2009 Health Innovations

The future is full of unknowns and predicting it is difficult. If health has you worried, however, you can take solace in simply knowing that some of the most interesting health innovations are coming your way this new year. Here are a few such health innovations to be on the lookout for in 2009.

A new birth control pill
Field: Birth control
Potential impact: Medium

Contraception is in many ways a man's best friend. The past few decades have brought forth a bevy of birth control options, some so strange that their very name can lead to serious head scratching (case in point: The female condom). As far as health innovations go, however, little has changed in the way of oral contraception since the introduction of the birth control pill in 1960 -- at least until now. Healthcare giant Organon has finalized testing of NOMAC/E2, a new combined oral contraceptive containing estradiol, an estrogen similar to the one naturally available in a woman's body. Up until this point, all currently available oral contraceptives contained a chemically modified version of estrogen. Whether this 2009 health innovation will be safer and more effective than its predecessor still needs to be determined; only time will tell if a new pill will supplant the old.

No-knife surgery
Field: Surgery
Potential impact: High

A paradigm shift is happening in surgery, but the aptly titled headline sounds a tad more pleasant than what's really going on. No-knife surgery refers to Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery (N.O.T.E.S.) , an ever-evolving form of minimally invasive surgery worthy of a place among our favorite 2009 health innovations. Those quick to read between the lines will realize that N.O.T.E.S. refers to surgery by way of natural orifices (yeah, that’s a little gross). Essentially “scarless” operations will be performed by inserting surgical instruments through the mouth, anus, vagina, and urethra; basically, through whichever natural orifice is most favorably to the required surgery. Men, specifically, can look forward to prostate resection conducted via the urethra, gallbladder removal via the anus or appendectomy via the mouth -- if they so choose -- in 2009.

No need for documents
Field: Home medicine
Potential impact: High

2009 will see a bounding leap forward in the use and availability of home telehealth technologies. Home telehealth, or telemedicine, is piggybacking the rise of the communications industry and its wireless technologies like Bluetooth. These technologies will give patients greater responsibility for their health, equipping some with devices that remotely monitor vital signs, which is currently being explored with the monitoring of blood glucose levels for some diabetics. Such devices will then transmit data to health-care providers or third-party handlers via the internet or other data lines. Elsewhere, patients will be given the flexibility of directly consulting with physicians through videoconferencing services, thus eliminating the burden of physical distances in rural locales. In our opinion, this is one of those health innovations that should have been here a long time ago.

A new drug to lower cholesterol
Field: Pharmaceuticals
Potential impact: Low

It's no big secret that obesity is on the rise, which is why the release of Trilipix will likely make waves in 2009. Trilipix belongs to an old class of drugs known as fibrates, which are used to lower both LDL (the bad) cholesterol and triglycerides and raise HDL (the good) cholesterol. What sets Trilipix apart from other fibrates, however, is its ability to be safely combined with a statin, another class of cholesterol- fighting drugs. This double-handed approach should greatly improve the cholesterol profile for many, potentially saving thousands of lives. While such news is worthy of labeling Trilipix among our top 2009 health innovations, one can only wonder how many people will trade in proper dieting and exercise for a quick fix.

No more picnic coolers
Field: Heart transplant surgery
Potential impact: High

You may be wondering what exactly picnicking has to do with transplant surgery, but the answer is actually quite simple. Over the past 30 years, heart transplant success relied primarily on speed. Medical transport teams would race from a deceased donor to an awaiting recipient with an excised heart resting in a store-bought picnic cooler filled with pounds of ice. Using such crude methods, teams had a mere four hours to deliver the goods -- hardly a favorable window for success. In 2009, however, the U.S. will welcome the warm organ perfusion device (WOPD), a portable miniature heart/lung machine that keeps harvested organs in a living state for upward of 12 hours. Considering that on any given day there are about 4,000 people awaiting a heart transplant in the U.S., the WOPD certainly tops the list of 2009 health innovations.