Healthcare Technology Drives Longer, Healthier Lives
February 24, 2025
As life expectancies increase, the focus on healthcare technology becomes increasingly important. The key to longevity lies in optimizing personalization, prediction, and prevention. Innovative technology is creating the potential for longer and healthier lives, with AI-powered screening and personalized surgical planning at the forefront.
A longer lifespan requires more than just extending years; it also demands an improved quality of life. While many factors contribute to longevity and overall wellness, access to advanced healthcare plays a critical role.
To explore these factors further, Medtronic collaborated with Bert Sperling, a best-selling author and livability expert, to investigate where “supercentenarians” – people who live to 100 or more – are most likely to originate. This research identified key drivers of longevity and wellness across different U.S. cities.
“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.
This future includes algorithms designed to detect early signs of heart disease before symptoms appear, as well as real-time information systems for surgeons during operations.
Next-Level Healthcare Technology
How are these advancements improving our “healthspan”? Health technology is showing promising results. Artificial intelligence is aiding doctors in colorectal cancer screenings, potentially reducing missed polyps by up to 50%1. This system scans frames rapidly and alerts doctors to potential lesions, allowing for earlier detection of colon cancer, which is a major type of cancer worldwide. In addition, advanced computing improves surgical planning, and robotic-assisted surgery helps improve surgery precision. All of these factors can lead to fewer complications and reduced hospital stays for patients.2-4
Katra explains that the future of healthcare involves treating individuals, not just patients with similar diseases but as individuals with unique lifestyle and genetic profiles.
Unlocking a Healthier Future
“We use every tip and trick in the book to stop the aging process,” says Rachele Pojednic, PhD, a human performance researcher and Stanford University lecturer. Previously, this focus was more aesthetic, but now, the focus is on how to act younger through the use of advanced technologies. “Digital twins” are virtual copies of real-world entities. Health tech is creating these twins of human bodies, with AI and predictive modeling used to anticipate real-world health outcomes. For example, there could be a virtual replica of a person’s cardiovascular system to predict disease progression, or it can manage a complex chronic condition like diabetes. Health tech will transform our understanding of longevity, preventing conditions rather than simply treating them. This future, driven by rich data and individual patient needs, may be closer than imagined.
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.
