Comments on: Medical Advance of the Decade? http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/ A physician's commentary on current issues in medicine, clinical research, health and wellness. Sun, 05 Sep 2010 19:41:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: oncRN http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-622 oncRN Thu, 07 Jan 2010 20:18:26 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-622 glad it was limited to medical advances and i wasn't forced to decide between Gleevec and The Swiffer. glad it was limited to medical advances and i wasn’t forced to decide between Gleevec and The Swiffer.

]]> By: Grand Rounds: Vol. 6, No. 14 « Dr. Ottematic http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-597 Grand Rounds: Vol. 6, No. 14 « Dr. Ottematic Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:00:33 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-597 [...] The Examining Room, Dr. Charles invites you to cast your vote for the Medical Advance of the Decade. We make leaps and bounds, sometimes with the subtlest change. Smoking bans? Hypothermia protocol? [...] [...] The Examining Room, Dr. Charles invites you to cast your vote for the Medical Advance of the Decade. We make leaps and bounds, sometimes with the subtlest change. Smoking bans? Hypothermia protocol? [...]

]]> By: robin andrea http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-590 robin andrea Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:13:20 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-590 I cast my vote, dr. charles. I don't mind telling you that I voted for the wealth of medical information online. Last year, my mother was suffering a debilitating case of something her doctors called "lupus-like syndrome." She was prescribed dose after dose of Prednisone, but her condition only worsened. She was hospitalized twice. I did a little online research. I think the search string I used was "pain medication pleuritic conditions" (or something like that). I was looking for something other than Prednisone to help her. I found a site that had a list of medications that actually cause lupus-like symptoms. One was a very rare side effect of simvastatin, something my mother had been taking for about 18 months. When she stopped the medication, all of her symptoms completely disappeared (and never returned). It was incredible. Took a few weeks to wean off the Prednisone, and she was pretty much back to herself. I can't tell you how much that online info means to me and my family. I cast my vote, dr. charles. I don’t mind telling you that I voted for the wealth of medical information online. Last year, my mother was suffering a debilitating case of something her doctors called “lupus-like syndrome.” She was prescribed dose after dose of Prednisone, but her condition only worsened. She was hospitalized twice. I did a little online research. I think the search string I used was “pain medication pleuritic conditions” (or something like that). I was looking for something other than Prednisone to help her. I found a site that had a list of medications that actually cause lupus-like symptoms. One was a very rare side effect of simvastatin, something my mother had been taking for about 18 months. When she stopped the medication, all of her symptoms completely disappeared (and never returned). It was incredible. Took a few weeks to wean off the Prednisone, and she was pretty much back to herself. I can’t tell you how much that online info means to me and my family.

]]> By: daedalus2u http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-588 daedalus2u Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:14:21 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-588 DrC, nitric oxide was suitable as a research advance of the 1990's, but its promise as a medical advance has not yet occurred. It will. To me, a "medical advance" has to mean actual treatments for actual patients that actually improve patients lives. The human genome is a terrific research tool and research advancement, but it has not yet had much of an impact on actual treatments. Guinea Worm has to be pretty high up there. It hasn’t quite happened yet, but Obama’s Health Care Bill might still squeak in. DrC, nitric oxide was suitable as a research advance of the 1990′s, but its promise as a medical advance has not yet occurred. It will.

To me, a “medical advance” has to mean actual treatments for actual patients that actually improve patients lives. The human genome is a terrific research tool and research advancement, but it has not yet had much of an impact on actual treatments.

Guinea Worm has to be pretty high up there.

It hasn’t quite happened yet, but Obama’s Health Care Bill might still squeak in.

]]> By: Micha http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-587 Micha Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:13:16 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-587 I'll also argue for HPV vaccine with the caveat that it has more promise than proven benefit at this time and needs global distribution to communities with the highest disease burden. However, I also give a strong vote to battlefield medicine: like Gleevac, it is also an advance spanning decades. Strangely enough though, those advances are less "surgical" than Gleevac as they are the result of slowly chipping at a problem. I think many people fail to realize that older advances (infusion, transfusion, debridement, etc) in battlefield medicine are now common place in hospital. More recently "damage control" procedures from US experience in Iraq have saved obstetric and non-GSW trauma patients. I know a young healthy woman who didn't really know she had a risk of dying in pregnancy and is still alive today because of trauma techniques extrapolated from war. I’ll also argue for HPV vaccine with the caveat that it has more promise than proven benefit at this time and needs global distribution to communities with the highest disease burden. However, I also give a strong vote to battlefield medicine: like Gleevac, it is also an advance spanning decades. Strangely enough though, those advances are less “surgical” than Gleevac as they are the result of slowly chipping at a problem. I think many people fail to realize that older advances (infusion, transfusion, debridement, etc) in battlefield medicine are now common place in hospital. More recently “damage control” procedures from US experience in Iraq have saved obstetric and non-GSW trauma patients. I know a young healthy woman who didn’t really know she had a risk of dying in pregnancy and is still alive today because of trauma techniques extrapolated from war.

]]> By: drcharles http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-586 drcharles Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:36:42 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-586 Great additions. I will amend this post and open the polling booths shortly! Great additions. I will amend this post and open the polling booths shortly!

]]> By: rezmed http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-585 rezmed Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:53:16 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-585 Smoking bans and consequent fall in community cardiovascular disease. Not very sexy, but very important for two reasons. It shows that government policy can change peoples' behaviors and improve their health. This will be very important as the world now faces an epidemic of obesity and consequent DM, CAD and ESRD. Second, politics and prevention are a lot cheaper than all the fancy drugs. This would probably include my second choice as well, eradication of the Guinea Worm. Smoking bans and consequent fall in community cardiovascular disease.

Not very sexy, but very important for two reasons. It shows that government policy can change peoples’ behaviors and improve their health. This will be very important as the world now faces an epidemic of obesity and consequent DM, CAD and ESRD.

Second, politics and prevention are a lot cheaper than all the fancy drugs. This would probably include my second choice as well, eradication of the Guinea Worm.

]]> By: superman http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-582 superman Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:01:01 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-582 what about keyhole surgery <strong> drC: Laparoscopic surgery, also not quite this decade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery Unless you meant something else :)</strong> what about keyhole surgery

drC: Laparoscopic surgery, also not quite this decade:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laparoscopic_surgery

Unless you meant something else :)

]]> By: 3+speckled http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-579 3+speckled Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:13:28 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-579 Biologics in rheumatoid arthritis. Hard to believe how much these drugs have improved the lives of RA patients. Hugely effective and surprisingly safe. Also hugely expensive but few people that see them in action complain much about the price. <strong>drC: Good addition, the science is amazing, but I'm not sure the side effects and cost don't take off some of the luster in terms of advance of the decade: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rheumatoid-arthritis/DS00020/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs</strong> Biologics in rheumatoid arthritis. Hard to believe how much these drugs have improved the lives of RA patients. Hugely effective and surprisingly safe. Also hugely expensive but few people that see them in action complain much about the price.

drC: Good addition, the science is amazing, but I’m not sure the side effects and cost don’t take off some of the luster in terms of advance of the decade:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/rheumatoid-arthritis/DS00020/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs

]]> By: daedalus2u http://www.theexaminingroom.com/2009/12/medical-advance-of-the-decade/comment-page-1/#comment-576 daedalus2u Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:09:58 +0000 http://www.theexaminingroom.com/?p=558#comment-576 Nitric oxide! Or maybe that will be the medical advance of the next decade! <strong>drC - good one, but I'm going to think of that one as 1990's: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1998/press.html</strong> How about rotavirus vaccines? Nitric oxide! Or maybe that will be the medical advance of the next decade!

drC – good one, but I’m going to think of that one as 1990′s:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1998/press.html

How about rotavirus vaccines?

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