The quest to conquer diseases and to live longer life is the basic essence in medical research. The medical breakthroughs have happened in the last century and have been huge leaps for the world of healthcare.
1. Germ Theory Inventor
Most imperative & the oldest medical breakthrough was the invention of the ‘Germ theory’. In most of the cases humans did not understand how sickness and diseases were spread. The concept of germs, viruses, and bacteria was non-existent, and any illness or infection that someone had some other explanation for the root cause.
The germ theory identified living microorganisms and pathogens were actually the cause of many diseases. The idea was initially proposed in the year 1025, 1500 & 1700 as per Science Encyclopaedia. The work of Louis Pasteur in the 1850s ‘Germ theory’ gained attraction. Robert Koch truly substantiated this theory by using of microscope. Because of their untiring research the medical scientists can perform safe surgeries, administer vaccines, eliminate minor infections. Medical fraternity is thankful to their pathbreaking research.
2. First Organ Transplant
In 18th century, scientists have experimented with organ transplants on animals and even on humans. As per the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the year 1954 the first-ever Kidney transplantation was performed successfully. The modern medicine offers tissue typing and immunosuppressant drugs; liver, heart, lung, kidney, and other organs are routinely and safely transplanted to those in need.
3. Antibiotic Invention History
Antibiotics are part of the treatment modules to fight bacterial infections. Alexander Fleming had discovered a fungus growing in a petri dish of Staphylococcus bacteria in 1928. He observed that fungus exist everywhere, the bacteria could not. This fungus was named Penicillin, It is used to treat an array of bacterial infections. Before the invention of antibiotics, common infections caused by bacteria were often fatal, such as strep throat, pneumonia, whooping cough, etc.
4. First MRI Machine Invented
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is used to produce images of organs inside the body. MRI was developed by Dr. Raymond Damadian in the year 1977. MRI is a a non-invasive diagnostic tool. MRIs are the integral part of modern medicine & are used in the diagnosing & healthy path of recovery of patients.
5. Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Medicine
The entire medical imaging and diagnosing will witness a radical change with the advent of AI in medicine. The medical fraternity hasn’t fully explored capabilities of AI. As per Daniel Greenfield, Harvard University, “AI algorithms are great for automating gruelling tasks, can outperform humans in the tasks they’re trained to do.” AI would have the ability to look through hundreds of thousands of medical records to find patterns that can help with the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
