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A: FROM MENTOR SUSAN MODESITT
IN KY
Jewel,
The technological advances have just been immense in medicine
in the
past ten years and have had a huge impact on every facet of
patient
care. I will mention just a few areas but the pace of change
has truly
been astounding.
1. Radiology: The types of machines that we have now
have become amazing. 4 D ultrasound that lets you see all
of a fetus'
facial features (the part the parents really like) as well
as any
anatomical malformations (the part the physicians care about)
when the
fetus is still developing. PET scans allow physicians to pinpoint
areas
in the body that take up/use more glucose (usually cancer
cells), we now
have better resolution on CT scans, MRI and ultrasounds so
that more
accurate diagnoses are made earlier in the disease process.
2. Drugs: As more understanding of receptors and
targets in the body occurs, we have been able to develop "smarter"
drugs
that are able to more preferentially pinpoint and treat a
cell of
interest. This has impacted many disease types including
cardiovascular, diabetes, cancer etc.
3. Genes: As we are gaining knowledge about the
human genome, we have made great strides in identifying genes
that are
involved in a myriad of diseases. Once these are understood,
we can
work on targeting them to prevent or treat the disease of
interest.
If you have a more specific question about a certain area,
please let me
know. I just used a few examples here. The other thing that
I will say
is that despite all of the advances in technology, in medicine,
80% of
the diagnosis is gleaned from simply obtaining the patient's
history
(symptoms etc) and doing a physical exam!
Susan C. Modesitt, MD
Assistant Professor
Division of Gynecologic Oncology
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center
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