Top 10 'Game Changing' Medical Innovations for 2010

What breakthrough medical innovations can we expect to see in 2010? The list was unveiled this past week at the Cleveland Clinic’s 2009 Medical Innovation Summit in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland Clinic clinicians and researchers spent months evaluating new developments in medical technologies, devices and therapies to arrive at a select group most likely to reshape healthcare.

Here is their Top 10 in 2010.

1. Bone Conduction of Sound for Single-Sided Deafness: 
A new non-surgical, removable hearing and communication device designed to imperceptibly transmit sound via the teeth to help people with single-sided deafness.
2. Low-Volume, Low-Pressure Tracheal Tube Cuff to Reduce Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia: A device that dramatically reduces the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia and death in the hospital ICU by providing continuous effective airway seals.
3. Continuous-Flow Ventricular Assist Devices: Tiny 3-ounce devices surgically attached alongside the heart that quietly and effectively take over the pumping ability of the heart.
4. Non-Vitamin K Antagonist Oral Anticoagulants:
Predictable and well-tolerated alternatives to the oral anticoagulant warfarin that provide a more convenient—and safe—way for patients to dose themselves and prevent blood-clot formation.
5. Fertility Preservation through Oocyte Cryopreservation:
A rapidly-improving technology that allows eggs of a healthy woman to be safely frozen and stored, ready to be thawed and fertilized at a later date.
6. Forced Exercise to Improve Motor Function in Patient’s With Parkinson’s:
Pedaling at 90 RPMs on a tandem bike to dramatically improve motor functioning of patients with Parkinson’s disease.
7. Outpatient Diagnosis of Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders:
Self-contained, reliable, at-home sleep-monitoring devices for screening, diagnosing, and treatment assessment of sleep-related breathing disorders.
8. Oral Thrombopoeitin (TPO) Receptor Agonist that Stimulates Platelet Production: A recently approved drug that stimulates production of cells in bone marrow that form platelet cells in the blood.
9. Devices for Occluding Left Atrial Appendage to Reduce Stroke Risk:
Device alternatives to long-term warfarin use that can prevent clots from developing in patients with atrial fibrillation.
10. Whole-Slide Imaging for Management of Digital Data in Pathology: A technology for creating digital pathology slides with excellent image quality that can be viewed, stored, streamed over the Internet, and analyzed on a computer.

Learn more at their website (http://www.clevelandclinic.org/innovations/) where you can also download a PDF of Top 10 in 2010.