By Susan Schaul
With so many dynamic medical institutions in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland is positioning itself as a medical innovation hub to spur business growth.
Researchers, medical staff, and academicians are collectively pursuing significant lines of inquiry and new discoveries. Entrepreneurs, engineers, and designers are creating new medical devices. The Cleveland Medical Mart will showcase many of these new medical products and procedures when it opens next year.
Cleveland Clinic joins this driving force by hosting the 10th annual Medical Innovations Summit, “Innovative to the Bone,” October Mon 10/29 – Wed 10/31 at the InterContinental Hotel and Bank of America Conference Center.
Each year, the Summit highlights different specialty areas, this year – orthopaedics. Eleven hundred medical professionals, entrepreneurs, device makers, pharmaceutical industry executives, and venture capitalists from around the world are coming together to learn about the latest bone-related developments in joint replacement surgery, concussive head injuries and sports injuries.
“From the CCF Innovations Center, 53 spin-off companies have launched, and $643 million in investment capital has been raised in support of new innovations,” said Chris Coburn, Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations.
Close to 1,000 jobs have been created and most of these new companies are conducting business in the Cleveland area. “With the baby boomer generation coming of age, the bull market approach says they are in need of orthopaedic care. But considering the other side, the bear market, the health care market is experiencing a contraction of resources. The Summit will gather the high level, decision makers all in one place to discuss the need to re-direct spending strategies,” he explained. “Over the past ten years, these conferences have drawn pharmaceutical executives, venture capitalists, medical company management and Federal Food and Drug Commissioners to Cleveland on our own turf, and that truly matters.”
Wael Barsoum. M.D., Vice Chair, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic and one of the conference speakers, has been recognized with many innovation awards, most recently the 2011 Sones Award. He described the upcoming Summit as exciting in part due to cutting edge developments in hip and knee replacement surgery.
“There are new materials and new fixation surfaces to get the implants better fixated to the bone,” he explained. “The bone grows into these surfaces, more attracted to them, and this is good news for healing. The fixation is quicker, you don’t need as much bone, the joints are more stable and more reliable.”
The imaging modalities using computers are more advanced and exact now. They can create a patient-specific guide, a virtual implantation, to allow the physician to place the prosthesis in the patient via the computer first before surgery resulting in better and consistent outcomes.
Rick Figler, MD., Primary Care Sports Medicine Physician at Cleveland Clinic specializing in sports injuries, will be speaking at the upcoming Summit about concussions. “A concussion is an injury to the brain following a hit. There will be a constellation of symptoms, including a possible headache, blurry vision, grogginess, loss of concentration, and slow movement,” Figler explained. “Within seven to ten days, 80-90 percent of the people who sustained concussions get better. For others, the symptoms may last weeks or even months.”
Research has shown that the faster you pull the athlete out of the game, the quicker the symptoms are alleviated. The key factor is to identify whether the hit caused a head injury or a concussion. For concussions, cognitive and physical rest is recommended, not medication because that will mask the symptoms. Figler summarized with the saying, “When in doubt, sit the athlete out.” Increased awareness and education about concussions has helped the athletes recover sooner with early withdrawal from the games and accurate diagnosis.
The final panel presentation at the Summit is a real sensation; they save almost the best for last: A panel of medical experts announces the Top Ten Medical Innovations for 2013 across all medical specialties.
For more information about the upcoming 2012 Medical Innovation Summit “Innovative to the Bone,” please visit http://ClevelandClinic.org/innovations.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Susan Schaul, who says the act of writing is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. The challenge lies in getting the pieces to fit together and make sense.
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