Medical Advances

To fully appreciate the importance of animal-based biomedical research, we must realize the impact it has had - and continues to have - on medical science and health care.

If you or a loved one have ever been seriously ill, and recovered, consider this: the treatment, technology or medication probably would not have existed without biomedical research. Even the "little things" we take for granted which keep us healthy, such as regular vaccines for children, were for the most part carefully developed using biomedical research.

In Canada, our surgeons are among the best in the world. Most of the tools and techniques they use have been developed through careful biomedical research.

Just a few decades ago, it was nearly impossible to imagine the amazing medical advances that would be made in the 1980's and 1990's. Among those many advances, few seem more miraculous than the transplantation of human organs. Recognition of these achievements in transplantation came in 1990, with the award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine to two pioneers of transplant research, one of them a Boston surgeon, Dr. Joseph Murray.

The era of transplant surgery began in the 1950's. Today, it is possible to replace the inner ear, the cornea, glands, blood vessels, muscles, nerves, bone marrow, blood, liver, kidney, lungs and heart, among other organs. Lens implant, for example, can provide sight to those whose vision is impaired through cataracts, and artificial joints can be constructed to repair the hips or other joints of people and animals who are aging or have had accidents.

Worldwide Organ Transplant Statistics (1998):

• 576 kidney centres have done 411,071 transplants
• 202 liver centres have done 55,421
• 236 heart centres have done 44,550
• 275 bone marrow centres have done 76,927
• 145 lung centres have done 6,726

Organ transplantation is just one example of the medical miracles which have lengthened and enriched the lives of many people around the world.

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These inventions could not have taken place without biomedical research:

Angiogram Artificial Heart Artificial Hips and Joints Artificial Limbs Blood Pressure Measure Cardiac Catheter Cardiac Pacemaker CT Scan Electrocardiograph (ECG) Electroencephalograph (EEG)

Electron Microscope Iron Lung Kidney Dialysis Machine Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Monoclonal Antibodies Pump-Oxygenator Radiation Therapy Surgical Dressings Ultrasound X-Rays

Knowledge, Advances and Treatments Made Possible by Biomedical Research Using Animals

AIDS research Allergy treatments Allergy research & treatment Alzheimer's disease Anemia treatment Anaesthesia Anti-convulsants for epilepsy Antibiotics Arthritis research Artificial insemination Artificial joint replacements Artificial limb development Birth defects research & treatment Blood transfusions Burn treatment Cancer research CAT scans Chemotherapy Cystic fibrosis research Dental care Development of vaccines for polio, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough Development of lifesaving drugs and hormones (antibiotics, insulin, thyroid) Diabetes research & treatment

Emphysema research & treatment Glaucoma research Hearing aids Chemotherapy drugs Heart disease research Coronary bypass surgery Stroke treatment Heart surgery High blood pressure drugs Hip and artificial joint replacements Bone grafts & implants Infant care Kidney transplants Kidney disease treatment Laser surgery Multiple sclerosis research Muscular dystrophy research Neonatal care Nutritional treatment for pellagra and other deficiency diseases Organ transplants Orthopedic surgery Pacemakers Skin grafts for wounds Tooth & gum disease research Treatment of fractures Ultrasound

Also: Be sure to click through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's excellent library of information on "Medical Innovations" which were made possible through animal-based research.