Medicine 2022 AD

Abstract

EditorialMedicine 2022 AD K. Alvin MerendinoMD, PhD, FACS K. Alvin Merendino Director, Cancer Therapy Institute and Associate Medical Director Search for more papers by this author Published Online:1 Apr 1982https://doi.org/10.5144/0256-4947.1982.75SectionsPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload citationTrack citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail AboutIntroductionA recent Grand Rounds at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre consisted primarily of a review of results of surgery by both closed and open methods on patients with cardiac conditions. The results were excellent and the mortality rate compared favorably with the results of the best centers in the world. This was not unanticipated in view of the efforts of the Baylor Heart Team and the excellent support facilities and personnel of this institution.Having had some experience in this area, I was asked to comment. Actually, there was little to add to the fine presentation of Dr Kenneth Mattox and I elected to draw attention not only to cardiac surgery but also to the surgical progress that I have been privileged to observe during my surgical career.Each of the major accomplishments has gradually emerged so that one is not overly impressed until the sum total is viewed retrospectively in what is a relatively short time frame.Today we accept open-heart surgery as a part of the daily activities of most major hospital facilities. When I began my surgical residency some 40 years ago, it would have been impossible to foresee the progress which was to ensue. Who could have predicted that we would be operating within the heart, using artificial heart valves, prosthetic major vessels, doing kidney transplants, heart transplants, heart and lung transplants, implanting prosthetic hips and other joints, operating through an arthroscope and flexible endoscopes, using the microscope for eye surgery, stapes implants, surgery for AV brain malformations, reimplantation of accidentally amputed extremities, free transplant of full thickness soft tissue grafts, the list seems endless.Of course, the other disciplines in medicine have made similar quantum leaps. Surgical feats tend to catch the public eye but it is likely that the accomplishments in other medical disciplines will have a greater overall eventual impact on health care, e.g., antibiotics, blood banking techniques, frozen red cells, renal dialysis, computerized axial tomography, positron camera, ultrasound, the elucidation of DNA, genetic engineering, the electron microscope, the automated laboratory, test tube babies, intrauterine fetal surgery, and so on.As one looks at the other sciences, it becomes obvious that little has remained static. In this same period came jet engines, the 747 aircraft, television, computers, the atom bomb, flights into outer space, a moon landing, the space shuttle, in short the miniaturization of the world and the cosmos. Obviously, no listing is meant to be all inclusive. The purpose is merely to profile the magnitude of some of the contributions to our understanding of the world, the universe, ourselves, and the quality of life which is possible.These unbelievable advances become more explicable when one realizes that 95 percent of the scientists who have ever lived are alive today. There are over one million scientific publications printed yearly. A new scientific journal has appeared monthly since 1960. The library stacks at Yale University Library now are approximately seven miles long. These observations reveal a scientific information explosion of unprecedented magnitude. Much of science has relevance to medicine.Who amongst you is willing to predict what medicine and surgery will be 40 years from today? All past, self-proclaimed prophets have badly missed the mark. Their prophecies consistently have grossly underestimated the creativity, the intellectual capacity, the energy, and productivity of man in his search for truth.Certainly, I would not attempt to assume the role of a prophet. However, there is one aspect of future development that is becoming abundantly clear. Greater attention to moral and ethical issues, religious beliefs and legal opinions will be the order of the day. Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 2, Issue 2April 1982 Metrics History Published online1 April 1982 InformationCopyright © 1982, Annals of Saudi MedicinePDF download