Recent Advances in Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical engineering is expanding very rapidly. The techniques and concepts of biomedicine date back to ancient Egypt with a wooden big toe (The Whitaker Foundation). The field of Biomedical engineering is needed for the aging population of the baby boomers. Recent advances made since 1990 vary cell-based skin substitutes to robotic surgeons. The advances made in recent years have undoubtedly expanded the overall life span of the human race; humans can now live a longer and more joyous life. Many of the advances in the recent years go to creating new treatments for diseases. Over 58% of all deaths in the United States in 1994 were due to AIDS, cancer, and types of heart diseases (ieeeghn.org). Today this percentage has been lowered drastically thanks to new medications and improved medical procedures in the medical field provided by biomedical engineers. If not for biomedical engineering new medicine wouldn’t be developed. Bioengineering analysis is pointing a new way to better drug designs and better drug testing. The disease of cancer has taken the life of many patients, but through new medicines and procedures many more are surviving. A significant progress has been made against cancer, allowing people to live longer and fuller lives. There have been more than one-million less cancer deaths since 1990and 1991(aacr.org). On January 1, 2012 there were 13.7 million survivors in the United States. These numbers are achieved by using new techniques to cure cancer like, immunotherapies to avoid toxins, Targeted cancer therapies to target different types of cancer, and weakling cancerous tumors making them susceptible to drugs. Cancer is still a significant problem and is far from being cured, but step by step biomedical engineers are getting closer and closer. The recent discovery in AIDS is a big contribution of engineering to the medical field.