By Rosie Wilson
Research conducted on behalf of Optical Express shows was Britons consider to be the most effective technological advancements in healthcare.
The survey polled 2,064 people, who represented the general public as opposed to medical professionals or experts. The respondents were asked whether they, or a member of their immediate family, had been the recipient of a medical procedure that made use of technology in the last 12 months. The data showed that this was the case for 52% of the people interviewed, who answered they had most commonly received an X-ray (48%), an ultrasound (21%), an MRI scan (18%), keyhole surgery (15%) and laser eye surgery (15%).
Participants were then asked to choose what they felt the ‘top’ technological healthcare advancements were from a list. The results were as follows:
- Bionic limbs (49%)
- Laser eye surgery (43%)
- Keyhole surgery (31%)
- 3D printed biological materials (31%)
- Heart pacemaker (21%)
- 3D/4D ultrasounds (20%)
- MRI scans (15%)
- Hearing aids (10%)
- Defibrillator (10%)
- Radio therapy (8%)
Dr. Steve Schallhorn, Chief Medical Director of Optical Express, said:
“As life-saving technological advancements within the medical industry continue to evolve, there is little doubt that each and every Briton will be the beneficiary of some of the practices mentioned in our study at some point in their future lives.”
“Regarding the less serious, but equally as life-changing options like laser eye surgery and hearing aids, it’s all too simple to forget a time when such treatments weren’t so freely available to us. Taking this into account, and looking into the possibilities of what the technology of the future could bring to the healthcare industry, who knows what could be around the corner in terms of medical breakthroughs within the next few years.”