The Present
Innovations
CAPTION: A person holds an artificial heart with his hand.
With new technology comes innovation. As more technological advancements are being used, we are able to cure or observe diseases. Many artificial hearts have taken the place of biological ones for those who need replacement hearts. Blood transfusions have been completed for patients in need of blood. CAT scans are being used to examine and photograph parts of the body that cannot be x-rayed. Penicillin is used to stop bacterial infections. Despite these technologies, new and more effective ones are working to treat patients.
Artificial heart
The artificial heart is a prosthetic device that is implanted into the body to replace the original biological heart. There is always a greater need for donor hearts than there is supply, thus creating a great need for a functional artificial heart. the first official artificial heart that was patented was done so by Paul Winchell in 1963. This design was eventually used for Robert Jarvik’s model, the Jarvik 7. The TAH-t is a modern version of the Jarvik-7 Artificial Heart. The TAH-t is the first is the first implantable artificial heart to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Survival rates for those who received artificial heart implants have greatly improved with the introduction of the TAH-t.
Blood transfusion
Blood transfusion is the process in which blood is transferred from one person to another. It is commonly used in life-threatening situations in which a person has suffered a massive loss of blood due to surgery or an accident. It is also commonly used to treat those with blood illnesses such as hemophilia or sickle-cell disease. Hemophiliacs are those inflicted by the body’s inability to control bleeding, usually from genetic disorder. Those with sickle-cell disease another genetic disorder, results in red blood cells changing forms and causes clots in blood vessels. These clots lead to deprivation of oxygen and as a result, stroke occurs.
CAT scan
Computed Axial Tomography, commonly known as CAT Scan or CT Scan, is a process in which 3-dimensonal images are formed from a series of X-ray images taken through by a process of tomography, the production of an image by sections. It can be used to view various structures which have the ability to block the beams of an X-ray, thus rendering an X-ray useless for certain parts of the body.
Penicillin
Penicillin is an antibiotic that kills bacteria by interfering with the bacteria’s cell wall. It was first discovered by a French student, Ernest Duchesne, in 1896. It was then rediscovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928. Fleming discovered penicillin when he put pathogenic bacteria, Staphylococcus, into a dish and was contaminated by a blue-green mold. From the blue-green mold, he noticed that it killed disease-causing bacteria, which he later named penicillin. Other kinds of penicillin were found to treat a wide range of infections.