Transcripts

The Top 30 Innovations of the Last 30 Years-Medical Advances

SUSIE GHARIB: Medical advances like heart disease treatments, robotic surgery and DNA mapping have touched many lives and they have the potential to save millions of people from pain and suffering as new treatments are developed. As we continue our look at the top 30 innovations of the last 30 years, NBR's "Bill of Health" reporter Jeff Yastine looks at where medical advances are headed.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Next time you visit someone in the hospital, stop by the physical rehabilitation lab. Chances are you'll see this -- patients using video games to relearn nerve and muscle control. And that, says health futurist Doug Goldstein, is a growing trend. Healthy gaming goes beyond rehab; Goldstein says there's a surge in games aimed at maintaining good health and sharpening memory.

DOUG GOLDSTEIN: Last year in the United States, Americans spent $6.7 billion on healthy games. That includes brain fitness games, healthy eating games, exer games. So it's real dollars, it's a real market and it's generates real activity and exercise.

YASTINE: Another advance: software that can catch errors in diagnosis and treatment before a mistake harms a patient. But the systems work best when all of a patient's healthcare records are digital, says Doctor Sanjaya Kumar, president of medical software developer Quantros.

SANJAYA KUMAR, CEO, QUANTROS: Things happen. Errors are due to systems issues and the only way that you can actually find out what is wrong within your system is to track and monitor and trend the appropriate data points over time.

YASTINE: Thanks to advancements in digital pathology, personalized medicine is expected to take off in coming years. Your DNA will be used to custom-design cancer therapies, drug cocktails and other treatments. That focus on the individual, say experts like Goldstein, is the key to a better quality of life.

GOLDSTEIN: Those advances have made a tremendous difference in the ability to treat and take care of illness and disease and expand life span. But there are many things that we can do. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

YASTINE: In an era when the cost of medical care continues to rise, maintaining your good health may be the biggest medical innovation of all. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Miami.