Medical technology is certainly advancing and changing the way the health care field functions. New ideas, creative tools and techniques, and advancements in technology make the medical field an exciting and interesting field to study. One area where technology has significantly improved the medical field is in dealing with heart disease.
Heart disease is the number one killer among adults in the United States. Because of this alarming statistic, many man-hours and dollars have been put into finding ways to treat and prevent heart disease. We see incredible advancements in the treatment of heart disease since technology has become readily available.
For example, in the 1970s, the ability to manage irregular heartbeats, beta-blockers used to lower blood pressure, and clotting drugs were all introduced. This was indeed breakthrough technology, as it was nearly impossible to monitor an irregular heartbeat or lower blood pressure after a heart attack previously. Moving into the next decade, blood-thinners began to be used after a heart attack. In addition, beta-blockers from the ‘70s which were used for short-term maintenance developed into longer term therapy. We move into the 1990s and see more drugs to help with clots, angioplasty used as treatment, and cardiac rehabilitation programs implemented. And the improvement in treatment continued into the 2000s with better test to diagnose heart disease and stents begin used on a regular basis. In addition, we saw improvements for long-term management and prevention of future heart attacks.
In a short 30 years, heart disease and the ability to care for heart disease improved and changed drastically. This was all possible because of medical technology.