30 Years of Medical Technology

NASA Tech Briefs, Apr 2006

The Australian Bionic Ear, a multiple-electrode cochlear implant, was the first to receive approval from the FDA in 1985, and in 1990, the FDA determined that the implant was safe for use in children.

Unlike a hearing aid, which makes sounds louder, the cochlear implant selects speech signals and produces a pattern of electrical pulses in a patient's ear. A microphone picks up the sounds and transmits them to a speech processor that converts them into digital signals. Although the sounds cannot be completely natural - only 22 electrodes in the implant are replacing the function of thousands of cells in a normal ear - the implant helps patients who have suffered hearing damage.

Today, more than 70,000 patients have received cochlear implants, creating a nearly $2 billion industry.

LASIK Eye Surgery

Developed in 1990 by Dr. Lucio Buratto of Italy and Dr. Ioannis Pallikaris of Greece, LASIK (laser in situ keratomileusis) eye surgery was performed for the first time in the U.S. in 1991. Today, LASIK is the most popular refractive laser eye surgery for vision correction with almost 4,000 LASIK procedures currently performed daily in the U.S.

LASIK is a permanent vision correction procedure that is not reversible. The LASIK technique uses an excimer laser to reshape the cornea and correct a wide range of nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

LASIK can treat both myopia and hyperopia with or without astigmatism. The FDA first approved the excimer laser for patients with mild to moderate nearsightedness in 1995, and then approved it to correct astigmatism in 1997. In 1999, the FDA approved myopic LASIK (with or without astigmatism). In the U.S., the FDA regulates the sale of lasers used for LASIK.

Cardiac Care

The internal, or implanted, pacemaker was first used in 1960, but over the past 30 years, has undergone advancements to enhance control of the pacemaker after it is implanted. These improvements are due to the use of microprocessors to control the pacemaker. When first invented, pacemakers controlled only the rate at which the heart's two largest chambers, the ventricles, beat. Rate responsive pacing allows the device to sense the physical activity of the patient and respond appropriately by increasing or decreasing the base pacing rate.

ICDs (implantable cardioverter-defibrillators) that resemble pacemakers have been used recently to treat patients who are at risk for sudden cardiac death. The ICD monitors heart rhythm and delivers a shock if dangerous rhythms are detected.

In 1993, five Seattle engineers began a company to manufacture a device that would bring lifesaving change to the medical industry. They made a small, inexpensive defibrillator that anyone could use in an emergency. The automated external defibrillator (AED) has saved thousands of lives each year by ordinary people at home, on airplanes, and in other public places.

Their company was sold to Philips Medical Systems, and their device is now called the Philips HeartStart AED. In 2004, the FDA approved the AED for sale without a prescription. The HeartStart costs less than $1,800 and there are more than 175,000 devices deployed on airplanes and in airports, workplaces, communities, and homes.