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Clifford Leung

Mr. Donald

Writing for College

24 January 2018

The Future

Infections are like bugs; they spread, multiply, and destroy for their own survival.

Infections were even more common in early years when Western medicine was not yet.

But whenever people have problems, they would always try to find a solution to the

problem; this idea is like a reflex. This sequence is exactly the same as doctors when

patients show up sick or in pain; they would find a solution to these situations but,

without the help of modern technology, these doctors would have some trouble finding a

solution to the problem. Each year, there are forty-eight million surgeries that are

performed annually in the United States. That is, fourteen percent of the United States

yearly have surgeries to replace and prolong their lives. Although advancements in

technology are not to perfection, each new innovation produces a use for a specific

problem.

Surgeries happen daily but, with new situations occurring, surgeons are required

to produce a solution to every patient that is in need of surgery. Problems ranging from

broken bones to organ replacement stresses surgeons to visualize how procedures are

to be carried. The author of “Impact of Medical Technology on the Practice of Medicine”

states, “Innovation and advancement in medical technology are the backbone of

modern medicine and have led to life changing treatments and cure for patients around

the globe.” The article refers to the 3D printer; in recent years 3D printing has been
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introduced to the world. This astonishing technology is used to produce a representation

of any type of organ to determine a procedure in fixing the presented problem. Some

examples of 3D printing includes, the production of internal organs and in some

situations on repairment of bones. Theoretically, this new technology increases the

success rate of surgeries because it gives surgeons an idea on how the surgery should

take place. The results of the surgeries that used 3D printing are quicker than the

surgeries that did not.

In addition, the surgeries that are pre-planned with a 3D printer resulted in a

significant time reduction. The author of the article, “Printing Technology Can

Revolutionise Medical Industry” states “The rule of 3D printing is that before surgery, the

doctor and surgeons can find out the anatomy of the organ. As we get a physical

prototype of the organ, it makes easy and better diagnostics and understanding.” (Rai).

An example of this theory in action would be when two twins were born with their hearts

formed together but, they want to split the heart into two separate hearts. Splitting the

hearts was hard because if it was not done properly they would both die. When the

situation was presented to the surgeons, they used 3D printer as their resource. “The

3D medical scans were converted by 3D Systems into STL build files, which were used

to create anatomically accurate models of the twin girl babies’ hearts” (Pierce). In the

end they were able to have a successful surgery which lead the twins to have a healthy

life.

The newly found 3D printer was able to solve the problem of the twin’s heart and

it could be used for much more. “Such kind of pre-surgical planning leads to shorter

operative times with lesser complications. Traditional methods may require re-
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intervention in some cases, where this model eliminates them and provides shorter

cardiopulmonary bypass time, circulatory arrest time and fewer residual lesions” (Rai).

The new innovation provides surgeons resources to decrease the time it takes to finish

the surgery. Pre-surgical planning is used to analyse how the situation should be dealt

with before surgeons enter the operating room. The 3D printer is used during the

planning phase to manipulate the organ that doctors are preparing to work on by

scanning the model of the organ that the surgeon is going to work on and produce it

with the printer. The medical industry is advancing in the technology that is is being

produced, to find many ways in increasing the efficiencies of surgeries to be successful.

A 3D printer can also be used for many different things besides organs. 3D

printers can make prosthetics and medical implants. Prosthetics are used to replace a

part of the body that someone has lost. Replacing lost limbs with prosthetics could cost

from five thousand to fifty thousand dollars. 3D printing also decreases the amount it

costs and produces a chance that whoever cannot afford one will be able to have one

now. Another thing that a 3D printer can produce is bone replacements. Bone

replacement was possible but, it is not approved by the FDA (Food & Drug

Administration). There was one case at the University of Michigan where an infant was

born with a defective trachea that it collapsed even after conventional treatment. After

doctors used a CT scan to make a replica of the defective trachea to sew tissues inside

the splint with materials that help with self repair of the trachea. The success of these

rare procedures leads 3D printing to require more research to be done in order for 3D

printers reach their maximum efficiency in producing organs to prosthetics.“With this

technology, the products can be made within hours which are much faster than
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traditional methods that make it more reliable with enhanced productivity” (Rai). 3D

printing is the future of producing usable products with low costing materials.

Medicine has been introduced to the world in the eighteen hundreds; it has been

advancing in the medical industry. Some examples of medicines that decrease the time

of surgery are clonidine, ciprofloxacin, and acupuncture. “Clonidine is an

antihypertensive drug which acts through facilitation of Alph-2 post-synaptic receptors

and in addition to its antihypertensive, anti-anxiety and analgesic effects, its beneficial

effects in reducing the bleeding during Neurosurgery and Orthopedics surgeries,

delicate surgeries of ear and nasal and sinus endoscopy have been proved.”

(Ghazipour). Clonidine is mainly used in rhinosurgery which is the reconstruction of the

nose but also it is used in neurosurgery and orthopedics surgery.

Clonidine is also proved to be successful in ear, nasal, and sinus endoscopy.

Experiments were conducted to research if Clonidine could stop hemorrhages during

surgery. The experiment required eighty patients; half of the patients was given five

kilograms of oral clonidine and the other half was given placebos which is a drug that

calms a patient down. After the medicine was given, doctors conducted surgery on the

patients to predict if Clonidine is able to reduce the bleeding in rhinoplasty surgery. The

results were interesting “In this study, no significant difference was observed in blood

was significantly and obviously less in group who received Clonidine before the

procedure than the placebo group" (Ghazipour). After this experiment, doctors would

recommend surgeons to use clonidine for rhinoplasty to reduce all sorts of bleeding.

Ciprofloxacin is described as a new antibiotic that kills bacteria. An experiment

was conducted by to discover if the predictions were true. Researchers took ex vivo skin
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which is tissues taken from live organisms and would be put in controlled environments

to be ready for testing. “Current research on wound infections is primarily conducted on

animal models, which limits direct transferability of these studies to humans. Some of

these limitations can be overcome by using–otherwise discarded—skin from cosmetic

surgeries” (Schaudinn). When the three models are ready to be tested, they take the

ninety-eight degrees ex vivo skin and injected bacteria into the skins which, in this case,

they used P. aeruginosa a type of common bacteria, then waited for the skin to be fully

infected. “Within 20 hours, the bacteria count increased from 107 to 109 bacteria per

wound, while microscopy revealed a dense bacterial community in the collagen network

of the upper wound layers as well as numerous bacteria scattered in the dermis”

(Schaudinn). This was a increase in bacteria per wound which gives a bigger chance for

wounds to become more infected.

After the twenty hours went by, they injected ciprofloxacin which was predicted to

kill bacteria. They placed ten microliters of or a tenth of a milliliter of ciprofloxacin into

each wound, resulting in a significant reduction of bacteria. In total, twelve donors’ skins

were used the procedure was repeated three times for each skin..“High-dosage

ciprofloxacin treatment resulted in a decisive decrease in bacteria, but consistently

failed to eradicate all bacteria” (Schaudinn). In conclusion, ciprofloxacin is able to

reduce the amount of bacteria in a wound which could result in a complete reduction or

a big reduction of bacteria.

Medicines and acupuncture are another type of procedures used to relieve pain.

These types of medicine were researched by Jaseng Hospital of Korean Medicine to

reduce the problem of lower back pain in Korea. Lee reports that “Participants were
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asked to refrain from receiving treatments for LBP or leg pain other than the integrative

Korean medicine treatment (herbal medicine, acupuncture, electro acupuncture, Chuna

manual therapy, pharmacopuncture and bee venom pharmacopuncture) or rescue

medicine (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)) stated in the protocol for 16

weeks and discontinued any other LBP/leg pain related medication” (Lee). After the

research that they have come this was the list that included all the types of medicines

and treatments to help with lower back pain.

Herbal medicine and acupuncture are some common types used but, other types

like electro acupuncture, chuna manuel therapy, and pharmacopuncture etc are used to

help with lower back pain but, are not commonly used. Electro acupuncture is like

regular acupuncture but the difference is that electro acupuncture uses two needles to

create electrical currents that releases the pain. Chuna manuel therapy is like physical

therapy where they would make relax the patient’s muscles by massaging it. Then there

is pharmacopuncture which is a mixture of herbal medicine and acupuncture.

“Integrative Korean medicine treatment is currently utilized for various LBP-related

disorders in Korea, which is in line with the “Korean Medicine Clinical Practice Guideline

for Lumbar Herniated Intervertebral Disc in Adults” recommendations for multimodal

over singular treatment on the basis of higher effectiveness” (Lee). About two-thousand

patients participated in this experiment. The experiments help treat lower back pain and

it reduces the amount of pain patients are in.

Acupuncture is used in many cases to reduce pain and to relax muscles. More

research has been done to help with bowel cancer. The experiment was conducted with

ten trials that demonstrated how acupuncture would work. The first trial already showed
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that it reduced time to flatus (release of gas in the intestines), defecation, and fewer

opioids consumption. Acupuncture helps bowel cancer patients in recovering after

surgery. “These findings indicated that acupuncture and acupressure tend to have

better benefits for the recovery of bowel function than sham acupuncture/acupressure,

no acupuncture/acupressure, or other active control therapy (such as acupuncture plus

Chinese herbal medicine versus Chinese herbal medicine)(Liu). In conclusion, medicine

help prevent more surgeries from happening.

To find cures from the diseases, doctors are required to examine the disease by

testing the diseases and to use stresses to find how to reduce the disease. Stem cells

research has been conducted for a while until they were able to experiment how the

cells are able to cure Parkinson’s disease, increase the growth of hair and physical

capacity.

One case appeared in 2012 when a man named Davide Vannoni who claims that

he can cure Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and spinal muscular atrophy.

Vannoni, at the time, was not a trained scientist or doctor which caused all the

commotion of how his procedure needs to be investigated. When the Italian government

found out that Vannoni was operating on patients in secrecy, they quickly closed him

down and sent him to prison for twenty-two months. Bosley states, “The Italian

Medicines Agency tried to shut down Vannoni’s operation in Brescia hospital in 2012,

but parents of sick children with devastating and terminal illnesses went to court

demanding stem cell treatments and hundreds of them won.” The parent of the sick is

able to get the Italian government to fund a clinical trial of the therapy that Vannoni

claims, it took many years of investigation by scientist to expose his claims. Bosley
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states, “There are two areas in which stem cell treatments work well – in diseases of the

blood and the epithelia, or skin. The reason is that it is possible to remove all the

diseased cells first.” This was claimed to be the reason it might have worked. In the end,

a cure was found by a person who wasn't a trained scientist or doctor, and now more

research has been formed to figure out the claims.

As humans grow, they become more frail and start to become weak; but with

stem cells, they are able to do more as they grow. The article “A Landmark Stem Cell

Therapy Shows Striking Results Against Aging” states, With the aging of the population,

stem cells hold great promise to treat aging-related disability and frailty, improving

physical capacity and quality of life, said Joshua M. Hare, ISCI Director and one of the

researchers involved in both trials.” they were able to conduct an experiment which

doctors gave fifteen patients whose ages averaged to seventy-six years old an infusion

of (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) MSC which was found in the donors’ bone marrow whose

ages ranged from twenty to forty-five years of age. Half a year later, doctors were able

to observe that the patients improved their fitness conditions and had better quality of

life. Increased physical capacity was only achieved because “Speaking in simple

technical terms, stem cells are basically “starting” cells that can morph into any type of

cell in the body. There are two types of stem cells: embryonic stem cells and adult stem

cells” the doctors were able to observe deeper into cells where they are able to see the

infusion of the mesenchymal stem cells. In the end they were able to prevent frailty in

the future because of the modern technology that was able to enhance cells to give a

solution to improve physical capacity. . Stem cells could be used to increase physical

capacity.
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One growing epidemic that happens in America is hair loss. Sipherd states “Bald

is beautiful — if you're Dwayne Johnson, Daddy Warbucks or a newborn baby. But if

you're among the 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States

experiencing complete or partial loss of hair, the condition, can cause feelings ranging

from embarrassment to great concern” When people age hair loss becomes more

frequent. Technology greatly impacted the medical field in many ways, including

research in stem cells, resulting in a solution to growth of hair. Hair is a organ that

everyone have but as humans grow old hair loss is more common. Dr. Cheng-Ming

Chuong, a professor of pathology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, was able to

perform experiments on rats to find if it was possible to regenerate and grow more hair.

To start this experiment, he took a rat and shaved all of their hair, then he injected cells

for hair growth which, resulted in rats were able to regrow their hair. When Chuong used

this method he was able to observe cells changing and how it would react with the host

of the subject to change and react, in this case it would be producing hair. “Stem cells,

by definition, are undifferentiated cells that can be transformed into specialized cells to

produce more of their kind. In adults they are used to maintain the normal turnover of

regenerative organs, such as blood, bone marrow and skin” (Sipherd). Stem cells were

able to produce hair because of how cells are able to change the host’s cells which is

resulting in growth of hair, cure to diseases and increases in human physical capacity.

Sickness and diseases are inevitable but with the growing technological

advancements in the medical field, diagnostic tests could never be easier in finding the

problem with a patient. In years to come, machines will slowly replace doctors, but for

this to happen, the United States government should step in and contribute. If this was
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to happen, the community would be healthier and would prevent a lot of drug usage

compared to the United States right now.