Nanotechnology in healthcare: The Future or the Threat?

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE: THE FUTURE OR THE THREAT?
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Nanotechnology in Healthcare
Technology has revolutionized healthcare in the last few decades. One of the newest technologies in this area is nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves manipulating materials’ chemical and physical properties at the molecular and or subatomic level. Exploiting these properties has shown promising results in revolutionizing medicine. Though the technology is in its infancy stages, it is likely to change how we detect, diagnose and treat diseases. Many previously untreatable diseases have become treatable, and more effective ways of diagnosing and treating diseases are increasingly becoming standard. It has been touted to address the shortcomings of traditional treatment processes from diagnosis to treatmentCITATION Zdr15 \p 1 \l 1033 (Zdrojewicz, et al., 2015, p. 1). Scientists have been working to push the envelope in nanotechnology, and it is one of the most patented technologies in the last decade. Research and development in this area have led to promising developments in detecting, imaging, and locating ill tissues and organs, which has helped the diagnosis process. The technology has also helped develop new drugs, materials, and tools to deliver drugs and treat ill tissue and organs. This article explains how nanotechnology has changed the healthcare industry and some of the challenges the technology faces.
Nanotechnology has shown huge potential to offset the shortcomings of delivering drugs to the target areas. For each dosage, the drug circulates in the body, looking for the target area, which increases the dose needed and may affect other tissues and organsCITATION Pro17 \p 6 \l 1033 (Kim, 2017, p. 6). Nanotechnology has shown potential in targeting specific areas in the body with greater precision, and hence smaller dosage is required. The drugs can also be formulated to permeate the cell membrane faster and more effectively. Nanotechnology has led to the invention of nano-vehicles such as liposomes to deliver a drug payload to the intended targetCITATION Pri10 \p 15 \l 1033 (Shetty, 2010, p. 15). It is easier, more effective, and avoids the dangers of using the body’s circulatory system to target a specific tissue or organ. Traditional drug delivery systems depend on the body’s circulatory system (the blood circulatory system) to deliver drug payload into particular tissue or organ. For example, a drug meant for a brain tumor had to be introduced in the blood and carried all over the body. Pharmaceutical companies had to be careful in balancing the plasma concentration of many drugs to avoid them destroying other tissues. Nanotechnology addresses this problem by ensuring that a drug payload is delivered to the intended organ or tissue without affecting other organs.
Nanotechnology has also been instrumental in addressing the shortcomings of vaccine administration. Vaccines typically require very low temperatures and require a trained health professional to administer. These two challenges adversely affect the remote communities that need them more. Nanotechnology has shown promising results on tests on Chikungunya and West Nile Virus, where it is delivered using a nano-engineered skin patch to give the vaccineCITATION Pri10 \p 29 \l 1033 (Shetty, 2010, p. 29). Nanoscaled vehicles provide the drug through the skin, solving the need for trained health professionals and refrigeration.
One of the most important steps in treatment is proper diagnosis. Several technologies have been developed to address this issue in the last few decades; they are only effective when the disease or condition has advanced. Nanotechnology has shown promising results in early diagnosis through specifically developed technologies to image and locate ailing and or sick organs and tissues. One of the technologies developed in this area is quantum dots. Nanosized semiconductors are used as biosensors to find diseasesCITATION Pri10 \p 11 \l 1033 (Shetty, 2010, p. 11). They fluoresce when they reach the target diseased cells. These nanocrystals are more effective than traditional organized dyes as quantum dots can produce a wider range of light frequencies, programmed to give more information. This makes imaging and locating diseased cells easier and can help provide more information. Nanotechnology has also been applied in detecting cancer and determining its stage and hence the patient’s prognosis. Scientists can see two cancerous cells in a microliter of a biosample; therefore, it can help early detectionCITATION Lee09 \p 1 \l 1033 (Lee, et al., 2009, p. 1). Additionally, the sentinel lymph nodes through which cancer propagates can be imaged using a multimodal lymphatic imaging system based on nanotechnology, which provides a complementary means to understand the kinetics of lymphoid tissues and quantify their functionCITATION QiS22 \p 1 \l 1033 (Qi, et al., 2022, p. 1). Nanoparticles help health professionals get sharper images and better resolution, allowing them to draw more information on the condition of the disease patient and the body tissue or organCITATION MAh13 \p 8 \l 1033 (Ahmed & Douek, 2013, p. 8). Better images lead to better diagnosis and inform the decision to choose more effective interventions.
Scientists have continued to experiment with other types of treatment, especially on cancer and tumors. One of the promising technologies in this area is magnetic hyperthermia. Magnetic nanoparticles are put into the tumor and or cancerous cells, and external electromagnetic energy generates heat. Since they are in the external source’s magnetic field, the nanosized magnets produce heat due to hysteresis caused by an alternating magnetic field. The temperature rise destroys the cancerous cells. The process also enhances tumor oxygenation and chemosensitivity hence helping to shrink the tumor. This technology has been successful in tests, and it has shown promising results in treating cancer and tumors. Additionally, scientists have also been able to kill cancerous cells by inserting carbon nanotubes and exposing the tissue to near-infrared laser light to heat the nanotubes. The procedure kills the cancer cells and leaves the healthy ones intact CITATION Kam09 \p 1 \l 1033 (Kam, et al., 2009, p. 1). Nanotechnology is not only applicable in the afore-described areas. Nanotechnology in medicine spans many other fields, including DNA, RNA sequencing, and other experimental diagnosis and treatment technologies still under development. As the technology matures and becomes more mainstream, it will create a new standard to address the healthcare challenges that have remained elusive in the history of mankind.
One of the major concerns regarding nanotechnology is nanotoxicity or the impact of nanotechnology on people. First of all, it is crucial to mention that there is not much known about nanotechnology, and even though research in the area is at advanced levels, there is a lot of work that is yet to be done. Little is known about nanotechnology's impact on people, but there is speculation that nanoparticles pose a high toxicity risk to humans. Sahu and Hayes (2017, p. 9) ...