Cleveland Clinic announced its list of Top 10 Medical Innovations that will
have a major impact on improving patient care within the next year. The list is
made up of devices, including a handheld optical scan for melanoma; drugs;
diagnostic tests, such as 3D mammography; and a government program that
financially rewards patients for improving their health.
The list of breakthrough devices and therapies was selected by a panel of
Cleveland Clinic physicians and scientists and announced during Cleveland
Clinic’s 2012 Medical Innovation Summit.
The Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2013 are:
1. Bariatric Surgery for Control of Diabetes
Exercise and diet alone are not effective for treating severe obesity or Type 2 diabetes. Once a person reaches 100 pounds or more above his or her ideal weight, losing the weight and keeping it off for many years almost never happens.
While the medications we have for diabetes are good, about half of the
people who take them are not able to control their disease. This can often lead
to heart attack, blindness, stroke, and kidney failure.
Surgery for obesity, often called bariatric surgery, shrinks the stomach
into a small pouch and rearranges the digestive tract so that food enters the
small intestine at a later point than usual.
Over the years, many doctors performing weight-loss operations found that
the surgical procedure would rid patients of Type 2 diabetes, oftentimes before
the patient left the hospital.
Many diabetes experts now believe that weight-loss surgery should be
offered much earlier as a reasonable treatment option for patients with poorly
controlled diabetes —and not as a last resort.