Digital Medicine and Going Mobile

Doctors are starting to adopt technology for improvement of patient care.  Telemedicine has soared in usage and is now undergoing legislative regulation.

Results of the WebD/Medscape Digital Technology survey shows:

  • Consensus of 63% doctors for smartphone usage as diagnostic tool for blood tests
  • 69% of doctors surveyed say they “embrace ethnology to enhance and aid the diagnostic process”.

Healthcare providers are engaging patients with health apps and devices such as:

  • Wireless devices to transmit daily weights of patients with congestive heart-failure through smartphones (leading to significant decrease in hospital readmissions)
  • Wireless devices transmit EKG patterns/rhythms and glucose levels

3-D Printing

This process is radically changing patient care by printing bladders, kidneys and other organs being engineered now.  This lowers the rejection risk and negates the long waits for transplants.  The 3-D printer is enabling customization of prosthetics like artificial arms, teeth, heart valves at more accurate and cheaper forms.  These will be the solutions for success in both the operating theater and private offices.

New Medical Devices and Diagnostic Tests Approved

A new blood test has been created for diagnosis of major depressive disorders in adults which will aid in cognitive-behavioral therapy.  In the pipeline- gene alterations associated with stress reactions to identify patients with increased suicidal tendencies.

An “electronic nose” device capable of “sniffing out” prostate cancer from a urine sample has 80% accuracy according to its pilot study.

Cologuard (made by Exact Sciences Corporation) has received FDA approval as a diagnostic device for detection of stool-based colorectal cancer and detector of occult blood in human stool.

New Drug Approvals

Afrezza (made by MannKind) is an inhaled human insulin product for adults with both type 1 and 2 diabetes.  It negates the need for use of injecting needles to maintain sugar levels.  This has been approved by the FDA.

These innovations reflect on the statement that “we live in exciting times”!

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