Innovation and technology are your health best allies and they show advances that aim to improve your life quality.
For instance, with a little of your saliva, you might come to know what treatment will benefit you the most, even before they are prescribed. In addition, a diabetic person could avoid an amputation, with a novel treatment.
The first of these cases is called the Pharmacogenomic Test or PGx . It analyzes your genes and helps you define the treatment and the safest doses for you.
The procedure is simple. A sample of the DNA and an attached list of current patient medications are taken. They are analyzed in the laboratory and a report is made. It will indicate the orientation levels according to the patient’s genotype for a total of 200 drugs, which are regularly used in medicine.
They also do it with oncological treatments.
Out of the 400,000 diabetic patients in Costa Rica, about 45,000 suffer from diabetic foot infection, ulceration, or tissue destruction, which increases their risk of amputation.
However, the technology also goes hand in hand with these patients. With endovascular therapy, that is to say inside the blood vessels, about 90% manage to save their limbs. This therapy is performed in several hospitals of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
The procedure starts with a puncture in the groin, where narrow and elongated tubes are inserted, reaching the obstructed area of the foot, due to lack of blood supply.
Among the main symptoms of diabetic foot, the patient will feel that he/she loses sensitivity, as well as a sensation of cold or heat in this area; he/she will also see that cuts and scratches heal more slowly.