Medical invention that changed the world

Medical devices looks like modern invention, but they in fact have helped us in treatment of disease diseases for centuries. We present you top ten must know  medical gadgets that play a significant role in our lives

     7 MEDICAL INVENTION THAT  CHANGED  THE WORLD

1. SPECTACLES

 Reasons to use spectacles is for vision correction and eye protection. In ancient times, monks and scholars who were using an early prototype of eyeglasses had to hold the lenses in front of their eyes or balance them on their noses to keep them from falling off. As printed books became easily available in the 1900s, the number of cases of myopia increased, which led to eyeglasses being produced in greater quantities. Modern spectacles can be used to correct both distant and near vision (bifocal glasses) and shield against ultraviolet light (sunglasses).

2.HYPODERMIC NEEDLE  

In the ancient times Greeks and Romans used thin, hollow tools to introduce fluids into the body, a precursor to the modern needle.  Christopher Wren(1656) used a goose quill as a crude needle to deliver intravenous injections into dogs. The modern hypodermic needle  was invented in the mid 19th centurty by Charles Pravaz and Alexander Wood. Hypodermic means anything just below the surface of the skin. Nowadays, the hypodermic needle is used together with a syringe to inject or extract fluids, medication and blood from in to our bodies with minimal pain and reduced risk of contamination.

3. X-RAY IMAGING

  Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range known today as X-rays for which he won the first ever Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 .  Radiation could pass through various substances that are opaque to ordinary light, Röntgen tested his invention by photographing his wife’s hand, which clearly revealed her wedding ring and the bones in her fingers.

4. CARDIAC PACEMAKER

  It is a small implantable device that regulates the human heartbeat, has saved millions of lives since it was invented by two Australian doctors(1926). The early pacemaker prototype was portable and consisted of two poles: one was connected to a skin pad soaked in salt solution while the other consisted of a needle that was inserted into the patient’s cardiac chamber. Along with improvements in battery life, today’s pacemaker batteries can run for up to 20-25  years and even be recharged through the skin.

5.HEARING AID

 It is a device designed to amplify sound.  Miller Reese Hutchinson (1899) invented the first electronic hearing aid made of a carbon microphone, battery and ear set. The Akouphone, as it was called, was so large that it had to be placed on a table!  A decade later, the Hutchinson Acoustic Company created the first wearable hearing aid called the Acousticon. The device was smaller and portable, although early models were still cumbersome to carry around. Newer hearing aids are now so small that they can be effectively concealed while in use, and some even contain features that reduce background noise.

6. LED PHOTOTHERAPHY

  Hyperbilirubinemia, more commonly known as jaundice, is caused by the buildup of bilirubin, a liver by-product that is often found in high levels in 60% newborn. If left untreated, bilirubin can spread into the brain, where it causes Kernicterus. Phototherapy involves shining blue LED light on a baby for approximately three days, converts bilirubin into a watersoluble compound that can be excreted from the body easily. 

7.BLOOD GLUCOSE MONITOR

 Nowadays to measure glucose in the blood includes the use of a portable testing meter called the blood glucose monitor. By using the device, a finger prick blood sample applied onto a chemical test-strip generates a simple numerical read-out within seconds. More sophisticated blood glucose monitors include a non-invasive glucose Breathalyzer device and an implantable real-time glucose sensor that also releases insulin in a responsive manner to control glucose.