Driving a Better Future For Patients
Dr Harish Pillai
It’s oft-quoted among the medical fraternity, “it is quite as important for the doctor to know what kind of patient the disease has for host, as to know what sort of disease the patient has for guest”. A century and a quarter later, the statement stands validated, in the face of the current developments in personalised medicine.
Medicine today is generally based on a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Patients who suffered from a broad category of diseases were once treated with the same medication, leaving physicians to puzzle over why they worked for some people and not others.
Tailoring treatments start with highly specific diagnosis based on data integrated from various sources; adding genomics and radiomics enables a holistic understanding of the individual. These unique characteristics steer the personalization of treatment.
At the same time, molecular-level understanding of diseases with an amplified capacity of data analysis by AI-based algorithms enables a physician to deliver the best outcomes. For instance, we are now aware of more than 300 types and subtypes of cancer and cancer is not just one disease, but the result of a myriad genetic mutations.
This issue of AMJ brings you in-depth stories on personalised medicine concerning genomics, and precision-medicine in relation to radiomics. We are also publishing the full-length transcription of the AMJ Roundtable held at Aster Medcity, Kochi on antimicrobial resistance. This would offer you a multi-stakeholder perspective on antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial resistance.
And then we bring you a read on two great minds in medicine - Dr James Allison an American immunologist and Nobel laureate whose discoveries have led to new cancer treatments for the deadliest cancers; and Dr Sanduk Ruit a Nepalese eye surgeon who has devoted most of his career to restoring sight and has brought back vision to more than 120,000 people.
I am certain you will be delighted with the diverse and rich stories we have showcased in this issue of AMJ.
Happy Reading!
