Cleveland Clinic’s Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2012

Cleveland Clinic Top 10 for 2012

Cleveland Clinic Top 10 for 2012

1. Catheter-Based Renal Denervation to Control Resistant Hypertension:
When blood pressure is elevated-140/90 mm Hg or higher-a person will receive a diagnosis of hypertension or high blood pressure. It’s important to prevent any rise in blood pressure. The top number in a blood pressure measurement is called systolic and the smaller number is diastolic pressure.

2. CT Scans for Early Detection of Lung Cancer:
Lung cancer is the most common cause of death from cancer among American men and women. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 220,500 new cases of lung cancer are diagnosed annually. An estimated 157,000 Americans will die of lung cancer in 2011. This is more than deaths from breast, prostate, colon, and pancreatic cancers combined.

3. Concussion Management System for Athletes:
The leading cause of traumatic brain injury is car accidents. Number two on the list is concussions suffered while playing sports. Highcontact sports such as football, boxing, soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, rugby, and ice hockey pose a high risk of a closed head injury, even when protective headgear is used.

4. Medical Apps for Mobile Devices:
Thanks to medical apps and mHealth, which is shorthand for mobile health, both doctor and consumer are taking part in a technological revolution in the way healthcare information is accessed and delivered today-and it’s right at their fingertips. Reliable and easily available healthcare information that can be downloaded to mobile devices is now ubiquitous and growing at an unprecedented pace due to its ease of use, broad applicability, and attractive price point.

5. Increasing Discovery with Next-Generation Gene Sequencing:
Thirteen years and $2.7 billion. That’s what it took researchers involved in the Human Genome Project to sequence, or identify, the human genome the first time, using a DNA sequencing method invented in 1975 by two-time Nobel laureate, Frederick Sanger.

6. Implantable Device to Treat Complex Brain Aneurysms:
An aneurysm in the brain, also called a cerebral aneurysm or an intracranial aneurysm, is a weakened area in the middle layer of the wall of a blood vessel in the brain that causes an abnormal ballooning or widening. It’s estimated that up to one in 15 people in the United States will develop a brain aneurysm in their lifetime.

7. Active Bionic Prosthesis: Wearable Robotic Devices:
Yesterday, every below-the-knee prostheses functioned more or less as a passive carbon-fiber cane or crutch, simply filling in where a limb used to be. Today, however, thanks to a quantum leap in prosthetics technology, amputees are now able to easily walk without stress, engage in rigorous physical activity and stay in step with their remaining biological limb-the way that nature had intended.

8. Harnessing Big Data to Improve Healthcare:
The amount of data collected each day dwarfs human comprehension and even brings most computing programs to a quick standstill. It is estimated that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are created daily, so much that 90% of the data in the world has been created in the last two years.

9. Novel Diabetes Therapy: SGLT2 Inhibitors:
There is a diabetes epidemic in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 26 million children and adults 8.3% of the population-have diabetes, which is a defect in the body’s ability to convert glucose (blood sugar) to energy.

Source: Cleveland Clinic

10. Genetically Modified Mosquitoes to Reduce Disease Threat:
The pesky mosquito has been around for more than 100 million years, adapting to climates as diverse as the arctic and the equator. A female mosquito survives anywhere from 3 to 100 days, and in that time may lay upwards of 3,000 eggs.