's Guide to Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression
His all inclusive book prepares depression sufferers to make an informed decision about this ninety-minute out-patient procedure. It is a "must read" before you discuss this treatment with your psychiatrist. A prescription for the procedure is required from an M.D. and it is covered by most insurance plans.
He is the founder of the [http://www.VagusNerveStimulation.com] Web Site and Bulletin.
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