Now that we are in a presidential election year, muchattention has been directed toward the question of how to extend healthcare tomore people. But this crucial question too easily obscures another equallyimportant question, which is how to maintain quality of care. At a time whentechnological advances in medicine and bioscience threaten to be diluted andobscured under piles of mandatory authorizations prior to their use,nevertheless, personalized healthcare remains theoretically within reach. As thetechnology develops to help us differentiate between various groups of patientsand their particular susceptibilities, the main question which remains iswhether or not we can get this technology into the heads of the right doctorsand patients.
An example of this quandary is found in the exciting newbioassays available to detect viruses. The FDA has just approved Luminex’s xTagRespiratory Virus Panel that can detect 12 different kinds of viruses. Theseviruses are responsible for more that 85% of the viral infections that humanssuffer from. These viruses include influenza as well as common cold viruses.Use of this test can help replace older techniques which rely on cell culture,and can take two to three days to provide results. In contrast, the new test uses the latest in DNA technology,analyzing genetic material in secretions at the back of the throat.
Use of this technique can lead to quicker and moreappropriate use of anti-flu drugs such as Tamiflu and Relenza. In addition,knowing that your patient actually has a virus rather than a bacterialinfection will decrease a physician’s pressure to prescribe antibiotics.Overuse of antibiotics is an unnecessary expense and may breed resistantbacteria, which is a long-term healthcare expense.
Ironically, early detection panels such as xTag may havetrouble finding common usage because of their initial expense, despite the factthat this technology actually decreases healthcare costs dramatically in thelong run.
Marc Siegel, MD, is an internist and associate professor ofmedicine at New York University and the author of False Alarm: The Truth Aboutthe Epidemic of Fear
From the February 01, 2008 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
