Although you may not have heard of it, nanotechnology is set to revolutionize the entire field of medicine. Nanotechnology is based on the must cutting edge research and technology. Scientists are working to create machines that function on the atomic level. Scientists are using this technology to create everything from super strong building materials to the most complex computer chips. However, naonmedicne as a branch of nanotechnology has perhaps the farthest reaching implications.

The most basic and immediate advances possible in nanomedicine are in imagining and drug delivery. Traditional imagining is often done with a lightly radioactive isotope which the patient drinks and then it circulates through the body. It causes the targeted organ to light up when placed in the various imagining machines. However, a large concentration must be used to insure that the targeted area lights up and so much is wasted through other parts of the body. Pharmaceuticals function in a similar way. The medicine hits the targeted part of the body, but much is wasted throughout the rest of the body.

Nanotechnology can assist this. Imagining agents and pharmaceuticals can include nanomachines which are programmed to guide the substance to the appropriate part of the body. This targeted deployment not only reduces the amount of the substance necessary to achieve either imagining or an active dose, but also insures it doesn’t spread to other parts of the body which may complicate other conditions. These advances are just around the corner and could increase effectiveness and reduce costs of treatments.

However, the most startling advances of nanomedicine lie in the future. Through nanomachines, health experts will be able to target cancer and remove it with programmed machines. Scientists have already run experiments with using nanomachines to rebind two pieces of meat with a laser. This could entail the end of stitches and sutures because wounds could be instantly closed through nanomachines. Finally, they’re even working on nanomachines which rebuild cells which could directly target diseased cells and chemical or enzyme deficiencies.

Blood transfusions raise numerous difficulties. The most obvious one entails finding a match. Antigens which determine blood type can cause life threatening reactions among patients. Moreover,determining blood type can cost precious time in trauma cases. In addition, other undetectable diseases may contaminate blood which might contribute to further complications. Blood has a relative short life span and can spoil quickly. All of these problems have lead to research into various synthetic blood technologies. These are currently undergoing clinical trials, but maybe be available to hospitals relatively soon.

Volume expanders don’t carry out any of the key functions of human blood, but they can help with stabilization of trauma patients. The loss of pressure remains one of the most dangerous aspects of blood loss. Blood is highly oxygenated and so even a reduced amount can continue to sustain the human body in an inactive state. However, a loss of pressure reduces the ability of the heart to pump oxygenated blood around the body. Synthetic volume expanders don’t run the danger of immunologic reactions because it contains no antigens. One can maintain blood pressure through the crisis before switching to a traditional blood transfusion.

Synthetic platelets provide the next exciting field of research. Platelets help the body stop bleeding by attaching themselves around the wound until it’s closed over. Synthetic platelets can be added to an intravenous solution to help increase clotting. In addition, it has longer shelf life than traditional blood and can be stored as a powder. This increased clotting power can make all the difference from the trauma ward and operating room. Synthetic clotting agents are right around the corner, but more complex forms of synthetic blood are still off in the distance.

One of the greatest difficulties in replicating human blood lies in oxygen transportation because most materials which hold oxygen well don’t give it up well. However, there has been some success with Hemoglobin based treatments, but they’re still in clinical trials with many of the most advanced treatments being canceled to do problems with toxicity. Nevertheless, cheap synthetic blood stands as a possibility within our lifetime.