adminA medical breakthrough is a scientific discovery that has the potential to revolutionise healthcare and enhance patient outcomes. Many of the milestones on our list have already done just that – X-rays made diagnosis more accurate, antibiotics eliminated deadly infectious diseases, and MRI scans gave doctors a noninvasive look at the body’s internal workings. Others are still in development but have the promise of transforming health care. For example, telemedicine and 3D printing make it easier to diagnose and treat patients remotely and with greater accuracy. And regenerative medicine is bringing hope to patients with debilitating conditions like spinal cord injuries and blood disorders.
One of the most important milestones came in the 1940s and 1950s, when scientists discovered the structure of DNA. The breakthrough earned Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins the Nobel Prize and launched the era of genetics.
Another major advance was insulin, which lowered blood glucose levels and delayed the onset of diabetes’s debilitating symptoms. Today, it’s helping people live longer lives and saving health systems billions.
At the same time, Sidney Farber and colleagues at what is now Dana-Farber Cancer Institute achieved the first remissions in a childhood cancer with the antibiotic actinomycin D. Their work made it possible to extend survival with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Other medical advancements have also transformed healthcare. Vaccines are preventing disease, artificial intelligence is assisting physicians and helping to detect illnesses, and 3D printing has the potential to create personalised prosthetics and medications [67]. Medical students can practise and hone their skills in a safe and controlled environment using virtual reality (VR) technology, which improves surgical training and increases patient safety [68]. And repurposing drugs like omalizumab (originally for asthma), oxazoline (for bronchitis), and olanzapine (for depression) shows that breakthroughs don’t always require brand-new molecules.
