Pacific Asia Consulting Expertise
Top 10 New Medical Breakthroughs of 2024
For many years, technology and medicine have worked in tandem. Pharmaceutical and medical advances have saved millions of lives and improved the lives of many others. There is no telling what medical discoveries will come next as time passes and new technology in healthcare improves. Here are the top ten innovative medical technologies for 2024:
1) mRNA Technology
mRNA technology has lately received attention due to the implementation of this research in the new Covid-19 vaccinations. mRNA vaccines offer an alternative to the standard vaccine strategy due to their remarkable effectiveness, fast development, and potential for low production costs.
The potential of mRNA is expected to extend beyond vaccinations. Because mRNA can code for almost any protein, the same basic approach could allow us to construct a wide range of treatments by inducing a drug-like reaction in the body. Many protein-based therapies, such as antibodies produced outside the body, have shown to be incredibly successful – but also extremely costly. Leveraging mRNA technology could reduce development times and costs by directing the human body to produce proteins instead.
2) Virtual Reality
Virtual reality has been around for a while now. However, it is currently being utilized to treat and manage various psychiatric disorders and conditions, ranging from stress and anxiety to dementia and autism. Its powers, however, are not restricted to mental health disorders; it is also employed for efficient pain management by modifying patients’ attitudes and perceptions about pain.
There is still much-untapped potential for VR in the medical field. However, its primary focus areas for medical breakthroughs are preventive healthcare, rehabilitation, assisted living, cancer therapy, and surgery.
3) Neurotechnology
Neurotechnology has the potential to improve many aspects of life significantly. It is already being used in the medical and wellness industries, but it also has many prospective applications in education, workplace management, national security, and sports.
Neurotechnology is currently used in healthcare for brain imaging, which records magnetic fields produced by the electrical activity within the brain. Neurostimulation stimulates the brain and nervous system to influence brain activity, and neuro devices, an emerging technology that monitors or regulates brain activity using an implant.
4) Artificial Intelligence
In 2024, AI will be one of the most intriguing technologies transforming the healthcare environment is proven to be extremely useful when it comes to detecting diseases early and quickly verifying an accurate diagnosis. In breast cancer care, for example, AI allows mammography reviews to be 30 times faster with 99% accuracy, minimizing the need for unnecessary biopsies.
AI is also being used to monitor early-stage cardiac disease, allowing healthcare providers to identify potentially life-threatening issues earlier and more treatable. Furthermore, AI assists clinicians in developing more comprehensive treatment programs, allowing patients to control their diseases better.
5) 3D Printing
3D printers have swiftly become one of the market’s trendiest technologies. It can use game-changing printers in healthcare to generate implants and joints for surgery. 3D-printed prosthetics are becoming increasingly popular because they are completely customized, with digital capabilities allowing them to match an individual’s specifications down to the millimeter. This enables unprecedented levels of comfort and movement.
6) Precision medicine
As medical technology progresses, it becomes more personalized to specific patients. Precision medicine considers each patient’s genetics, environment, and lifestyle. For example, when employing precision medicine to treat a cancer patient, one can personalize the treatment based on their unique genetic makeup. This personalized medicine is significantly more effective than other treatment methods since it attacks tumors depending on the patient’s genetics, producing gene alterations and destroying the cancer medication more efficiently.
7) CRISPR
CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is the most advanced gene-editing technology. It exploits the inherent mechanisms of invading virus immune systems in bacterial cells, which can ‘rip out’ infected DNA strands. This severing of DNA can change how we treat disease. Some of the most severe risks to our health, like cancer and HIV, could be defeated in a few years by changing genes.
CRISPR has numerous potential applications, including fixing genetic abnormalities, treating and limiting disease transmission, and enhancing agricultural growth and resilience.
8) Telemedicine
Telehealth and telemedicine have grown in popularity since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. Telemedicine relates to remote clinical services, whereas telehealth includes remote non-clinical services. Since the pandemic, more individuals have adopted a new way of working and living. This trend is expected to continue, with the worldwide telemedicine industry expected to expand from $68.36 billion to $218.49 billion by 2026.
Telehealth and telemedicine have become increasingly common in the previous two years, and technology for virtual-care meetings will progress beyond 1:1 doctor-patient video conferencing in 2022.
9) Health Wearables
The demand for wearable gadgets has increased in recent years, with the advent of Bluetooth in 2000. People use wearables paired with their phones to track their steps, physical fitness, and heart rate to their sleeping patterns. In addition, with much of the industrialized world’s population aging, wearables can help prevent chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease by assisting patients in monitoring and improving their fitness.
Technological improvements are not limited to gadgets worn on the body; inside tables and implantables are also being created. So far, these microcomputers that operate from within the body have been employed to assist organs such as the heart and brain in their functions.
10) Mental health technology
Depression is expected to be the primary source of illness burden globally by 2030, making the need for novel medicines more critical than ever. Many new technologies have emerged in the previous year that can aid patients with their continuing mental health demands.
Some apps can increasingly complete patient intakes and provide an initial diagnosis before a patient sees a therapist. As a result, ai-powered tools are revolutionizing how mental health treatments are given.
AI chatbots, such as Woebot, can assist patients in practicing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) tactics. At the same time, voice recognition software Ellipsis can analyze a patient’s voice and speech patterns for warning indications of emotional distress.