Bioelectronics Medicine: The Future is Certainly Bright

Since the ancient days, health complications have been a major concern for humans. We have witnessed many deaths and disabilities due to lack of proper treatment.

Over time however, we have witnessed numerous improvements in the field of medicine with scientists researching and introducing more comprehensive approaches, techniques, and methods. The goal has always been to find the best treatments for various ailments, alleviate the symptoms, improve the patients’ life quality, and extend their lifespan.

One of the best new approaches currently being used to treat and diagnose disease and injury is Bioelectronics medicine.

What is Bioelectronics?

Bioelectronics is basically the application of the principles of electronics to biology and medicine.

In medicine, bioelectronics is used to treat and diagnose certain diseases and injuries.

This approach uses highly advanced device technology (nerve stimulating or nerve blocking devices) to read and modulate electrical activity within the patient’s nervous system, providing doctors with a great opportunity for real-time diagnostics and offering numerous treatment options.

These high-tech devices are either implanted on a nerve or patched on the skin. These devices are designed to modulate certain nerve activity, cause a change in organ function, restore and improve the health of a patient without causing the side effects of conventional medicine.

Bioelectronics Applications in Medicine

Having shown promising results in clinical trials, bioelectronics technology is now being extensively applied in medicine.

Some of the most interesting applications of bioelectronics in medicine include;

• Artificial Limbs: If you’ve ever watched a movie where some characters are fitted with artificial limbs, then at least you have an idea of what this technology really looks like. The Bioelectronics technology has now made it possible for people who have lost their limbs due to accidents or medical conditions to resume their normal function by fitting them with artificial limbs.
• Pacemakers: People with heart complications can now benefit from pacemakers which use bioelectronics technology to regulate their heartbeats.
• Biosensors: Thanks to this incredible technology, doctors are now able to monitor body temperature and measure stress and strain in certain parts of the body of a patient through sensors attached to the body. This of course helps them to make accurate diagnosis fast.
• Blood Glucose Meter: Thanks to bioelectronics technology, diabetes patients who need to keep the blood glucose level in check can now do so by use of blood glucose meters, right at the comfort of their homes.

The Future of Bioelectronics Medicine

The future certainly looks bright for bioelectronics medicine. More research to verify the credibility of this technology is still underway. However, the fact that it has shown remarkable results in just a short span of time is just incredible;

We can only hope that this technology will be used extensively to benefit more people in the near future.

Nuclear Medicine And Radiation

One of the recent branches of medical science is the nuclear medicine. Besides various elements, nuclear medicine uses radiation for generating diagnostic information relating to the functioning of specific organs. Such radiation is also utilized for treatment of ailing organs. Such diagnostic processes have now become a routine affair in medical science.

Use of Radioisotopes and Radiotherapy

Radioisotopes for radiotherapy are severally used in the treatment of

• Cancer of any type.
• Tumors and other external and internal disfigurations in human anatomy.
• It targets the damaged, effected, or ailing cells and destroys them.
• Since use is painless the demands are growing rapidly.

Use of Radioisotopes in Nuclear Medicine

In nuclear medicine, the radioisotopes are used for detecting the specific functions of the organs or for treating the diseases. The reasons for its widespread use are

• Diagnosis is quick and accurate about the illness of the patient.
• Organs like thyroid, bones, heart, and liver can get damaged pretty easily, and disorders in their functioning can be detected using radiations.
• As many as five Nobel laureates were associated with development of radioisotopes based detecting methods in medical science.
• More than ten thousand hospitals across the globe use radioisotopes in medicine.
• 90% of these uses are for diagnostic purposes.

Commonly radioisotope utilized in diagnosis is the technetium-99 that is practiced in over thirty million procedures a year accounting for over 80% of all medicine procedures in the world.

After most of all the nuclear-applied medicine procedures, it is usually great to drink a good amount of fluids and urinate as numerous as you can. This helps one to flush all the remaining radioactivity out of one's body. The length of period you need to do it will depend on the radiopharmaceutical that was used. Again, it is best to inquire your doctor.

Frequencies of Radioisotopes Use

26% of the world population resides in developed countries. The frequency of use of nuclear medicines and therefore radioisotopes in these countries come to 1.9% per annum. Over 18 million frequencies are used in the United States alone for around 305 million people. Such frequencies in Europe come to about ten million for 500 million people. Use of radioisotopes comes to around 560,000 in Australia for 21 million people.

Specific Use of Radioisotopes in Medical Procedures

36% of the total radiation exposure is used for the computed X-ray tomography or CT scan as they are popularly known. According to the US National Council on the Radiation Protection and Measurements Report of the year 2009, the exposure to radiation in has increased from 3.6 millisieverts to that of 6.2 millisieverts during 1980-2010.

Nuclear Cardiology has gained great popularity world wide. Nuclear Medicine for the therapeutic objectives is currently being used for medication of cancers, various medical conditions affecting the thyroid gland, and scar - tissue removal.