Virtual Clinical Trials: The Future of Medicine

Mind-reading exoskeletons, digital tattooing, 3D printed medications, and RFID chips for pleasure reasons are just a few of the mind-blowing developments that are making their way into medicine and healthcare on a daily basis. People are living longer and healthy lifestyles as a result of modern medicine. However, Clinical Ink seeks to push health advancements even further. The future of medicine seems bright, thanks to discoveries in gene editing, technologies to cure paralysis, and initiatives to alleviate excessive medication costs.

Mixed reality expands medical education opportunities

All of these technologies, enhanced, virtual, and mixed reality, are opening up new realms for human perception. While the distinction between these technologies may appear random at first, it has a significant impact on how they may be employed in healthcare. While AR allows users to view the actual world while displaying digital data onto it, VR fully blocks out everything else and gives an entire recreation. Mixed reality allows users to engage with the world while displaying information in it. 

Thus, surgeons may utilize AR to display perhaps live material into their vision during operations, psychiatrists can use VR to cure phobias effectively, and mixed reality can offer new innovations to medical training or post-surgical planning, among other things.

For example, the Microsoft HoloLens, which can show the human body in full size in front of medical students, offers up completely new avenues for medical teaching. As a result, organs, veins, and bones will be viewable in 3D with greater accuracy, and future medical professionals will be able to examine their structure and recall their qualities more clearly than when learning from a book.

Brain-computer interfaces provide hope to those who are disabled

Recently, there has been a surge in research on brain-computer interfaces (BCI). Brain implants are currently where laser eye surgery was centuries back, but the field will progress dramatically in the next few years. Consider a retinal chip that gives you perfect vision or the capacity to see in the darkness, a cochlear implant that gives you flawless listening, or a memory chip that gives you nearly endless memory. 

Furthermore, implants for persons with Parkinson’s disease transmit electrical signals directly into the brain, stimulating some of the motor control circuits. Brain implant therapy for persons paralyzed by spinal cord injuries or other neurological disorders is less common, although it is also used. A chip implanted in the brain detects electrical impulses, which are then interpreted by a computer to allow for some motion and conversation.

Modern illnesses brought on by new technologies

In terms of technological advancement, there is always the possibility of previously undiscovered illnesses and ailments emerging. Because of the widespread usage of virtual reality technologies, video consoles, and cellphones, new illnesses may emerge. Instances include virtual post-traumatic stress disorder (v-PTSD), which may be the diagnosis for gamers who partake in big virtual conflicts while wearing VR masks and have symptoms comparable to those experienced by troops in actual wars. 

Furthermore, video-game epilepsy is well-documented and the objective of recent research, which discovered that video games, for instance, were more likely to cause seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy than conventional television programs, even when both were shown on the same screen. Furthermore, academics have recently discussed Wii-related accidents, which derive from the name of Nintendo‘s wireless computer device, introducing a more physically-oriented play experience. Text neck is a phrase used to explain the neck pain and injury caused by staring down at your mobile phone, tablet, or other wireless devices for an extended period of time.

The use of voice as a diagnostic and medical supplementary tool

In recent years, researchers and health practitioners have seen how valuable voice-based solutions can be in healthcare – both in diagnosis and in aiding their regular responsibilities, such as management.

Scientists discovered that the features of patients’ voices – or, as medicine refers to them, vocal biomarkers – disclose a lot about their health and aid in the detection of significant diseases and health concerns. Voice-to-text solutions based on artificial intelligence guarantee to eliminate the need for public service in the doctor’s office; the physician and the patient might converse while a voice assistant hears in and enters the translated text into the necessary columns in the Ehr systems. That is what we anticipate happening in the future.

Patient independence as a result of the technological revolution

Rapid technology innovation has led to a move toward ehealth in medicine during the previous decade. This transition is theorized as a cultural change in which innovative medical technologies that provide digital and accurate data available to both patients and care providers contribute to an equal degree of cooperation between doctors and patients, with collective decisions and the democratization of healthcare. Although this may not appear to be technical progress, it is permitted and assisted by wearables, health sensors, and any other advancements that place patients at the center of treatment.

Digital tattoos for more inconspicuous healthcare

With advancements in 3D printing, circuit printing methods, flexible electronics, and materials, it is now feasible to attach so-called digital tattoos or electronic tattoos on the skin for many days or even weeks. To adhere the tattoo to the skin without causing inflammation, some researchers utilize gold nanowire, while others use graphene or other polymers with latex coating. Certain experts feel that these skin patching or tattoos are just the beginning and that other skin methods, such as henna, tan, and cosmetics, may be attempted in the future.

These stretchable, waterproof polymers, along with small electrodes, may capture and communicate information about the user to smartphones or other linked devices. They may enable healthcare professionals to non – invasively track and detect crucial health concerns such as cardiac arrhythmia, preterm baby heart activity, sleep disturbances, and brain activity. Furthermore, because it tracks health status 24 hours a day, without the necessity for a charge, it is ideal for observing patients who are at risk of stroke.