How Medicine Has Advanced

by Esha Shahid

There is no doubt the nature of medicine has transformed since the Egyptians used remedies to fight diseases. From acupuncture to vaccinations to nanotechnology, the advancement of medicine is constantly thriving at a faster rate than ever before.

If every discovery of medicine was explained, this article would be never ending so I will only be discussing a few of the revolutions which interest me the most.

Early medical systems focused on allowing people to make sense of bodies and health. Traditional Chinese medicine defines health as a balance between two forces - ying and yang representing dark and light/ hot and cold etc. Disease is an imbalance which TCM attempts to counteract by manipulating ‘qi’(pronounced chi). Qi is the energy flow through living bodies which is managed by acupressure, exercise and herbal therapies. These methods are still used today and are considered the most effective because they have very few side effects. In fact, Dr Chartejee states that exercise is the most effective treatment for chronic diseases. He believes that common diseases (e.g. depression, diabetes, CHD) are rooted by stress which can simply be resolved by exercising 20 minutes a day. 

In 1803, morphine was first extracted and used as a painkiller in the Americal Civil War. Very soon, many soldiers became addicted and were used for recreational purposes. Now, morphine is still used as an effective pain reliever but the NHS categorises it as a controlled drug meaning a doctor must give you a prescription for it. The importance of morphine is that it alleviates some of the tremendous pain chemotherapy brings to cancer patients.

Currently, genome editing is taking over medicine advancement. Briefly, specific proteins cut DNA at precise locations to delete sections of DNA that codes for diseases. Sections of DNA could be cut also to alter how a gene functions such as changing the order of bases in DNA which could give rise to disease to one that functions normally. This can be used to treat inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis.

Another exciting part of medicine that is developing at the moment is immunotherapy. This is the treatment of a disease that involves the stimulation or suppression of the immune system. The cells of patients with genetic diseases are being studied to try to understand why the killer T cells aren’t working. The principle behind this is to eventually find successful mechanisms for faulty T helper cells so they can hopefully manipulate cancer cells and invading pathogens.

Here is a timeline of more advancements in the history of medicine:

• 420BC hippocratic oath origin of rational medicine
• 129BC galen clinical medicine based on observation and experience
• afterGalen 200AD, 480 benedict of nursia founder of monastic medicine
• 1020 – Ammar ibn `Ali al-Mawsili performed the first successful eye surgery. Using a needle and removing a cataract.
• 1084 – First documented hospital in England Canterbury
• 1800 – Humphry Davy announces the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide.
• 1803–1805 – Morphine was first isolated
• 1816 – Rene Laennec invents the stethoscope.
• 1827–1912 – Joseph Lister antiseptic surgery[36][59][97] Father of modern surgery[98]
• 1818 – James Blundell performs the first successful human transfusion.
• 1816 – Rene Laennec invents the stethoscope.
• 1827–1912 – Joseph Lister antiseptic surgery[36][59][97] Father of modern surgery[98]
• 1901 – Alois Alzheimer identifies the first case of what becomes known as Alzheimer's disease
• 1928 – Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
• 1957 – William Grey Walter invents the brain EEG topography (toposcope)
• 1958 – Pacemaker – Rune Elmqvist
• 1959 – In vitro fertilization – Min Chueh Chang
• 1960 – Invention of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), stem cell therapy, dolly the sheep cloned, icsi
• 2006 – First HPV vaccine approved.
• 2007 – The visual prosthetic (bionic eye) Argus II.
• 2008 – Laurent Lantieri performs the first full face transplant.
• 2013 – The first kidney was grown in vitro in the U.S.
• 2013 – The first human liver was grown from stem cells in Japan.
• 2014 - A 3D printer is used for first ever skull transplant.
• 2016 - The first ever artificial pancreas was created
• 2019 – 3D-print heart from human patient's cells.

It is safe to conclude that medicine was and will always continue to progress which will be essential due to our growing population and increased life expectancy which brings more diseases that need to be treated.