"It's nothing. It's difficult for patients to see a doctor now. It's nothing more than the allocation of medical resources. Building more hospitals, training more doctors, or reducing the cost of drugs, medical equipment, and surgeries are just solutions to the problems that keep popping up. It’s just a problem. If we go in this direction, basically our generation will not see the hope that the problem can be completely solved, or even only partially solved.”
Zhao Sheng thought for a while and said.
This matter is actually easy to understand. Modern medicine is actually about patching up the human body and solving problems wherever they arise.
This is like a dike guard who sees a hole in the dam and water flows out, so he repairs it. As the dam ages, there will be more and more problems.
As the life span of modern people continues to extend, they pay more attention to health problems, and more and more medical services are needed. In that case, no matter how many medical resources are developed and how many doctors are trained, it will not be enough.
Just say that around the world, whether in developed or developing countries, I have never heard of any place where the number of doctors exceeds the standard and is surplus.
"Junior, I think you may have a bold idea."
Hearing this, Jin Dong couldn't help but say.
If you can't treat the symptoms, you can only treat the root cause.
"This time's tendon repair technology, I think, is an opportunity. We can use this as a breakthrough to research technology to replace human organs."
"This is also something that can be achieved after the development of stem cell technology."
Zhao Sheng said slowly.
His idea is very simple. Disease in the human body is nothing more than the aging, damage, and degeneration of various organs. The current treatment method is to use various drugs and treatments to repair the disease.
If this is the case, then why directly research technology that can easily replace human organs?
Just like cars, for a long time when cars first appeared, if the car broke down, all kinds of repairs would be done on the parts, because the parts at that time were actually very expensive, and it was impossible to afford replacement.
But when the industrial scale further expanded and auto parts were sold at bargain prices by modern large industries, the nature of car repair changed. It was no longer about repairs. Most of the things to do in car repair were actually to replace car parts.
Replace whatever is broken, it's that simple.
"Stem cell technology can indeed grow various organs from scratch, and combined with certain biomechanical technologies, it is possible to replace human organs on a large scale as you said."
Jin Dong thought for a while, nodded and said.
There are many benefits to developing this technology. The current source of donors for human organ transplants can only be humans. This has caused some problems. Many critically ill patients who need human organs have not been able to wait until they die.
"So where do you want to start?"
After a pause, Jin Dong asked again.
"Now that tendon repair technology has emerged, I want to start with the human body's movement system."
"The focus is on overcoming motor neuron regeneration technology, combined with tendon repair technology, I think that in the future we can solve the problems of the vast majority of paralyzed patients."
Zhao Sheng said.
It is of great significance to allow many patients who were originally confined to bed or wheelchairs to stand up again, and it can also be organically combined with the tendon repair technology that is currently valued by high-end medical departments.
Paralysis is no less devastating to a person than death.
"Yes, this direction is very good. It happens to be what we are good at and have the resources to conduct research."
Jin Dong nodded approvingly. Zhao Sheng had an idea, but he was not too ambitious. Instead, he combined it with the current actual situation, which was very practical.
Solving athletes' injury problems and allowing various paralyzed patients to stand up again is not only meaningful, but also a process of continuous accumulation of technology.
"There are currently very few studies in this area, and when conducting research in this area, there will be very few restrictions, which is good."
After a pause, Jin Dong thought about it carefully and then said.
“Whether it is stem cell treatment for patients with lupus nephritis or repair of tendon cells for injured athletes, fundamentally speaking, it is a type of cell regeneration technology. Therefore, from the perspective of technology accumulation, this is a grinding process. The sword never misses the woodcutter.”
Zhao Sheng said.
"If one day the technical level reaches what you said, and if something breaks, it can be replaced, then there won't actually be too many hospitals, doctors and nurses, as well as various drugs and medical equipment."
Jin Dong thought about the future again and said.
This is indeed a permanent solution, and it is also a big trend in the future.
"Then let's work hard in this direction."
Zhao Sheng smiled and said.
Compared with longevity and life extension, artificial organs with more mature technology, he felt, were more likely to be realized in the short term.
Organ transplantation is actually taking healthy organs from others and replacing the patient's organs that have lost their function in order to save the patient's life.
But the biggest obstacle to organ transplantation is the body's rejection reaction. It turns out that the human body has a peculiar instinct that is able to recognize foreign organs and produce antibodies to destroy them, causing the transplanted organs to be damaged and lose their functions. This is originally an immune response to protect the body, but it brings great difficulties to organ transplantation. In addition, allogeneic organ transplantation is also subject to limitations in supply sources and preservation, so some scientists have taken another approach and begun to develop artificial organs.
Artificial organs are artificially manufactured mechanical devices with organ functions. Installing them on the human body will not cause rejection of allogeneic transplants. And artificial organs can be produced in large quantities and easily preserved. If various organs of the human body can be developed successfully, patients can get what they need to replace the organs that have lost their function.
The most important thing about artificial organs is that they can differentiate into complex three-dimensional structures with normal functions from pluripotent stem cells in vitro.
Stem cell technology, from the perspective of the technology tree in the game, is actually the prerequisite technology for artificial organ manufacturing technology.
"So, actually the idea and direction are the most critical."
"Otherwise, even if your critical care treatment and surgical skills reach a level that no doctor in the world can reach, and you work 24 hours a day, you may not be able to develop this kind of artificial organ manufacturing technology. More patients come to help.”
Jin Dong said with a sigh.
"If you still stay in the First Affiliated Hospital, I'm afraid you will have to devote at least half or more of your energy every day to dealing with things other than medical treatment."
After a pause, Jin Dong said pointedly again.
(End of chapter)
