Top 10 Innovations Expected to Impact Medicine in 2022

CLEVELAND – Cleveland Clinic has unveiled its top 10 medical innovations for 2022.

The list was created by a team of clinicians and researchers who looked at medical advancements expected to transform healthcare.

“I think what the top 10 has done is really allowed us to identify some of the big COVID-related advances, which are obviously very important,” said D. Geoffrey Vince, Ph.D., as Executive Director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations. “But not ignore other advances that have also been brought forward from other fields, which are equally important but perhaps haven’t had the visibility due to the pandemic.”

Topping the list at number one is mRNA technology, which helped lay the groundwork for the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Vince said thanks to this technology, vaccines can now be created very quickly. It’s also more cost-effective, relatively simple to manufacture and has the potential to eliminate some of the most challenging diseases.

Next on the list is PSMA targeted therapy for prostate cancer. Every year, more than 200,000 American men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, making early detection and successful imaging critical.

Dr. Vince said this specific type of therapy doesn’t radiate very far, so it will kill the cancer cell but leaves the surrounding tissue unaffected.

“We can also see it using imaging techniques. There’s a technique called positron emission imaging or PET imaging, where you can actually see the radioisotope working to kill the cancer cells,” he said.

Some of the other innovations on the list include a new breakthrough treatment for postpartum depression, targeted medication for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and a novel drug for treatment of type 2 diabetes.

To see the complete list, visit our newsroom.