The 10 Most Innovative Companies Bringing AI to Healthcare The 10 Most Innovative Companies Bringing AI to He | Page 37

Human Head Transplant
Virotherapy
One such breakthrough that has attracted the eyeballs
of the medical fraternity is the on-going research
work on ‘Virotherapy’. Termed as a major
development to fight cancer, this is an evolving
branch of medicine that could be a lethal/powerful
weapon in fighting cancer. The foundation of
Virotherapy was laid by a surgeon – Dr. William
Coley, around a century ago. However, his ‘failed’
experiments were the preliminary steps that are on
record and today’s progressive phase do carry the
imprints of this previous works.
Through the advancements done in the field of
genetic engineering, Virotherapy has seen the light of
the day. In easy terms, this process involves a
mutated virus that destroys the cancer cells without
harming the healthy cells within the body.
Artificial Pancreas
DECEMBER 2018
A decade earlier, talking about a face transplant
would have been nothing short of a scene from a
science fiction movie, however, today it’s a reality.
Taking extensive inputs and stepping up the ladder,
an Italian neurosurgeon – Sergio Canavero has
claimed a 90% success rate that a patient can be
treated and would be able to walk after a few months
of post-surgery. However, even if it’s a success, the
process would be too expensive and would be for the
handful of the ‘richest’ people in the world!
As research work continues, Professor Canavero
announced a successful experiment to reattach the
head of a corpse to the body in November 2017. His
next step will be to perform the experiment on a live,
but a brain-dead person who has donated his body,
only after which the first operation on a living person
will be done. Interestingly, a 30- year old Russian
suffering from a degenerative muscle condition –
Valery Spiridonov has volunteered himself as the first
living person on whom this experiment can be
performed.
For a patient suffering from diabetes, this invention is
nothing less than a God’s gift. As the pancreas of a patient
suffering from diabetes produces lower quantities of insulin
than usual, Medtronic’s MiniMed 670G is an innovative
device that monitors blood glucose level and the insulin
pump. This is approved by the US FDA (Food & Drug
Administration). This device is immensely useful for the
treatment of type 1 diabetes for the patients aged above
fourteen years. Counted as the world’s first ‘hybrid
closed-loop system’ it was released in March 2017 for
commercial purposes.
35