Medical breakthroughs forecast for the next 10 years

By Dick Pelletier

      

    As the decade unfolds, huge strides are expected in combating heart disease, cancer, and a host of other sicknesses that plague humanity.

   Faster Internet speeds and smarter cell phones will enable individuals to maintain their own health records that include personal details along with insurance, hospital, and HMO data; and share this information with their primary care physician on a secure Web, protected with unbreakable quantum computer encryption technology.

The following list describes six major advancements we can expect during this decade:

1. Replacement organs and tissues. Each year researchers are becoming more proficient in turning stem cells into hearts, brains, bones, muscles; nearly every part of the human body. By 2020, some predict most heart diseases and strokes will become manageable, and the focus will then shift to conquering Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other brain disorders, which positive futurists believe could be achieved by mid-2020s.
   
   
2. Eliminating cancer deaths. Experts believe that a cure for cancer may be realized during this decade. Nanotechnologists have already developed treatments for certain types of cancer and scientists are discovering more all the time. Officials at the National Cancer Institute predict that by 2015, all cancer deaths will be preventable. It may not be cured by then, they say, but no one will suffer the pain and death that cancer now dishes out.
   
   
3. Internet-accessible electronic records. Led by today's free-to-patient Microsoft "HealthVault," high-tech record keeping is expected to reach critical mass during this decade. With patient approval, doctors can access records via hand-held 'smart' devices. This efficient technology will reduce medical errors; shorten office visits and lower health costs.
   
   
4. Medication tailored to a person's individual genes. Since sequencing the Human Genome, drugs custom-designed to each individual's body has been the dream of caregivers everywhere. With computer advances lowering costs of genome sequencing, physicians can now use DNA therapy to vaccinate against dangerous diseases. By 2020, many genetic deficiencies will be correctible.
   
   
5. Artificial retina enables the blind to see again. Silicon retina prostheses capable of restoring recognition of faces and other fine details will fully integrate blind patients back into everyday society. This cutting-edge science from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other research centers uses high-resolution video cameras mounted on eyeglasses that transmit wirelessly to the prostheses implanted in the eye.
   
   
6. Efforts to end human aging gains momentum. At a recent Singularity University conference, Aubrey de Grey, molecular biologist and author of End of Aging argued that aging is only a disease – and a curable one at that. He says that aging is simply a breakdown of cellular activities, preventable with tomorrow's biotech and nanotech advancements. Many scientists now believe de Grey is correct and by 2020, experts envision worldwide support for a massive space-race type effort to achieve indefinite lifespans.

    There you have it. Six medical breakthroughs expected during this decade. Although the list may seem speculative, technologies for most of these events are already in beginning stages of development. The next 10 years in medicine promises to be a time of huge excitement for science and great hope for humanity. Will this "magical future" happen on such a rapid timescale? Most future-watchers believe it will.

This article appeared in various print publications and on-line blogs. Comments always welcome.