The challenge of
discovering what’s wrong with a patient has confounded doctors for ages. In
fact, for most of the history of medicine, diagnosis has been more of an art
than a true science, combining skill, experience, and intuition.
That can have serious,
and often fatal, consequences. Despite the best intentions, doctors often make
mistakes when the results of diagnostic tests call for them to use their
judgment. According to The New York Times,1 a research study
based on data from autopsies reached the mind-boggling conclusion that doctors
seriously misdiagnose life-threatening illnesses in one out of every five cases. That means that millions of patients are not being treated for the
diseases they have.
In fact, even though
today’s doctors often use such modern technologies as magnetic resonance
imaging and endoscopy, the Journal of the American Medical Association2 reports that the
percentage of faulty diagnoses has not improved since the 1930s.
But now, that tragic
situation is about to change: A new era of diagnostics is dawning, and it
involves a wide range of innovative technologies that will make diagnosing a
disease as easy as using a home pregnancy test kit. In some cases, it will
even be as easy as breathing.
Let’s take a look at
several new technologies that promise to revolutionize disease detection and
save countless lives.
According to the
journal Angewandte Chemie,3 scientists at the
Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology in Singapore have developed a
chip that provides fast genetic analysis using magnetic nanoparticles. It can
diagnose diseases in minutes from a single drop of blood taken with a pinprick.
The journal Cancer
Research4 reports on another device that uses a
urine sample to screen for prostate cancer far more accurately than the
conventional PSA blood test currently does. It uses biomarkers and will
eventually be accurate enough to eliminate the need for biopsies.
At the annual meeting
of the American Association for Dental Research in Dallas, Texas, researchers
introduced another diagnostic tool, which is based on a...
