Medical Innovations

The world would be a very different place if it weren’t for the medical innovations that have occurred over the past 100 years.  Major advances in medical techniques, therapies, and treatments have reduced human suffering and death to a degree never before seen in history.  A large percentage of these changes and improvements in health care can be linked to technological improvements which have increased the capacity for doctors to intervene in the lives of their patients.

One of the most significant medical innovations was the development of antibiotics.  This class of drug is capable of combating infections by using the secretions of microorganisms, which for the most part occur naturally.  The first natural antibiotic to be discovered and widely put into use in modern times was penicillin, brought to the fore by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928.  Scientists also went to work developing artificial antibiotics, which used semi-synthetic compounds to achieve the same anti-infectious results.  The first of these to achieve wide distribution was Prontosil, developed by Bayer in the 1930’s.  Antibiotics allowed doctors to cure a huge number of diseases previously thought to be unassailable, and in some cases allowed for afflictions which had claimed thousands of lives to be almost completely eradicated from the medical landscape.  Antibiotics still remain the backbone of disease fighting strategies the world over.

Radiology is another important medical innovation which changed the course of medical history.  In 1885, Wilhelm Roentgen made the discovery that by using a beam of electrons he could generate images of human bones that ‘saw through’ the skin and surrounding tissue.  His work was refined by W.D. Coolidge ten years later, allowing for more refined imaging results.  Modern radiology has advanced to the degree where medical imaging can take two- and three-dimensional pictures of the inside of the human body, providing incredible insight into treatment results and allowing doctors to plan comprehensive strategies for helping their patients with complex medical issues.  This is a giant leap forward from simply being able to diagnose compound fractures and other broken bones.

For sufferers of diabetes, the discovery of insulin in 1920 rates as a milestone in the treatment of a disease which afflicts millions in the United States alone.  After Canadian researchers first successfully treated a young diabetic boy with insulin two years later, the use of this natural regulatory hormone as a standard therapy blossomed throughout the world.  Over time, scientists were able to refine natural insulin in order to increase efficacy and absorption, and altered insulin therapies are now expanding in their use and ability to treat the disease.

Moving from a circulatory disease to a cardiovascular one, the development of the artificial heart rounds out our list of important medical innovations.  The first artificial heart to be implanted into a human being, the Jarvik 7, was developed by Dr. Willem Kolff in 1981.  The patient managed to survive for just over 110 days before succumbing to illness.  Since then there have been close to 800 implantations of artificial hearts based on the same design.  While not intended as permanent replacements, they have acted successfully as a way to allow patients to survive between their own heart failure and the availability of a human heart for transplant.

The world of medical science has been powered by the strength of its innovations intended to improve the quality of life of patients who required radical solutions to complex and puzzling health problems.  The depth of knowledge represented by the achievements listed above is astounding, and acts as a true testament to the men and women who are drawn to the life sciences.