By Dr. Femi Ogunyemi

Pain is the commonest symptoms presenting to all doctors worldwide. It is a consistent finding in many illnesses, conditions, diseases and afflictions. While we, as Pain doctors, continue to investigate and advance new ways of treating pain, other physicians and scientists are developing new techniques of diagnosing disease itself.

Having recently attended the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians 2015 Conference in Orlando, I can assure you that there are now fresh ways of looking at , and treating pain. However this will be for a later discourse. Today’s article will highlight five technological advances in diagnostic testing.

Colonoscopy

Let’s start with that much dreaded colonoscopy we are all supposed to have every couple of years after the age of 50, or more frequently in those with a family history of bowel cancer or polyps. There is a new alternative: the PillCam COLON2: a disposable, battery-run video camera in a capsule you swallow. It travels inside you for 10 hours transmitting high-speed color pictures of its journey to a recording device, attached to a belt around your waist.

The device relays those images for the doctor to review. Great idea you may say? No sedation and its side effects or recovery time. Unfortunately, and this is why the colonoscopy is much dreaded, the cleansing bowel prepmust still be done, and any polyps seen must still be dealt with the old-fashioned way. For now, the PillCam is available only for people who can’t have a traditional colonoscopy

How about doing your ECG yourself?

There are now devices that can use your smartphone to record an accurate electrocardiogram (ECG) and send it to your doctor. You simply attach a thin device with built-in sensors onto the back of your phone and download a free app. Traditional, strap-on heart monitors have been around for decades, but, with a smartphone handy, you can whip it out at the first sign of light-headedness or heart palpitations, rest your fingers on the sensors, and record your own instant realtime ECG.

While we are talking of the heart….

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have found a correlation between people’s level of a substance called TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide) and cardiovascular trouble. People with the highest levels of TMAO – produced when you digest choline, found in eggs, red meat and dairy products – had DOUBLE the risk of death, heart attack and stroke compared to those with the lowest levels.

Coronary disease develops slowly with no symptoms until a sudden heart attack or stroke. With the new TMAO test, people can get personalized nutrition information to make heart-healthy food choices.

The Prostate

Men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a tough choice among a range of options: from surgical removal of the prostate – difficulty with urination and impotence can be side effects – to watchful waiting. The Oncotype DX prostate cancer test is making the decision easier.

By analyzing genetic information in a biopsy, the test distinguishes between slow-growing tumors that warrant regular monitoring and faster-growing tumors that demand immediate treatment. This test allows us to avoid aggressive treatment when it’s not needed and save lives when it is. This will help reduce the current over-treatment of prostatic cancer.

The blood test

Many people have heard or have been told to go for a “simple blood test”. Well, it is now. Simple. Elizabeth Holmes, a 31-year-old Stanford University dropout and self-made billionaire, vowed to revolutionize the field of blood testing – and she has changed the game. There is no more tourniquet, syringe or hunt for a vein.

With a few drops drawn from a poke in your fingertip, the formula patented by Holmes’ company, they can perform more than 200 blood tests – from standard cholesterol checks to sophisticated DNA analyses. And the result is delivered to your doctor within hours, all at a fractional cost. The company already has stores across a chain of US pharmacies. This is just a tiny part of the technological advances sweeping, silently, through the practice of medicine.