We are fortunate to be living in a time where there are so many medical breakthroughs. The Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit, academic medical center that has been responsible for such major medical advances as coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant done in the United States. Once again this year, they have published their list of top medical innovations for 2012.
One of their nominations includes, “Catheter-based renal denervation to control resistant hypertension”. Since it is estimated that one in three Americans has hypertension or high blood pressure (HBP), this is major step forward in helping millions of people. Renal denervation is a new forty minute procedure that could permanently lower blood pressure. A catheter is used to deliver low-level radio-frequency energy to disrupt the nerves surrounding the kidneys. The method will be used on patients that have drug resistant HBP and may be taking as many as four different drugs to treat it.
Another top innovation they cite is “Harnessing big data to improve health care”. It is about organizing and managing the huge amount of data involved in patient healthcare but still protecting privacy. Chris Coburn, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation’s executive director of innovations, states, “It’s bringing new efficiency to patient care at the individual level and then aggregating it with billions of records. So on a single question that might have taken days to answer in the past now can be addressed in seconds-or less”.
A new treatment for diabetes also made the list called “Novel Diabetes Therapy: SGLT2 Inhibitors”. This is a revolutionary way to treat diabetes and given the number of people afflicted with the disease it could make a huge difference. SGLT2 inhibitors are a new class of drugs that reduces blood sugar by allowing it to be excreted during urination. The medication is taken once a day and also helps with weight loss.
It will be interesting to watch how these advancements will be brought into mainstream patient care and how they will change treatment. Part of the Cleveland Clinic’s criteria for choosing the top innovations are that they have a high probability of success and are already on the market or close to being available. We can only hope that they are as successful as some of the early data is showing.
*This is for informational purposes only and not intended as medical advice. Please consult your physician or health care provider with any concerns and questions you may have.
Bethesda Gardens Assisted Living, Phoenix, Arizona is an assisted living and short term care community. It is great to spend time with our grandchildren and share special activities with them. Please read our blog with some fun ideas on baking withgrandkids.
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