Will surgical robots have the potential advantages of precision and miniaturization as well as articulation? Are the current applications and prototypes that drive around in a patient’s body and act as the eyes and hands of a surgeon able to deliver drugs directly to specific receptors? Will medical devices or robots on a nanometer scale be able to repair cellular structures and isolate cancer cells on an individual basis?
When Dr Francis Collins of the Human Genome Research Institute said that the Human Genome Project provided a tool to ‘uncover the hereditary factors to virtually every disease’ it was hard not to be impressed. We are rapidly realizing that advanced genetic testing can pinpoint the cause of a disease so exactly that any condition will be considered an individual event and will have an individually tailored treatment. Being able to obtain a unique DNA signature for each patient will enable identification of disease susceptibility and optimal drug, vaccine or gene therapy treatment…instead of wasting time on trial-and-error treatment, physicians will be able to use a genetic test to identify patients with the most potential to respond to a drug…
…combine genetic treatments with other technologies. Professor Sikora, a leading cancer researcher in Hammersmith Hospital, suggests that susceptible people may be able to be implanted with a ‘gene chip’ which would detect the earliest signs of genetic mutations that produce cancer. A patient could then check themselves with a home computer which could then contact the GP by email to arrange an appointment for review…
Nanotechnology…discusses futuristic topics such as the advances in using nanotubes to fight bacteria and nanoparticles for cancer diagnosis and therapeutics. Expectations for a subspeciality of ‘Nanorobotics’ - the technology of creating machines or robots on a nanometer scale - are even higher…introduced to the body these ‘nanomachines’ will be able to repair cellular structures, isolate cancer cells on an individual basis and deliver drugs directly to specific receptors…
Over the coming decades it is a certainty that technology will play an increasing role in the provision of healthcare…concerning is that given the budget difficulties…it may be just the rich who will benefit from the advances…
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