Advances in healthcare technology are helping people live longer — from AI-powered cancer screening to personalized surgical planning. But for many people, living longer comes with an imperative to live those “extra” years healthier, too. And while longevity itself relies on a complex mix — from social capital and wellness to educational attainment — it’s clear that access to innovative care plays a central role.
To explore these factors more closely, Medtronic partnered with Bert Sperling, best-selling author and livability expert, to investigate: Is the first person to live to 150 already among us? His research took a closer look at which U.S. cities are most likely to be the birthplace of “supercentenarians” — people who live to 100 or more years old — and uncovered additional key drivers of longevity and wellness.
Read: The connection between Medtronic technology and living better, longer
“We are looking at the future of health tech as personalization, prediction, and prevention,” said Rodolphe Katra, PhD, Global Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer at Medtronic. That future includes the possibility of algorithms to identify early signs of heart disease before patients even know they’re sick, or systems that analyze and provide real-time information to help surgeons while they operate.
Next-level healthcare technology
How can these advances improve people’s “healthspan”? Health tech is already showing the way. Artificial intelligence helps doctors see more during colorectal cancer screenings — reducing the chance of missed polyps by up to 50%1 with a system that scans every frame in milliseconds and alerts doctors to the presence of lesions. That means real progress in earlier detection of colon cancer, the third most common type worldwide.
Next-generation computing is also helping doctors predict more during surgical planning. And robotic-assisted surgery is helping them perform complex surgeries with precision. For patients, this can mean fewer complications and less time spent recovering in the hospital.2-4
In the future, healthcare is going to be focused on caring for individuals, “not as patients who have a similar disease, but as individuals with unique lifestyle and genetics,” Katra said.
Unlocking a healthier future
“We use every tip and trick in the book to stop the aging process,” said Rachele Pojednic, PhD, a human performance researcher and Stanford University lecturer. Up until recently, the focus has been aesthetic. “The new obsession is, ‘What can we do to act younger?’ “
That’s where technology such as “digital twins” can help. Digital twins are virtual copies of real-world things — cities, farm fields, even spaceships. And now, health tech is doing it with human bodies, using AI and predictive modeling to help anticipate real-world outcomes — whether that’s mapping a virtual replica of a person’s cardiovascular system to help predict disease progression or providing continuous modeling and predictive insights for managing a complex chronic condition such as diabetes.
In the future, health tech will change how we think about longevity — not just about treating conditions, but preventing them. It’s a future where decisions are informed by rich data and a patient’s individual needs. A future that may be closer than you think.
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1 Corley DA, Jenson CD, Marks AR JR, et al. Adenoma detection rate and risk of colorectal cancer and death. N Engl J Med. 2014;370:2539-2541.
2 Hussain A, Malik A, Halim MU, Ali AM. The use of robotics in surgery: a review. Int J Clin Pract. 2014;68:1376-1382.
3 Albani JM. The role of robotics in surgery: a review. Mo Med. 2007;104:166-172.
4 Hyun SJ, Kim KJ, Jahng TA, Kim HJ. Minimally invasive robotic versus open fluoroscopic-guided spinal instrumented fusions: a randomized controlled trial. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2017;42(6):353–358.
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