With augmented reality technology, the real-time image displayed on the screen is combined with the data obtained by fluoroscopy. The possibility of using this technique in endoscopic surgery has been widely discussed. However, despite the potential of this field, it is still very underdeveloped. One of the factors is the lack of integrated systems that do not need to be supplemented and modified in order to be able to work with augmented images.

The software and technical equipment of the Philips system are designed, among other things, to solve this problem as well. The complex is equipped with an X-ray unit and high-resolution optical cameras, and the image displayed on the screen is already undergoing all the necessary processing. Philips devices using augmented reality technology passed the first preclinical tests at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and at the Medical Center of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. According to the findings, published in the journal Spine, the accuracy of the surgeries performed increased by more than 20%.

The developed unit has been highly praised by surgeons. “The new technology gives surgeons the ability to obtain high-quality 3D images of the patient’s spine during surgery and helps plan the optimal course of the intervention. Doctors can place the transpedicular screws more accurately… It is also possible to assess the result of the intervention in 3D directly in the operating room,” commented Dr. Skulason of Landtspitali University Hospital in Reykjavik.

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In addition, several hundred new diagnostic drugs have already been introduced into medical practice. Among the drugs in clinical trials are drugs potentially treating arthritis, cardiovascular disease, cancer and AIDS. Among the several hundred genetically engineered companies, 60% are involved in the development and production of drugs and diagnostics.

"In medicine today, among the achievements of genetic engineering we can highlight cancer therapy, as well as other pharmacological innovations - stem cell research, new antibiotics that target bacteria, treatment of diabetes. It is true that all this is still at the research stage, but the results are promising,"

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In recent years, however, a new method of analysis, liquid biopsy, based on the analysis of nucleic acids in the blood to detect tumor cells or tumor DNA in the blood, has made a furor in medicine. However, it is worth noting that in terms of pathology, the term “liquid biopsy” is inaccurate because it refers exclusively to a molecular analytic method and not to a biopsy in the pathological sense. The method is based on the fact that tumor cells also release genetic information into the blood, which can be examined for changes that occur in the blood only in very small quantities. Therefore, their detection has only become possible due to the development of new methods for highly sensitive nucleic acid detection, such as “digital drop PCR” or “next/next generation sequencing” (NGS). In addition to peripheral blood, namely plasma, urine, stool, pleural or cerebrospinal fluid can be used as liquid biopsy material.

The liquid biopsy method is used in oncology for purposes such as screening, early cancer diagnosis or assessment of metastatic risks. An important area of use of liquid biopsy is also the identification of target structures for therapy, mechanisms of resistance, and tumor monitoring in general.

Tumor monitoring by liquid biopsy is particularly interesting because it allows both the detection of potentially developing recurrent tumors at a very early stage and the deciphering of their possible altered molecular profile. Thus, if resistance mutations occur during first-line therapy, patient survival could theoretically be significantly increased by switching the targeted therapy.

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In addition, complications occur with the classic pacemaker, including infection of the implanted area, displacement of the device, tissue damage, bleeding, and thrombosis. Over the past 5 years, several models have been created to make the device as comfortable and effective for patients as possible.

• In 2015, Israeli scientists proposed using a light-sensitive protein to control rhythm. Using a virus, they injected the algal protein ChR2, which responds to blue light, into the heart cells of experimental rats. It opens ion channels in the membrane in response to the pulse. The experiment showed that the flashes of light can be used to tune the heart rate. However, in order to use ChR2 with the human heart, the problem of light penetration through body tissues must be solved.
• In 2017, researchers from Israel and Canada developed a biological pacemaker using cells that are functionally similar to natural cells that stimulate heart function. They grew them from embryonic stem cells. During the experiment, the transplanted pacemaker cells restored heart rhythm in six out of seven rats.
• In 2019, American engineers developed a generator capable of generating electricity through the contractions of the heart muscle. The current in this case is transmitted to a nearby pacemaker. The developers believe that in the future such a device will make it possible to create a fully autonomous pacemaker that does not require battery replacement.

Statistics and Practice of Pacemaker Use

At least 3 million people around the world live with pacemakers, and about 600,000 devices are implanted in patients each year. In Great Britain alone, 32,902 devices were implanted in 2018-2019 to keep the heart working steadily. Many movie stars, athletes, and politicians live with pacemakers. Cardiomyopathies, bradycardia, heart block, and heart failure can be reasons for the device.

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A nanoparticle with a diameter of 5-100 nm consists of 103-106 atoms. Threadlike and film-like particles may contain considerably more atoms and have even two linear sizes, but their properties remain characteristic of a substance having a nanocrystalline structure. The ratio of linear sizes of nanoparticles allows them to be viewed as one-, two- or three-dimensional (1D-, 2D- and 3D-nanoparticles, respectively). They are usually referred to as nanostructures.

Nanomaterials can be made up of inorganic compounds (metals, carbon derivatives and others) and organic, including natural compounds (proteins, fatty acids, nucleic acids). The latter constitute one of the sections of nanotechnology – nanobiotechnology or biomolecular nanotechnology.

The medical additions of nanotechnology have contributed to the emergence of a new scientific field: nanomedicine. It encompasses such sections as tracking, repairing, constructing and controlling human biological systems at the molecular level with the help of engineered nanodevices and nanomaterials, enabling operations from diagnostics and monitoring to the destruction of pathogenic microorganisms, restoration of damaged organs, supplying necessary substances to the body.

According to the forecasts of the American association National Science Foundation, the market volume of goods and services using nanotechnology may amount to 1 trillion U.S. dollars in the next 10-15 years. The global market for nanodevices will grow by an average of 28% per year.

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The example of test prosthesis built by 3D printer

3D printing has been used in medicine since the early 2000s, when the technology was first used to make dental implants. Since then, the use of 3D printing in medicine has expanded significantly: Doctors from around the world describe ways to use 3D printing to produce ears, skeletal parts, airways, jawbone, eye parts, cell cultures, stem cells, blood vessels and vascular networks, tissues and organs, new drug forms, and much more.

Using model files for 3D printing provides an opportunity for sharing work among researchers. Instead of trying to reproduce parameters described in scientific journals, physicians can use and modify off-the-shelf 3D models. To that end, the National Institutes of Health established the 3dprint.nih.gov exchange in 2014 to facilitate the exchange of open-source 3D models for medical and anatomical products, non-standard equipment and mockups of proteins, viruses and bacteria.

Neuroanatomical models printed on a 3D printer can be particularly useful for neurosurgeons, providing insight into the most complex structures in the human body, which in principle cannot be obtained based on two-dimensional images.

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