Iridium Helps To Save Lives

For the past several centuries, enormous advances have been made in medical sciences that have contributed to the extension of the average life span from the middle 30s up into the 70s. This has, in effect, more than doubled the time available to most people for living. Many factors have gone into this, including the development of antibiotics, x-ray and other scanning technology, and advanced surgical techniques.

When it is necessary for anyone to undergo surgery, not only is the patient depending on the skill and knowledge of the surgeon, but also on the quality of the instruments that he or she will be using. One of the most important surgical instruments is the scalpel, and in order to be certain that it is sharp through every step of the surgery, scalpels are coated with an alloy of platinum and iridium. Both metals are almost completely inert, and little likely to cause any reaction with the patient's tissues.

Heart disease is one of the biggest killers worldwide, but one of the ways to prevent premature death from a heart condition is by the use of an electronic pacemaker. Heart attacks can occur because the heart beats irregularly or too slowly. The pacemaker is designed to stimulate the heart to have a normal beat through electric impulses. The device consists of the pacemaker body, which contains the batteries and controls, and one or more electrodes. The electrode(s) are where iridium enters the picture. These are placed within the heart to deliver the appropriate electronic signal, and it is the electrode(s) that make use of iridium. Actually a combination of iridium and platinum, the electrode must be unaffected by any bodily fluids and must have great durability, qualities exemplified by iridium. It is interesting to note that the first man to receive a pacemaker, when he was 43, was able to live to the ripe old age of 86 as a result of the series of pacemakers he used.

Some patients have complained that the treatments given for cancer, chemotherapy and radiation therapy are just as bad as the disease itself. In the quest to not only improve patient comfort and deliver radiation more effectively, brachytherapy has been introduced for various forms of cancer. It involves implanting 'seeds' in or next to the affected area, rather than exposing the entire body to bombardment by radiation. One of the most important elements in the 'seed' is iridium-192, a radioactive isotope of iridium. Brachytherapy has been found to be effective in treating prostate, breast, cervical, and skin cancers, and is also used to treat tumors found in other parts of the body as well. Not only is the patient spared the worst of conventional radiation therapy, but the time involved in the treatment is shorter.

Parkinson's disease is a neural condition that strikes mostly older individuals and causes shaking, difficulty walking, and mental impairment in its later stages, hardly a way to spend one's golden years. Fortunately, it has been found that implants made from platinum and iridium will release electrical signals that stimulate the desired area of the brain and help to reduce or eliminate the rigid posture and shaking almost at once. This is especially useful for those patients who have been unable to respond to conventional drug therapy.