I recently stumbled upon an article about the future of medicine from Mikio Kaku. Michio is reading his crystal ball and providing us with his insights for the next decade.
He foretells the coming of designer organs from stem cells with the biotechnology to create from the bottom up organs, even print them. I agree with him on this. At the beginning this technology will be available for people with organ failures but soon and as we decipher the mechanics of cells, new organs will be available for enhancement e.g. a heart with extra pumping options, blood cells with extra oxygen carrying potential and many many other.
Transplant surgery will be revived and mainly will be used for cosmetic reasons.
Michio moreover refers to the revolution that will miniature diagnostic devices will bring. These lab on a chips will bring cost effective and fast diagnosis to the masses. Therapy will gradually move towards diagnosis and will carry with our USB sticks our personal genome. Imagine the changes these all will bring. Decentralized fast and accurate diagnosis or even prognosis.
One does not need much to imagine what will happen when apart from preventing we will have the opportunity of enhancing….
