Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2011
Which are the up-and-coming technologies and which will have the biggest impact on health care in 2011?
Cleveland Clinic's culture of innovation naturally fosters a good deal of discussion about new "game changing"
technologies and which ones will have the greatest impact each year. The passion of our clinicians and researchers
for getting the best care for patients drives a continuous dialogue on what state-of-the-art medical technologies
are just over the horizon.
This book was developed to share outside Cleveland Clinic what our clinical leaders are saying to each other and
what innovations they feel will help shape health care over the next 12 months.
We used a rigorous process to gather the opinions of Cleveland Clinic physicians and researchers, create a field
of nominated innovative technologies for consideration, and develop a consensus perspective of what will be the
Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2011. Our team interviewed more than 60 Cleveland Clinic experts to elicit their
nominations.
Cleveland Clinic Top 10 for 2011
1. New Molecular Imaging Biomarker for Early Detection, Prevention, and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease:
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is like a crafty burglar: It quietly gains entrance and steals all that is precious from the
brain, then loiters around the scene of the crime, cleverly avoiding all means of detection while the brain slowly
deteriorates from its irreplaceable losses.
2. Anti-CTLA-4 Drug (ipilimumab), Targeted T-Cell Antibody for Metastatic Melanoma:
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer characterized by the uncontrolled growth of pigment-producing cells located
in the skin. While anyone can develop melanoma, it is still not clear how all melanomas develop.
3. First Therapeutic Cancer Vaccine Approved by the FDA:
After 15 years of research and a roller-coaster ride at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that went on for
several years, sipuleucel-T (Provenge) recently became the first cancer vaccine ever approved by the FDA, ushering
in a new era in the ongoing war on cancer.
4. JUPITER Study, Statins for Healthy Individuals:
Approximately 785,000 Americans will have a heart attack for the first time this year while another 470,000 will
have a repeat attack. Heart attacks strike both men and women, young and old, and in almost 20% of cases, these
myocardial infarctions are deadly.
5. Hepatitis C Protease Inhibiting Drugs:
Hepatitis C, a common liver disease that affects an estimated 3.9 million people in the United States, is transmitted
through exposure to infected blood (blood was not screened for hepatitis C until 1992) and sexual contact with an
infected person.
6. Telehealth Monitoring for Individuals with Heart Failure/Implanted Wireless Cardiac Device for Monitoring Heart Failure:
A weakening of the heart's ability to pump blood throughout the body causes heart failure. Between 500,000
and 900,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States, making this debilitating ailment the most
common diagnosis in Medicare patients.
7. Endoscopic Weight-Loss Procedure Transoral Gastroplasty (TOGA):
Rates of overweight and obesity, higher than ever in the United States, are both linked with an increased risk of
life-threatening conditions, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer. Moreover, obesity can lead
to psychological distress as a result of poor self image, social isolation, and job discrimination.
8. Exhaled Nitric Oxide (NO) Breath Analysis for Monitoring Asthma:
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory lung disease that affects more than 23 million Americans. Characterized by
prolonged or uncontrollable coughing, wheezing, tightening of the chest, and increased mucus secretion, an
asthma episode narrows and blocks the airways and makes breathing extremely difficult.
9. Oral Disease Modifying Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis:
Multiple sclerosis, more commonly known as MS, is thought to be an autoimmune disease that causes the body's immune system to mistakenly attack the central nervous system.
10. Capsule Endoscopy for Diagnosis of Pediatric GI Disorders:
One of the most challenging problems in pediatric digestive medicine is finding the source of hidden bleeding in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.