Medical Technology

Medical technology available to us today involves mostly exogenous technologies, which are used for surveillance, data management or decision making based on such data. Tele-medicine and other AI-based technologies also help increase the access and ease of use of medical technologies.

These technologies act only as complements to the more traditional technologies or techniques of treatment like drugs, vaccines, surgery, etc., or act as preventive or health-promoting services. Nevertheless, independently they are not capable of enhancing a biological process or preventing any symptoms which can lead to a reduction in the well-being of the patients, except in a few cases like pace-makers or dialysis machines.

In that sense, despite the revolutionary progress in portable and easy to use digital gadgets in the sphere of healthcare, their use has remained limited to a small part of the overall healthcare delivery system. However, more recent developments in the sphere of digital Medical Technology will be able to address a far larger set of medical issues than they cover now.

Implants and Bio-enhancement

Till now bio-enhancement or augmentation of the biological processes to increase the performance of the human body in any sphere, or using them to overcome normal or rare deficiencies is considered to be the stuff of science fictions. But with many technologies, this is about to change.

For example, a team based in an Australian university is developing a bionic eye. This consists of a pair of glasses designed to record images and convert them to special signals, while the brain will be fitted with microchips to interpret these signals and convey them to the brain. When successful, this project can help at least 85% of the clinically blind people see the world.

Similarly, at UC Berkley a team is working on creating a device, which when implanted in the brain can inhabit neuro-transmissions which lead to unhealthy choices like addiction, consumption of sugary or salty foods, leading to overall healthy choices. Another project funded by the American army at Northwestern University is trying to create a device which when implanted on the body will be able to reduce jet lag and diarrhoea, which are very common among people flying long distances across the globe. This implant will be able to detect environmental data to predict the level of extent of jet lag, and with the use of bio-electronics help, the body produces peptides, which can prevent these symptoms. While peptides are amino acids that can be enhanced through treatment regimens, this Medical Technology will be the first of its kind to do it digitally at a personalised level.

Benefits of going under the skin

As digital technology goes inside the human body to treat various conditions at individual levels, we might see better health outcomes for the population at large. These technologies can help reduce the costs of treatment for chronic conditions and also reduce the chances of people falling sick through more personalised preventive treatment regimens.