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Cleveland Clinics lists of top ten medical innovations 2011, 2012 and 2013
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The list is made up of devices, including a handheld optical scan for melanoma; drugs; diagnostic tests, such as 3D mammography; and a government program that financially rewards patients for improving their health.
1. Bariatric Surgery for Control of Diabetes
Exercise and diet alone are not effective for treating severe obesity or Type 2 diabetes. Once a person reaches 100 pounds or more above his or her ideal weight, losing the weight and keeping it off for many years almost never happens.
While the medications we have for diabetes are good, about half of the people who take them are not able to control their disease. This can often lead to heart attack, blindness, stroke, and kidney failure.
Surgery for obesity, often called bariatric surgery, shrinks the stomach into a small pouch and rearranges the digestive tract so that food enters the small intestine at a later point than usual.
Over the years, many doctors performing weight-loss operations found that the surgical procedure would rid patients of Type 2 diabetes, oftentimes before the patient left the hospital.
Many diabetes experts now believe that weight-loss surgery should be offered much earlier as a reasonable treatment option for patients with poorly controlled diabetes —and not as a last resort.
2. Neuromodulation Device for Cluster and Migraine Headaches
The sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG) nerve bundle — located behind the bridge of the nose — has been a specific target for the treatment of severe headache pain for many years.
Researchers have invented an on-demand patient-controlled stimulator for the SPG nerve bundle. This miniaturized implantable neurostimulator, the size of an almond, is placed through a minimally invasive surgical incision in the upper gum above the second molar.
3. Mass Spectrometry for Bacterial Identification
Even in this age of advanced medical technology, identification of bacteria growing in culture can still require days or weeks.
However, clinical microbiology laboratories throughout the world are now implementing new mass spectrometry technology to provide rapid organism identification that is more accurate and less expensive than current biochemical methods.
Using one of the two MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry systems currently available in the United States provides more accurate identification of bacteria in minutes — rather than days.
See more and subscribe to NextBigFuture at 2012-12-20 01:03:03 Source: http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/12/cleveland-clinics-lists-of-top-ten.html
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