What is andhe most revolutionary invention in the medical field? Probably, many will answer this question with a “the contraceptive pill”. Well, when it began to be marketed in the 1960s, millions of women were able to take charge of their sexual and reproductive health. Others will say that viagrawhich has ended erectile dysfunction in millions of men.
Be that as it may, what is clear is that modern medicine is a key piece to comply with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3 on health and well-being. But behind it there are hundreds of inventions that have allowed us, throughout history, to reach the current moment in which, in just over a year, a new disease like covid already has a vaccine. Or that maternal mortality has been reduced by 37% since 2000 worldwide. Or that in 2020 4,427 organ transplants were performed in Spain alone.
These are some examples of all those medical inventions that changed the future of humanity, beyond penicillin or antibiotics, without which today it would be unthinkable to live.
1. Vaccines
Undoubtedly, vaccines are one of the medical contributions that have brought the greatest benefit to humanity. And although Edward Jenner is today recognized as the father of Immunology, the germ of vaccination was planted by the British aristocrat, traveler and writer Mary Wortley Montagu. She was the one who, on one of her trips, discovered that smallpox could be avoided in healthy people if an incision was made in their skin and the liquid from a pustule of a mildly ill person was applied to them.
2. anesthesia
The history of anesthesia goes hand in hand with that of humanity: Hippocrates used the soporific sponge, a mixture of opium, mandrake and henbane, to control physical pain and numb the body. Others, before proceeding with surgery, resorted to wine, opium, cannabis or extreme cold.
However, it was in the 19th century when anesthesia appeared (almost) as we know it today. The American dentist Horace Wells was the first to use nitrous oxide to numb a patient and extract teeth, although it was his colleague William Snow who demonstrated its effectiveness. But it was John Snow who, after attending the birth of Queen Victoria, used chloroform and won the title of the first anesthesia specialist.
3. The hypodermic needle
From the hand of vaccines and anesthesia came an invention that arouses terror in half the world: the hypodermic needle. It was the Scottish doctor Alexander Wood who invented it in 1856 to inject morphine into his wife, a terminal cancer patient. But this advance could not have been carried out without the research of the Irishman Francis Rynd, who invented the hollow needle in 1844.
4. Antivirals
Already in the 20th century, in the 1960s, the first experimental antivirals were developed, mostly for the herpes virus. However, it was not until the 1980s that dozens of treatments were developed that are still in use today.
5. X-rays
In 1895, Professor Wilhem Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays, and he was the first to perform the first radiography himself. The image that could be seen, that of his wife’s hand, took 20 minutes to achieve and undoubtedly revolutionized medicine. His experiment marked a before and after in the health sciences, as it marked the beginning of radiology and diagnostic imaging.
6. Prosthetics
Anyone would think that prostheses are a modern invention, but nothing could be further from the truth: the first of which there are records dates back to the first millennium BC. And it is a big toe made of cardboard – papier-mâché, linen, glue and plaster – made by the Egyptians. More than 3,000 years old is this prosthesis found in Luxor (Egypt).
Now, rudimentary plaster or wood prostheses – typical of the Middle Ages – are far away. These traditional materials have been replaced by other lighter ones that, in addition, are complemented by microprocessors, computer chips and every advance in robotics that reaches the market.
7. Defibrillator
Although the first portable defibrillator was invented in 1960 by Frank Pantridge, its history dates back to the second half of the 18th century. At that time, many scientists were testing with chickens that they could stop and restart their hearts. A century later, Jean Louis Prevost and F. Batelli proved that electricity could be used to restart a dog’s heart. Finally, in 1947, open chest defibrillation was tested on people by Dr. Claude Beck.
8. Insulin
Insulin saves lives, and its discovery – or invention – we owe to several scientists from the University of Toronto. After isolating it for the first time in 1921, they revolutionized medicine in such a way that years later they received the Nobel Prize for it. A year after this breakthrough was made, a 14-year-old boy became the first human patient to receive a dose of artificial insulin.
9. Laser surgery
The development of the technology that would eventually become today’s laser dates back to the studies of physicists such as Max Planck, Albert Einstein or Niels Bohr. Much research led to the first experimental laser surgery on humans in 1988, when a woman with cancer of the eye socket volunteered. Since then, technology has come a long way – an operation takes no more than 15 minutes – but the postoperative result remains the same.
10. 3D printed medicines
In 2015, the American pharmaceutical Apprecia developed the first 3D-printed pill, Spritam levetiracetam, a drug used to treat epilepsy. This technology opens the doors to a future in which it is the hospitals themselves that can make their own medicines.