A consulting firm dealing with long-range, leading edge technological innovations and their consequences and implications for healthcare policy and practice.
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alt="http://hfdigest.com/wp-content/gallery/pics/robomed2.jpg" Preliminary success in reducing arterial plaque with a synthetic form of “good” cholesterol, and measuring it with the new imaging technique of intravascular ultrasound, heralds a possible “paradigm shift” in the treatment of cardiovascular disease and a massive reduction in the anticipated strain on the healthcare system as baby boomers enter the coronary danger zone. […]
If the outsourcing trend doesn’t get the radiologists (see the Policy & Practice section), the robots will. The US may lag Europe and Japan in automating service jobs, but that lag will disappear once the competitive economics of globalization start to bite. Where are all the service workers to go? Other robotics developments this month: […]
We are sceptical that more spending on diet and exercise programs will put much of a dent in the growing obesity-related diabetes epidemic in the US. People prefer pills to pushups, and until a pill is developed, many choose risky and expensive bariatric surgery over safe and inexpensive diet and exercise. In other words, people […]
This month’s devices are too disparate to weave into a narrative, so here’s a simple list: Sensors in development can detect the faintest whiff of chemical warfare agents, a single cancer protein molecule, illegal drugs, and human deceit. Combination PET/CT scanners produce much more useful imaging while dramatically shortening scanning time. Plans for a multi-billion […]
Supercomputing is a hot topic as the Big Mac(intosh) takes 3rd place in the World’s Fastest list and IBM promises to blow NEC’s monster Earth Simulator off top spot with a petaflop machine. IBM’s Blue Gene/P will be used to explore protein folding, injecting atomic fire-starter into the already-exploding field of systems biology. Europe may […]
“We lack any serious capacity to scan for future events beyond what is coming onto the market in the next 12 months. We must develop that capacity, or suffer chaos,” says a healthcare technology writer. Health Futures Digest is about giving you that capacity and suggesting some of the questions you should be asking; such […]
Other therapeutic developments reported last month include: A proposed image-guided technologythat would allow more surgeries to become less invasive; A shape-memory alloy corkscrew for removing clots from stroke victims more effectively than TPA; LED therapyto cure blindness and heal wounds; and Ultrasound to prepare skin to absorb large-molecule drugs, such as insulin, delivered via skin […]
While a more effective monoclonal antibody competitor for the breast cancer drug Rituxan is under development, and major trials are underway of an experimental drug that may be more effective than Tamoxifen at preventing breast cancer, there’s not so promising news of Tarceva, which failed to increase overall lung cancer survival rates in recently concluded […]
Development of the AbioCor heart can be expected to accelerate now that the FDA has approved its wider use. State-of-the-art myoelectric prosthetics are being fitted to wounded U.S. soldiers. The cost can be high or low, depending on how you look at it. A myoelectric tour de force — the bionic arm and shoulder fitted […]
The potential of RNAi to cure any and all disease is attracting money, talent, and at least one big pharma. And the potential benefits of stem cell therapy are evidenced by a breakthrough towards a cure for deafness. On the other hand, new research suggesting that adult stem cells do not differentiate into other types […]
