Some people suggest that the most pressing issues that threaten western health economics, such as chronic disease or the obesity epidemic, may vanish with the emergence of new technologies .

These five areas of rapid innovation are likely to be molecular medicine and biometrics, nanotechnology, wave technology, fabricators, and robotics and simulation. Soon to be realized applications are:
 - Instant remote diagnosis and treatment
 - Fat zapping
 - Customized replacement of body parts
 - Remotely activated drug dispensing
 - Smart nappies
Read the following scenarios carefully. They would instantly make redundant brigades of health pen pushers and health targets administrators.

John, who is 25 lb overweight, walks through a device that looks like an airport x-ray scanner. When he emerges, about 5 lb of fat tissue has been "fried" by a laser. Through the normal purging processes, the fat will be gone from his body in about three days. He repeats the process every two weeks until all the extra weight is gone. No side effects are seen apart from resizing of his wardrobe.

Jane, who has hypertension and diabetes, has a barely visible radio frequency chip implanted just below the skin on her upper arm. This chip simultaneously monitors and transmits data on her heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and concentrations of blood sugar. The data received in two places – a remote monitoring station in her general practitioner's office, and an implanted pump that is linked to her circulatory system and to an external reservoir of drugs that can be drawn down as clinically indicated.

Previous startling technologies have been aspirin (patented 1899) and x-ray machines (patented 1900) followed by immunizations and antibiotics in the 1950s. The article gives other examples of amazing new devices. It also provides you with some fascinating Web links for more technological innovations to come:

Diane Sawyer's heart

Stereolithography

Dextroscope

DaVinci

LifeShirt

There's still one unknown question, though, regarding the effect of these technologies on our health economies – and that is obviously the price tag.

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