The enormous advancements in medicine over the past century are miraculous. From surgeries to pharmaceuticals to therapies to diet to psychology; it would take more space than I have to list them all. Here are ten (there are many more) of the most important advances:
Antibiotics Vaccines Anesthesia
X-rays and imaging Germ Theory
Organ transplantation Genetic engineering
Heart Surgery Antiseptics Insulin
However, my
favorite medical procedure is dialysis, for which I am preparing as I write
this. In 1943, Willem Kolff, a Dutch Doctor, invented the dialyzer using
sausage casing and a wooden drum and a washing machine motor. He brought two of
his machines to Boston in 1947, where they were further perfected and called
the Kolff-Brigham Artificial Kidney. In 1955 he became the founder and director
of Cleveland Clinic’s first hospital based kidney dialysis program.
Originally
the patient was poked for dialysis wherever a good vein could be found,
resulting in many scars in the arms and legs. Then in 1960, Belding Scribner
invented the “Scribner Shunt” whereby a Teflon tube was attached to an artery
and to a vein and directed to a plate on the arm. This allowed for easy
vascular access. Soon after, the tubing was used without the external plate,
and connected inside the arm as the access point.
The current
and most effective access method is the AV Fistula, perfected in 1966. An
artery in the arm is connected to a nearby vein near the inner elbow, and after
three months the vein has enlarged enough to be used for dialysis. This allows
for less infection and can be effective for many years.
Concerning
all medical advances in the past century and all centuries, they have come to
fruition because God created man with the brainpower to see a need and to
devise a way to come up with the solution. God created man to heal.
Sources: Wikipedia, Fresenius Medical Care, DaVita Kidney
Care
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