Cellphones display your vital signs and take ultrasound images of your heart. Genetic scans of malignant cells match your cancer to the most effective treatment. Virtual house calls and remote monitoring could replace doctor visits and even hospitalizations… medicine is on the verge of an overhaul.
Digital technology might make caring for your health more effective one day soon, but is it beneficial to have that much data? Sharon Begley asks in a Scientific American review.
So, here're some things digital tech might bring us:
Much of the enthusiasm for bringing the information revolution to medicine reflects the assumption that more info means better health care. But do all these technologies and their deluge of data lead to better results on a large scale? The evidence is mixed.
1. Take m-health and telemonitoring, in which today's mobile apps and tomorrow's nanosensors would measure blood pressure, respiration, blood glucose, cholesterol, and other physiological indicators.
2. Perhaps the most promising path to personal medicine is pharmacogenomics, or using genetics to identify patients who will or will not benefit from a drug. Only half the patients receiving a $50,000 hepatitis C drug, and half of those taking rheumatoid arthritis drugs that ring up some $14 billion in annual sales, see their health improve on these medications. By preemptively identifying who's in which half, genomics might keep patients, private insurers, and Medicare from wasting tens of billions of dollars a year.
3. Electronic health records (EHRs) seem like a can't-miss advance: corral a patient's history into something easily searchable - rather than leaving it scattered in piles of paper with illegible scribbles - and you'll reduce medical errors, minimize redundant tests, avoid dangerous drug interactions, and ensure that necessary exams are done.
Still, the ability to digitize any individual's biology, physiology, and anatomy will undoubtedly reshape medicine, thanks to the "super-convergence of DNA sequencing, mobile smart phones and digital devices, wearable nanosensors, the Internet, [and] cloud computing," says cardiologist Eric Topol, author of the upcoming book The Creative Destruction of Medicine: How the Digital Revolution Will Create Better Health Care. Only a fool wouldn't root for such changes.
From Scientific American.
Images by PerformanceHealth and doctordoctores via Flickr
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com