Medical Innovation Has Far-Reaching Benefits

No matter how technical or advanced some medical inventions are, or even how alien they sound, they are really amazing. Where would we be without the new materials for hip joints and heart valves, new equipment for laparoscopic surgeries, new instruments like insulin pumps, new procedures for robotic surgeries, new genetic testing, and new drugs to combat high cholesterol and anti-coagulants to treat thrombosis? These remarkable advancements would not have been possible without the collaboration of physicians, researchers, engineering designers, venture capitalists, and business leaders.

These thoughts leaders and decision makers are meeting at the 6th annual Medical Innovation Summit, hosted by the Cleveland Clinic, on November 10-12 at the InterContinental Hotel & Bank of America Conference Center. Chris Coburn, director of the Innovations Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, describes this year's Summit as "a signature event for the Clinic, an exceptional opportunity for the 900+ registrants to learn and get direct unfiltered insights from the leaders in these areas." With a wealth of medical resources at the Clinic and in Northeast Ohio, medical innovation conferences like these along with the resulting technology commercialization has a tremendous positive impact on the regional economy as well.

Featured speakers include: Robert Rubin, former Secretary of the Treasury during President Clinton's administration, now with Citigroup, Jim Tobin, CEO of Boston Scientific; Tim Ring, chairman and CEO of CR Bard, Karen Licitra, a company group chairman for Johnson & Johnson; Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Committee on Health Care, and Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Charlie Cook from the Cook Political Report will also be on hand to prognosticate and evaluate the presidential election and what the results will mean for health care providers. "To get new products out," explained Coburn, "someone needs to make the investment, so venture capitalists will also be here giving presentations, talking to entrepreneurs, and scouting out new developments."

With the large population of aging "boomers," this year's focus of the Summit is on men's and women's health as seen through the fields of urology and gynecology. Dr. Marie Paraiso, the director for the Center for Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery and co-director for the Program for Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery in the OB/GYN and Women's Heath Institute at Cleveland Clinic, is also serving as a panel chair and presenter at the Summit. "It's exciting to give better care to patients with these new surgical advancements," said Paraiso. "For example, thanks to today’s cutting edge technology, we can use robots with four arms to assist with performing laparoscopic, minimally invasive surgery." (A laparoscope is a long thin rod with a video camera at the end to see inside the abdomen during surgery, allowing the surgeon to perform surgery inside the body without making large incisions.) The first robotic surgery was performed in 1996. Using robots in gynecological surgery gained FDA approval in 2005.

"The robots (see picture) we use today, called da Vinci Surgical Systems, have advanced significantly since their inception more than a decade ago," explained Paraiso, "They allow the surgeon more accuracy, range of motion, and comfort working within such a small space." Using the robot to assist with laparoscopic surgery not only offers the benefits of traditional laparoscopic surgery, like fewer and smaller incisions, better surgical outcomes, shorter hospital stays, and less post operative pain, but it also allows for more surgeons to be able to master the art of minimally-invasive surgery. Robotic surgery initially was developed to be used war zone situations away from hospital settings since the robot can be operated remotely, but today, surgeons sit at a computer console in the surgery suite while controlling the robot and the laparoscope to surgically remove a prostate or kidney, or perform a hysterectomy.

The future is filled with exciting new developments – that is what the Medical Innovations Summit 2008 is all about. Next year, the focus will be on cancer. The public may also attend this conference. For more information, visit http://www.clevelandclinic.org/innovations/summit.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul susn1ATatt.net
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