1970s Medical Advances

Medical tools and operations have been advancing ever since the first human cut his or herself on a rock, whether the advancements have been significant or not. Through all of this time, scientists and doctors have been searching for answers to try and improve the health of the world’s population daily. What many people do not realize is although the cure for cancer has not yet been found, treatments for many other diseases have been and medical technology has come a long way. Every decade, new advancements are made, and some are better than others, but they all shape the lives of many people in many different ways.

In the 1970s, two life changing surgeries took place. They both occurred in 1972 and they were the world’s first toe-to-thumb …show more content…
These advancements include an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, an intra articular arthroscopic shaver system, and an angioplasty balloon catheter. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small generator powered by a battery and it works by sending electrical impulses when it detects cardiac arrhythmias. The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was made in 1969, but was not used until 1980 by Levi Watkins Jr., M.D. at the John Hopkins Hospital. The intra articular arthroscopic shaver system includes “a rotating burr housed within a rigid insertion tube.” The shaver system removes tissue and cartilage from patient’s joints and was an “essential development for minimally invasive orthopedic surgery.” The intra articular arthroscopic shaver system is used by orthopedic surgeons during arthroscopic surgeries. An angioplasty balloon catheter uses an inflatable balloon on a double-lumen catheter and it works to repair blocked vessels; however, this device has many risks to consider. A major risk is the chance of developing restenosis. The angioplasty balloon catheter was made in the 1970s by Andreas Gruentzig, but was not used until 1980 (Mddi Admin). Surgeries that happened for the first time in this decade were an open fetal operation and the first robot-assisted surgery. The first fetal operation was performed on the unborn Michael Skinner while he was still in his mother’s womb. The operation was done by sewing in a bladder shunt, a little tube the “size of dry spaghetti.” Michael Skinner was performed on by Michael R. Harrison, M.D. and his colleagues at the University of California in San Fransisco in 1981. He had a urinary tract problem that could’ve killed him, but he was saved and that was a major surgical advancement for the