The Cleveland Clinic has announced its ninth annual list of Top Ten Medical Innovations that are likely to have a major impact on improving patient care in the coming year. The list was selected by a panel of 110 Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists. The Top Ten Medical Innovations for 2015 are:
1. Mobile stroke unit. High-tech ambulances will bring the emergency department straight to the patient with stroke symptoms.
2. Dengue fever vaccine. The world's first vaccine has been developed and tested and is expected to be submitted to regulatory groups in 2015, with commercialization to follow.
3. Cost-effective, fast, painless blood testing. The new art of blood collection will use a drop of blood drawn from the fingertip in a virtually painless procedure, and test results may cost as little as 10% of the traditional Medicare reimbursement.
4. PKSK9 inhibitors for cholesterol reduction. Several such inhibitors, or injectable chlesterol-lowering drugs, are in development for those who don't benefit from statins. The FDA is expected to approve the first next year.
5. Antibody-drug conjugates. A promising new approach for advanced cancer selectively will deliver cytotoxic agents to tumor cells while avoiding healthy tissue.
6. Checkpoint inhibitors. Combined with traditional chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the novel drugs will boost the immune system and offer significant, long-term cancer remissions.
7. Leadless cardiac pacemaker. Wireless cardiac pacemakers will be implanted directly in the heart without surgery and eliminate malfunction complications and restriction on daily physical activities.
8. New drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Pirfenidone and nintedanib will slow the disease progress of the lethal lung disease.
9. Single-dose intra-operative radiation therapy for breast cancer. Intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) will focus the radiation on the tumor during surgery as a single dose.
10. New drug for heart failure. Angiotensin-receptor neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) has been granted “fast-track status” by the FDA.
The future is now!
