Top Medical Breakthroughs

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dstrauch

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Saw this Q in the interview forum:
What are the top 3 most important advancements/discoveries in medicine over the past decade?

My tentative answers:
1. mapping human genome
2. cloning/stem cells
3. AIDS treatments

Some other options:
digital medical records
increasing patient involvement in decision making
robotic surgery

What do you guys think?
Would you approach Q from research or clinical perspective?
 
dstrauch said:
Saw this Q in the interview forum:
What are the top 3 most important advancements/discoveries in medicine over the past decade?

My tentative answers:
1. mapping human genome
2. cloning/stem cells
3. AIDS treatments

Some other options:
digital medical records
increasing patient involvement in decision making
robotic surgery

What do you guys think?
Would you approach Q from research or clinical perspective?

What do you think about that cervical cancer immunization?
 
I dunno about HIV meds as a "last decade" topic. The novel agents from each of the three HIV meds classes were all discovered more than 10 years ago with the exception of the fusion inhibitors, so there is really only one novel thing to discuss.
 
If this pans out, it's going to be amazing...

Nicotine vaccine continues to show promise

By Anne Harding
Thu Dec 1, 2:26 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Research with a new nicotine vaccine shows that the vaccine is safe and well tolerated, with higher doses producing a greater rate of abstinence.

"We were pleased to see that because that indicates this vaccine does indeed have a significant impact on smoking behavior," Dr. Dorothy K. Hatsukami of the Tobacco Use Research Center in Minneapolis told Reuters Health. The finding of increased abstinence, she added, was "surprising."

The next step, Hatsukami said, will be to conduct studies to identify the optimum dose and scheduling for administering the vaccine. She noted that the vaccine could be a useful tool to help smokers quit, although in order to kick the habit it will likely be necessary for them to address behavioral aspects of smoking. "It's not going to be a miracle cure."

Hatsukami and her colleagues report results of the study in the November issue of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

The "encouraging results" reported in the current study, as well as other recent research on nicotine vaccines, must be confirmed, Dr. Jacques Le Houezec of Amzer Glas in Rennes, France writes in an editorial accompanying the study.

The vaccine could be useful for smokers trying to quit, former smokers hoping to ward off relapse, and could also be used to prevent adolescents from taking up smoking, he noted, adding that giving the vaccine to teens would raise ethical questions as "it will be the first time that a vaccine is used not to prevent a disease but to prevent a behavior."

The nicotine vaccine works by triggering production of antibodies that bind to nicotine, creating a complex that is too large to pass through the blood-brain barrier.

Hatsukami and her colleagues tested the experimental vaccine called NicVAX in 68 smokers. This preliminary study was designed primarily to test the safety of the vaccine.

Volunteers received placebo or 50, 100 or 200 micrograms of the vaccine at days 0, 28, 56 and 182 and were followed for 38 weeks. They were not instructed to quit, unless they expressed a desire to do so.

Fifty-six people completed the study.

While withdrawal symptoms and craving were considered a potential side effect, none of the study participants experienced these symptoms. This was likely because antibody concentrations rose relatively slowly, Hatsukami and her team note. There was also no sign that smokers increased their cigarette consumption to compensate for the vaccine's effects.

Adverse effects were generally mild and were not markedly different from those given placebo.

Six of the study participants on the highest dose of the vaccine abstained from smoking for 30 days, compared to one on the 100-microgram dose, none on the 50-microgram dose, and two participants on placebo. Patients on the highest dose also took the least time to achieve 30-day abstinence.

SOURCE: Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, November 2005

I don't know if it would qualify as a top medical breakthrough, but it certainly has the potential to make a huge difference in one of the most risky behaviors.
 
I know this isn't a recent breakthrough, but the progress in controlling and treating cancer has been quite amazing. And what about all those new non-invasive procedures/alternatives to surgery? Maybe that's more on the clinical side.
 
MoosePilot said:
What do you think about that cervical cancer immunization?

Moosepilot, can you elaborate? Not familiar with this. Thanks.
 
MoosePilot said:
http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/results/cervical-cancer-vaccine1102

I think this is a big story. Maybe not one of the greatest advances ever, but I think this is how we make the big health advances, one killer after another.

But isn't cervical cancer a bit unique in that the cancer is caused by a virus? I mean, not all cancers are caused by viruses (only about ~25%?), so I'm not sure vaccines will be the future of cancer treatment/prevention.

It's great that the cervical cancer vaccine shows such efficacy, but I'm not if it's applicable to some of the other major cancer killers.......
 
NonTradMed said:
But isn't cervical cancer a bit unique in that the cancer is caused by a virus? I mean, not all cancers are caused by viruses (only about ~25%?), so I'm not sure vaccines will be the future of cancer treatment/prevention.

It's great that the cervical cancer vaccine shows such efficacy, but I'm not if it's applicable to some of the other major cancer killers.......

I'm not implying that it will impact any other cancers. I think it's great just for what it is. I think the discovery of what really caused ulcers was awesome, but this is much more than that, IMO.
 
NonTradMed said:
But isn't cervical cancer a bit unique in that the cancer is caused by a virus? I mean, not all cancers are caused by viruses (only about ~25%?), so I'm not sure vaccines will be the future of cancer treatment/prevention.

It's great that the cervical cancer vaccine shows such efficacy, but I'm not if it's applicable to some of the other major cancer killers.......

I'll tell you what; I'll spend my career curing 25% of all cancer cases, and you can spend yours doing something really important. :laugh:

Seriously, though, this is a phenomenal advance; it may not be "the cure for cancer" but few health problems are brought under control with a "silver bullet" like the polio vaccine. These researchers can go to the AdCom of the Pearly Gates with one hell of an EC.
 
1. As heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US, statins are enormously beneficial.

2. The internets ability to spread knowledge.

3. As previously stated, the genome projects.
 
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