Healthcare  and Medical

Date: 01.11.18
Over thousands of years, the art of medicine has been innovated and refined to become the cross-discipline, technologically advanced industry that is seen today. The healthcare and medical market encompasses medicine, but the broad grouping includes biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and diagnostics.- By Jan Sklucki
The Earliest History

Evidence exists that medicine was practiced by our ancient ancestors, possibly through imitating how local animals behaved, or through trial and error. This gave rise to the shamans and apothecaries, who would prepare treatments and salves for tribes of early people. Some of the earliest records of healthcare, in the form of papyrus and hieroglyphics, belong to the ancient Egyptians, revealing rich and developed medical and public health systems. One of the most famous records is the Edwin Smith Papyrus, thought to be written by Imhotep in 3000 BCE, which gave information on cures, ailments and anatomical observations, and notably was absent of any magical thinking. ‘Houses of life’ in ancient Egypt were today’s equivalent of hospitals, with chief physicians, overseers and training programs.

From Babylon and Egypt came the formal practice of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examinations and remedies. The Diagnostic Handbook from Babylon is an instrumental text in the history of medicine, containing symptoms and patient observations with likely diagnoses.

A LOVE POEM FROM ANCIENT EGYPT (1500 BCE)

“It is seven days from yesterday since I saw my love, And sickness has crept over me, My limbs have become heavy, I cannot feel my own body. If the master-physicians come to me, I gain no comfort from their remedies. And the priest-magicians have no cures, My sickness is not diagnosed. My love is better by far for me than my remedies. She is more important to me than all the books of medicine.”
DIGITAL HEALTH

The combination of wireless devices, hardware- and softwarebased sensors, microprocessors and the internet could lead to a revolution within global healthcare.
To improve access to healthcare, reduce costs and inefficiencies, and further personalize medicine for patients, new Digital Healthcare technologies are becoming more prevalent. 2014 saw venture investment in digital health hit $4.1 billion, with greater investment than traditional healthcare and medical devices over the same period.

Smart phones, social networks and the internet are doing more than altering our social lives, but offering new ways to monitor our health and give never-before-seen levels of access to information. The FDA has put focus onto these newly developing frontiers, as existing FDA-approved or cleared devices are being extended with digital features and communication capabilities.

The Fathers of Modern Medicine

Moving forward to around 460 BCE, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates of Kos taught and practiced medicine and is often referred to as the father of modern medicine. He is most notable for the Hippocratic Oath, which is still used today, and created medical categorizations such as ‘acute’, ‘chronic’ and ‘epidemic’, and coined terms like ‘relapse’, ‘exacerbation’ and ‘peak’.

From Galen, another Greek physician practicing around 129 CE, came the theory of humours, which persisted well into the middle ages. He performed operations, including brain and eye surgeries, which would not be attempted again for two millennia.

Humours revolved around bile, phlegm and blood, with the belief that balance could be attained by correct diet, medicines and blood letting with leeches. Imbalances within the humours could lead to a huge array of illnesses and conditions. Though incorrect at points, many of his teachings have been instrumental in forming medicine as we see it today.

Today’s Landscape

There are few markets that can be considered as innovative or technologically-minded as today’s healthcare and medical industries. It’s certainly an exciting time. With digital health taking off in 2016, including contact lenses that keep a close eye on the wearer’s glucose levels, wrist bands to monitor heart rate, blood pressure and calories, and smart pills that check on a patients intake and response to medication.

Manufacturers and suppliers’ 2016 focus has been on reducing costs, increasing efficiency and providing as much value as possible. The percentage of global GDP spent on healthcare is expected to decline by 10.1% by 2019, but in certain countries, healthcare spending is expected to grow, such as India (16.1%) and the Middle East (9.3%). With current estimates of market size at $311 billion for biotech, $1.11 trillion for pharmaceutical industries, $369 billion for MedTech and $800 billion for distributors, these growth figures represent a tremendous amount of money. Rising wealth, an aging population and lengthening life expectancies are predicted to drive growth, in addition to increased access to healthcare, population growth and an increase in chronic diseases. Healthcare reforms, cost pressures, price- and value-based care, and political and economic uncertainty are expected to constrain growth.

HEALTHCARE AND MEDICAL INTERESTING FACTS:
  • The first case of dentistry, with flint-tipped drills and bowstrings was dated to around 7,000 BCE. The first trepanning (in which a hole is drilled into the skull and
    was thought to bring the dead back to life in ancient societies) was around 5,000 BCE in France. The earliest known surgery was an amputation in 4,900 BCE in France
  • Babies are born without kneecaps, only developing them between the ages of 2 and 6. It’s head is a quarter of it’s total length. By age 25, the head only composes one
    eighth of your height. A baby's body contains just over a liter of blood
  • Situs inversa, affects 1 in 10,000 people and results in the internal organ’s positions being reversed. A medical identification tag, worn by people with the condition, can warn emergency services personnel, prompting them to, for example, check for the heartbeat on the right rather than the left side of the chest.
  • 2014 has one of the highest totals of new drugs approved by the FDA at 163. So far in 2016, the total stands at 54 new drugs
  • The amount spent on health care per person varies greatly by country. In the US, it’s approximately $11,038; whereas in Pakistan, it’s $58
  • As of the time of publishing, the US National Institutes of Health’s website ClinicalTrials.com lists 224,272 studies in 192 countries
  • Redheads need more anesthetic than other people? An urban legend spread among anestheticians linked the melanocortin-1 receptor, which gives red hair, with decreased sensitivity to anesthetics. The belief was widespread enough that a study in Anaesthesia and Intensive Care in 2012 looked into, and disproved it

PROJECT: INTELLIGENT SURGICAL SCREWDRIVERS

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is providing shoulder-toshoulder engineering seal design support to develop intelligent powered screwdrivers that can automatically sense when screws are properly seated against the bone and the plate.

For screwdrivers used in the operating room, which is a sterile and often hostile environment, it is important to have a high level of reliability and adequate regulatory compliance. Precision is critical, especially for screwdrivers used for neurosurgery - amongst other types of procedures - on brain tumors or brain trauma caused by accidents. In these operations a piece of the skull, either small or large and often of an irregular shape is usually removed. When the surgery is performed, the skull piece is reattached using a metal plate sometimes held by 15 or more screws. The time savings realized depends on the type of surgery and how many plates and screws are involved. This can potentially reduce operating room time and patient exposure to anaesthesia, while also reducing surgeon hand fatigue.
PROJECT: PORTABLE INFUSION PUMPS

Infusion pumps can have a potent impact on patients’ lives, and new technologies are leading to exciting advances for these devices. For some patients, small pumps that provide  instantaneous monitoring and medicating can eliminate the need for manual injections.

Several market leaders are working on small insulin pumps that provide instantaneous monitoring and medicating, which could obsolete manual syringe needles in the next
few years.

With more patients adopting wearable devices, there is a much higher demand for small pumps that are less visible under clothing. These slim devices are even moving toward being controlled through gadgets the patient already carries, such as a smartphone, smart watch, or fitnesstracker (e.g., Fitbit).


Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is actively working to develop improvements to the piston seals to improve the safety of the devices and providing patients with a better quality of life, in terms of travel and activity. Combined with a need for compatibility with the body as well as the medicine being delivered, the challenge level is high for seal manufacturers. Essentially, each pump requires a custom-designed seal that precisely fits the needs of the design, taking into consideration strength, reservoir geometry, and material compatibility.
Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Resources for the Healthcare and Medical Engineer:

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions is a major supplier of seals, bearings and tubing solutions to the healthcare and medical industry. Our innovations focus on ensuring that medical devices operate efficiently.

The Trelleborg Sealing Solutions website contains a host of resources for engineers, including product information, films and digital tools. Decades of experience in the industry have allowed us to stay ahead of current trends to provide solutions that meet today’s and tomorrow’s requirements.

All these resources can be found on the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions website.

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