Medical innovations in 2024 include progress in xenotransplantation and first-time FDA approvals, ABC News reported Dec. 23.
Here are five medical breakthroughs from the past 12 months:
1. An 11-year-old boy who was born with a rare form of deafness caused by one gene mutation recently gained hearing from a gene therapy. Also, in a six-person clinical trial of children with a form of genetic deafness, five of the patients recovered their hearing. Both results were announced in January. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/patient-safety-outcomes/a-medical-first-gene-therapy-allows-boy-to-hear.html
2. In March, surgeons at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital transplanted the world's first genetically edited pig kidney into a living human. The recipient, Richard Slayman, was a 62-year-old man with end-stage kidney disease. He later died from an unexpected cardiac event, the hospital said, adding that the field of xenotransplantation is growing and could offer hope for thousands of patients.
3. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and Northwestern Medicine in Chicago have identified a potential cure for lupus. Patients with the autoimmune disease have an imbalance of T-cells, the researchers found and reported in a July Nature article. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07627-2
Based on this new information, they said either activating the aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathway with small molecule activators or limiting "the pathologically excessive interferon in the blood" could diminish the disease-causing cells.
4. In September, the FDA approved the first schizophrenia treatment in more than 30 years. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/fda-approves-schizophrenia-treatment.html
The drug, Cobenfy, is an oral capsule manufactured by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The twice-daily pill helped study participants manage common symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking.
5. The FDA also approved the first combination of COVID-19 and flu tests. In October, the Healgen Rapid Check COVID-19/Flu A&B Antigen Test received the regulatory green light for over-the-counter use. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/fda-approves-1st-combination-covid-flu-test-4-things-to-know.html
It can provide a result within 15 minutes for COVID-19 and influenza A and B. The test's accuracy is 99% for negative COVID-19 samples, 92% of positive COVID-19 samples, 99.9% for negative flu samples, and between 92.5% and 90.5% for positive samples of influenza A and influenza B, respectively.
6. Artificial intelligence and LLMs were introduced into the healthcare and medical workplace. Although controversial most physicians are utilizing this breakthrough for efficiency, and decreasing workload. It is useful for diagnostics, image analysis, chatbots, as well as EHR scribing. AI is used for molecular modeling for the production of new drugs. AI creates an exponential paradigm shift for medicine and a catalytic innovation for medicine. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic already has 184 predictive AI models, 18 of which are in clinical use and 35 are in the research stages, said John Halamka, MD, president of Mayo Clinic Platform. The health system is also using generative AI to draft inbox messages for providers and experimenting with it to summarize clinical visits, listen and document ambiently, and automate administrative tasks. By using AI Primary care and Specialty physicians will leverage their ability to diagnose and treat illness.
Physicians are evaluating AI and reviewing all decisions because AI can hallucinate and yield aberrant answers. Breakthrough In Preemptive Detection Of AI Hallucinations Reveals Vital Clues To Writing Prompts That Keep Generative AI From Freaking Out
No comments:
Post a Comment