The Cleveland Clinic announced its choice of top ten heath industry innovations that will have a major impact in 2015. The number one-ranked health care powerhouse made the announcement during its summit in October 2014.
A Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit
Almost 800,000 people suffer an ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke in the US each year. The mobile treatment unit will reduce the time that it takes for the patient to travel to the hospital, a critical factor. Broadband video will link paramedics to neurologists while en route and facilitate stroke detection and the administration of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA).
Dengue Vaccine
Dengue is a virus transmitted via the Aedes aegypti mosquito that has already bitten an individual infected with the Dengue virus. Dengue is rapidly spreading and between 50 and 100 million people are affected in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Blood Collection and Diagnosis
Phlebotomy is the process of using blood as a diagnostic factor. Blood collected from a vein is used to measure cells, lipids, proteins, sugars, hormones, tumors, and other blood components. Estimates state that almost 80 percent of decisions by doctors are dependent on the results of blood tests. Testing is to be transformed and will use new technology that can obtain results from one drop of blood. Testing can be done at much lower costs and at local pharmacies.
Additional 2015 Innovations to Take Note Of
Other innovations that the Clinic includes on the top ten list are PCSK9 Inhibitors that reduce cholesterol and can help prevent coronary heart disease. The list includes antibody drug conjugates; one million people in the US develop cancer each year, but treatments such as antibody drug conjugates designed to treat cancers that have spread to other parts of the body. Also on the list are immune checkpoint inhibitors that block the proteins that provide hiding places for cancer cells from the body’s natural immune system. The inhibitors free cancer cells so that white blood cells in the immune system can kill the cancer cells. One study on advanced skin cancer showed that one-third of patients had 80 percent tumor shrinkage when they received checkpoint inhibitors.
Cleveland Clinic includes a leadless cardiac pacemaker that treats bradycardia, and intraoperative radiation therapy to treat breast cancer and angiotensin-receptor neprilysin inhibitor for heart failure. The American Cancer Society reports 200 thousand new breast cancer cases each year. There are over 50,000 deaths each year because of heart failure.
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