Technological advances in healthcare: Medical innovations transforming diagnostics and patient management

• Technological advances in healthcare are revolutionizing the industry, with innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), such as machine learning and robotics helping to create a new era of improved efficiency and accuracy
• Wearable technology and 3D printing are allowing healthcare providers to utilize a patient-centric approach by enabling real-time data insights and personalized treatment plans
• Blockchain technology offers a promising solution for securing electronic health records, improving interoperability, and empowering patients to have more ownership of their personal medical information

Keeping up with the latest research and technological advances in healthcare can be difficult, from the ongoing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to the growing transition towards sustainable healthcare.¹ To understand what healthcare looks like today, and what it might look like tomorrow, getting a grip on these developments, their impact, and what they mean for the future, is essential to maintaining a competitive edge in a rapidly changing landscape. 

At Healthcare Transformers, we take a look at the present and future of innovations in medical technology, highlighting what some of the biggest technological advances have been in recent years, and pinpointing which trends to keep an eye on moving forward.

Thanks to the growth of wearables, information technology, virtual reality, and the Internet of Medical Things, patients, and providers have access to technological advances in healthcare that provide a wealth of health data and can potentially help them make more mindful choices driven by health-based insights.^2-4

Providers have also been able to innovate and transform a variety of healthcare processes to become more patient-centered and efficient.⁵ This has led to different forms of medical technologies being implemented across healthcare — from admin-based processes, like data management, to improved education and patient management.

Long gone are the days when artificial intelligence (AI) was a word associated with sci-fi films. Today, AI is being rapidly integrated into healthcare systems to improve a wide variety of processes. This is particularly true in the world of medical diagnostics and precision medicine.⁶

For healthcare and health informatics, AI and machine learning are increasingly utilized to help providers improve diagnostic accuracy and forecast potential high-risk conditions with greater cost-effectiveness.⁷ They’re also revolutionizing the analysis of medical images from CT and MRI scans, making it possible to detect abnormalities with a higher level of precision.⁷

For example, AI is being used to help improve cancer diagnostics and offers an effective alternative to invasive biopsies.^4,8 In fact, in breast cancer care specifically, AI is said to have enabled mammograms to be reviewed 30 times faster, with 99% accuracy.⁸ Research has found that using AI to analyze huge amounts of medical data has the potential to markedly improve patient care and, ultimately, create a more effective healthcare system.^1,6

Google is already making great strides within this area. For years, the technological behemoth has been tapping into AI’s potential use in helping with lung cancer diagnoses, breast cancer screening, and preventing blindness in people with diabetes.⁹ Working together with DeepMind, they’ve now created an AI technology called AlphaFold, which has revolutionized the field of protein folding. This AI system can now predict the 3D structures of proteins with remarkable accuracy — an area that, up until this point, had proved time-consuming and challenging.¹⁰

AlphaFold’s breakthroughs are expected to help accelerate drug discovery, provide insights into diseases like cancer, and open new avenues in medical research by improving the understanding of how proteins function and interact within the body.¹⁰

At the same time, machine learning models are being used to help predict outcomes in patient care based on historical data and imaging scans.⁴ By continuously analyzing vast amounts of data, these models can forecast the likelihood of disease progression and help create more personalized treatment plans that take individual patient needs into account.

Robotics are nothing new in the world of healthcare, having been around since the 1980s. However, their applications have increased exponentially since that time, and, moving forward, that trend looks set to continue.²

Nanobots are already being researched for their ability to tackle malignant tumors, reduce plaque in veins, and address dietary issues, for instance. Meanwhile, exoskeletons have been shown to help with physical therapy and robotic surgery has emerged as one of the most significant advancements in recent years.^1,11 By providing surgeons with greater control and dexterity, these robotic systems have revolutionized how complex surgeries currently are — and can be — performed.¹¹

The da Vinci Surgical System, for example, allows surgeons to operate with greater precision, offering a minimally invasive approach that can help reduce patient trauma and recovery times.² Its use has effectively enabled surgeons to perform procedures with a level of accuracy that, without robotic assistance, could never have been achieved otherwise.²

However, this technological advancement in healthcare is only at the beginning of its evolution. While remote surgeries were very much considered a pipe dream at one point in time, combining robotic surgery with superfast 5G technology will open up new opportunities that could soon become the standard of practice.²

But it’s not just surgical treatments that robotics can help with.³ Robotic-based companions like Aldebaran’s Pepper — the world’s first social humanoid robot — are also currently being researched for their potential use in treating other issues such as loneliness and mental health problems, or even assisting children with chronic illnesses.^1,3

While 3D printers are already being used to design and produce implants and highly bespoke prosthetics, many researchers are looking into their use in developing perfect-fit 3D-printed body parts, such as ears, corneas, bones, and even skin.¹²

By creating a 3D structure of biological material, researchers are printing t bodily tissues layer by layer, using a technology known as bioprinting. While still in its relative infancy, bioprinting has the potential to create replacement organs that can be successfully transplanted into patients, circumventing the risk of transplant rejections, not to mention the relative scarcity of donors.²

3D printers are also becoming increasingly used for presurgical planning.⁸ After creating 3D replicas of a patient’s actual anatomy, surgeons can practice performing procedures with a hyper-accurate model, potentially reducing errors caused by variations in individual anatomy.⁸ This may increase success rates and reduce procedure times .⁸

The advancement of wearable health technology has been crucial to improving patient care. Devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers are not just for tracking physical activity. They now offer a range of health monitoring features and can collect plentiful and meaningful real-time data.¹³

For instance, many wearable devices can measure heart rate and blood oxygen levels, and even perform electrocardiograms. This data is invaluable for patients and providers, making it easier to assess how well certain treatment or management plans are working.¹³

Wearable technologies can also enable healthcare providers to access insights into a patient’s overall health. Patients with type 1 diabetes, for example, can now use continuous glucose monitoring devices to regularly monitor their blood glucose information via a mobile app.^14,15 All of this information can then be accessed and reviewed by a healthcare provider to gather real-time insights and identify which dietary or lifestyle changes need to be made to achieve optimal glucose control.¹⁴

Compared with traditional paper-based medical records, electronic health records (EHRs) are already widely used for their efficiency and data security advantages.¹⁶ However, their use also poses certain limitations, largely in terms of cyberattacks, privacy-related issues, and data breaches – something which costs companies an average of $3.86 million USD each year.²

For this reason, blockchain technology has been touted as a potential solution, offering a more secure system to combat the risks of unauthorized data access.²

By creating a unified and secure platform for health records, blockchain technology can provide a more seamless data exchange between providers.¹⁷ According to the National Library of Medicine, this can lead to better-coordinated care for patients, an improved ability to manage medical records, and help accelerate clinical and biomedical research.¹⁷ At the same time, it can also help reduce the potential for fraud, while giving patients the freedom to control who their medical information can be shared with, and when.¹³

It should be noted, however, that the implementation of blockchain technologies has hit some roadblocks in recent times.¹⁸ Data privacy concerns, technical challenges, and a lack of regulatory support are among the significant barriers that hinder the widespread adoption of blockchain technology in healthcare, limiting its current integration within existing systems.¹⁸ But, despite these challenges, the potential potential benefits that blockchain technology can offer will continue to drive further interest and innovation moving forward.^2,17

Technology is revolutionizing the delivery and overall experience of healthcare.² From AI-driven diagnostics to wearable technology, these medical innovations are improving the precision and efficiency of medical practices, whilst encouraging a more patient-centric approach.
As these technological advances in healthcare continue to evolve, their integration into everyday healthcare practices should tremendously improve patient care and management. Healthcare Transformers is here to help you stay on top of these developments, to fully leverage — and understand — their potential.