关于未来医疗的四个疯狂的猜想
2015/3/2 创新医学网

     实验室里培养出来的肌肉,3D打印的器官,改写了的基因……

     未来二十年在生物和医疗方面的创新,会让人们的生活质量和健康状况得到前所未有的提高。《广告时代》推荐在2014年重点关注的十大Agency之一Sparks & Honey关注各行各业的新发展,它在最近的一份报告中纵览了未来医疗的趋势,Fast Company 提炼了其中的四个亮点:

     移动诊所

     在不久的将来,我们可以在家做自己的医生:各类App配合Fitbit这样的可穿戴设备可以监控人们的总体健康;更专业的家用设备,如智能体温计、联网医药包等,可以跟踪身体的关键指标;甚至可以在家自己检测严重疾病,比如欧盟赞助的项目SniffPhone,可以帮助人们自行诊断癌症。

     未来我们可能不再需要一个全面的诊断中心,依靠手机这个移动诊所,人人都可以自行获得基础医疗的诊断结果。

     储存在云端的大数据也意味着病人可以更少地去医院,同时能更好地与医生交流自己的健康状况,因为医生可以随时监控你的健康数据。于是正式医疗的关键问题变成了如何管理病人的数据:保证数据准确性,了解病人的背景情况,并有效地利用数据进行治疗。

     人体增强

     同时,我们已经进入了一个可以成为“超人”的时代。假肢变得更便宜、更智能。霍普金斯大学最近展示了让被截肢者用思想控制假肢的技术;正在研发的人体外骨骼套装能让残疾人重新开始走路,也可以用于增强正常人肢体的机能。同时,皮肤、骨骼、器官的培植和3D打印技术也在迅速发展中。

     或许有一天,我们能给自己配备新的身体部件,就像Google Ara Project的手机那样。

     控制基因序列

     现有的技术已经包括了基因组、画脑图。未来,我们对身体细枝末节的了解将更加深化。因此,我们可以开从最精细的地方控制健康。比如有益微生物生长的食物,甚至设计没有基因缺陷的婴儿。听起来可能有些骇人,但是通过对基因序列的控制,将可以减少致命疾病发生的几率。

     精确医疗

     有了更精确的健康数据之后,治疗也可以更加个性化。医生可以开出符合个人基因和微生物状况的药方,并在使用中更好地了解药物的效果。还能更有效地避免不必要的治疗。

     同时,微药物和微型医疗设备,比如Google检测癌症的药片。其他潜在的重大突破还包括含有人体细胞、模拟器官功能的芯片。可以减少药物研发过程中动物测试和临床试验的时间。

     20年后的医疗会成为什么样?从可植入传感器、仿生外骨骼、到基因排序、个性化精确药品,其中一些已经成为了现实。毕竟我们已经戴上各种奇形怪状的可穿戴设备,开始用手机App监控自己的健康。科技延伸了头脑,也会武装起我们肢体,生活在一个离科幻小说越来越近的世界里,对未来医疗的畅想不那么遥远,或许也不那么疯狂。

     以下为原文:

     4 Crazy Predictions For The Future Of Health Care:Human Augmentation,Hacked DNA,And More

     Look across all the research and innovation taking place in biology and medicine now, and you can only imagine what health care could be like in 20 years. From implantable sensors to bionic exoskeletons, gene sequencing and precision drugs, we're in for some big (and mostly positive) changes—potentially.

     In a new report, trend-scanning shop Sparks & Honey gives us a health care tour d'horizon. It's a useful summary, and we picked out a few ideas below.

     THE MOBILE CLINIC

     In the near future, we'll be able to do a lot of basic health care for ourselves. We'll have apps and devices like Fitbit for our general wellness; household equipment like smart thermometers, digital stethoscopes, and the like, for tracking our vital signs; and even diagnostic kits for serious disease, like this EU-funded SniffPhone that diagnoses cancer.

     "[Some of these technologies] are to the point that you don't you don't need a full diagnostic center anymore," says Nick Ayala, cultural strategist at Sparks & Honey. "You can have that right on your phone with the attachments."

     Remote monitoring should mean fewer visits to clinics and better conversations with doctors (as they can also access information you've been gathering). The question for formal health care is how to manage data from patients (ensuring it's accurate, understanding its context, and applying it effectively).

     THE SUPERHUMAN

     We entering an age of human augmentation. Prosthetic limbs are becoming cheaper, more sophisticated, and better integrated with the human body. Amputees can now control limbs with their thoughts, as Johns Hopkins University showed recently. Bionic exoskeletal suits are in development that allow people to walk again, and could be adopted by able-bodied people as well. At the same time, we're developing the ability to grow or print skin, bone, and organs, so one day we could supplement ourselves with new parts.

     HACKING CODE

     As we sequence individual genomes, map the brain and understand our microbiomes, we're deepening what we know about the "minutiae of the human body" such that we can start "to manipulate and control our health at the most minute levels," the report says. That could mean everything from new probiotic foods to designing babies without genetic flaws.

     PRECISION AND NANO MEDICINE

     With more person-specific data available, treatment will become more individual and less "one size fits all." Doctors will prescribe drug cocktails to fit microbial and genetic profiles, have a better understanding of drug effectiveness over time, and more predictive power so that treatments aren't conducted unnecessarily.

     Meanwhile, also on the horizon are nano-drugs and medical devices, such as Google's futuristic pills to detect cancer and other micro-machines that locate disease and drop drug payloads where needed. Other potential big developments include "organs on chips" that reduce the need for animal testing and the length of human clinical trials, Sparks & Honey says.

     "There are a ton of things happening in health right now. It's incredibly exciting. It's where sci-fi becomes real life," says Ayala.

     原文来源:Fast Company

     原文作者:BEN SCHILLER

     Ben Schiller is a New York-based staff writer for Co.Exist, and also contributes to the FT and Yale e360. He used to edit a European management magazine, and worked as a reporter in San Francisco, Prague and Brussels.

     文章来源:贝壳社

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