Top Ten Medical Breakthroughs That Improved Our Lives In 2012

We all see the headlines about modern medical miracles. In 10 to 20 years, nanobots will repair the brain damage that causes Alzheimer's disease, one reporter assures us. In 15 to 30 years, shape-shifting metamaterials infused with custom-made antibiotics will be commonplace for wound repair. And maybe in just 5 to 10 years, surgeons will use something that looks like the old dot matrix printer to make new organs custom fit to the patient.

These are all nice ideas, but what medical breakthroughs are really making a difference in people's lives right now? Here are 5 important surgical innovations and 5 important pharmaceutical innovations that are actually in regular use at the end of 2012.

1. Surgery-free knee repair.

Sports injuries and aging cause millions of people constant knee pain, and every year over 850,000 people have knee replacement surgery in the United States alone. But what if all that was needed to get a new knee was a series of injections?

Doctors can now take a patient's blood, send it through a centrifuge to concentrate the red blood cells known as platelets, and then inject the platelets into the injured joints. The platelets activate naturally occurring stem cells that repair the knee. The procedure has been around for a few years, but 2012 saw a very important change for American patients--qualification for insurance reimbursement. The procedure's $500 to $1,500 cost is now covered by most insurance policies, even some that will not pay $5,000 to $15,000 for the better-known surgical knee replacement. People who take anti-coagulant drugs known as PAF-inhibitors, unfortunately, cannot receive the treatment.

2. Robotic surgery for the prostate.

Hundreds of thousands of men every year have prostates removed to stop the spread of prostate cancer. The problem with traditional surgery has always been that the prostate bleeds, making it difficult for the surgeon to locate the nerves that have to be spared to enable continued ability to have erections. New surgical techniques involve the surgeon standing about 10 feet away from the patient controlling a robot, which operates in a bleeding-free space made possible by the insertion of a balloon into the abdomen. Operated by the surgeon, the robot is capable of more precise cuts that leave nerves intact and conserve the ability to participate in sexual intercourse.

3. Autotransfusion to minimize blood loss during surgery.

One of the major complications of major surgery, especially open heart surgery, is loss of blood. A new technique called Hemosep, proven in clinical trials at the University of Kirikkale Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, collects spilled blood and recirculates it into the patient. There is less need for donated blood, and there is no risk of introducing infections or making errors in blood type matches. Hemosep has already been approved in Canada and the European Union, and is awaiting approval in the USA.

Two More Amazing Upgrades To Surgical Technique

Surgical innovations lead the list of modern miracles, including the new techniques that make even brain surgery a relatively low-risk undertaking with a short hospital stay.

4. Minimally invasive brain surgery.

Robert had an aneurysm, a blow-out in an artery, in the middle of his brain. For most of the 80 years that brain surgery has been possible, it would have been necessary for the surgeon to saw off part of his skull and then spend hours in delicate surgery to reach the aneursym and patch it. Robert's surgeons, however, were able to send a tiny pipette into his brain to rebuild the injured artery with tiny platinum coils so it would not bleed and destroy surrounding tissue. Robert was awake during the surgery and discharged from the hospital just three days later.

Now some forms of brain surgery can be performed without opening the skull at all. Opening a tiny hole in the skull through the nose, or sending a catheter (a tiny pipe) through the femoral artery in the groin up to the brain, doctors can remove tumors and repair arteries, sometimes with the patient going home just 48 hours after the procedure. The face and the bones of the skull do not have to be broken, sawed, or moved.

One of the most interesting innovations in surgery, however, is in one of the most common forms of cosmetic surgery.

5. Adjustable breast implants.

Breast implants are a boon for busts. Silicone implants can help women emulate anything from a sleek and chic Gwyneth Paltrow look to a full-busted Dolly Parton look, but until recently, women had to choose their look before they had their surgery. Now it is possible, at least for the first six months after surgery, for women to change the size of their implants to fine-tune their look.

Most women have swelling for two to three months after surgery, and don't really know their final breast size until the inflammation heals. And since different bra manufacturers have different actual sizes of their C and D cups, some women don't have an accurate idea of how the size they choose will really look until the surgery has been done.

Breast augmentation surgery used to be irreversible. The new breast implants can be adjusted by the surgeon's injecting saline into the implant or drawing it out through a portal hidden under the skin of the breast. In 2012, surgeons made advances in the use of Spectra (TM) implants for asymmetrical breasts needing Differing volumes of fluid to come out the same size.

Drug breakthroughs available and in wide-spread use in 2012

And what new drug breakthroughs are available and in wide-spread use in 2012? Here are five of the most widely useful:

• A drug to prevent HIV infection in healthy people. The new combination drug Truvada keeps people who don't already have HIV from getting infected.

• A treatment for head lice that works quickly. For many years, pet owners have been able to treat their dogs with a medication called Ivermectin to prevent heart worm infections. Now this useful drug is available for people to kill head lice in the newly approved prescription drug Sklice, manufactured and marketed by pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur.

• Replacements for Coumadin. This blood thinning medication literally does double duty as rat poison. However, new anti-Platelet Activating Factor drugs such as ticagrelor (Brilinta) stop clots without causing bleeding, and don't require constant testing to keep bloodstream levels of the medication right.

• Additional drugs for high blood pressure. If you have high blood pressure, chances are that some of your organs, especially your heart, don't get enough oxygen. A relatively new medication called ranolazine (Ranexa) helps cells throughout the body burn sugar rather than fats for energy, reducing their demand for oxygen.

• And nearly two dozen new drugs were approved for cancer treatment in the USA, the largest number of them for the most common form of cancer, a kind of skin cancer known as basal cell carcinoma.

While it is common to complain about the iatrogenic side effects of modern medicine, the simple fact is, if you have to get sick, there has been no time in human history when medicine was more able to help you than right now. While fantastic medical innovations may be in the offing, practical and proven medical innovations that save lives and that improve lives are available in the present.