Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (PPPM) has emerged as the new transformative realm capable of predicting disease in advance and offering personalised rehabilitation.
This innovative approach emphasises on early prediction and prevention of diseases, personalised treatment and active patient participation, promising a shift in the healthcare paradigm.
This includes genetic testing to identify variations in your DNA linked to various diseases.
For example, C-reactive protein can indicate inflammation, a potential precursor to various health problems.
Personalised treatment: Despite preventative measures, some may develop health issues.
Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (PPPM) has emerged as the new transformative realm capable of predicting disease in advance and offering personalised rehabilitation. Dr Manish Bansal, senior director-clinical and preventive cardiology, Medanta, Gurugram, explains why healthcare is focusing on it.
Benefits of PPPM: For too long, medicine has primarily focused on reacting to illness—treating symptoms after they arise. However, a transformative era is approaching with advancements in PPPM. This innovative approach emphasises on early prediction and prevention of diseases, personalised treatment and active patient participation, promising a shift in the healthcare paradigm. In cardiology, PPPM predicts heart disease risks, prevents severe cardiac events and tailors treatments to individual needs. It also benefits other diseases, such as diabetes, cancer, and neurological disorders by applying the same principles.
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The PPPM universe: PPPM uses various techniques to predict illness. This includes genetic testing to identify variations in your DNA linked to various diseases. Then, blood tests can reveal elevated levels of specific proteins associated with increased risk for certain conditions. For example, C-reactive protein can indicate inflammation, a potential precursor to various health problems. CT scans and MRIs can detect early signs of disease development, allowing for prompt intervention. By analysing these results alongside traditional risk assessments, PPPM creates a more comprehensive picture of an individual’s overall health trajectory. The emergence of machine learning and artificial intelligence have played a huge role in this context.
Personalised treatment: Despite preventative measures, some may develop health issues. Here too, PPPM offers a paradigm shift. Treatment now includes branches like Precision Medicine where you analyse a patient’s genetic make-up and predict how they’ll respond to specific medications or treatments. This allows for tailoring therapy for optimal results and minimising adverse effects. Personalised prediction of future outcomes in a patient allows us to more precisely plan the monitoring schedule and perform interventions (percutaneous or surgical) just at the right time. Advanced techniques like laparoscopic surgery and robotic-assisted procedures offer faster recovery times and are potentially less scarring. Post-treatment, one can now opt for personalised rehabilitation and significantly improve a patient’s long-term health and quality of life.
Potential in India: A fully functional PPPM centre represents a major advancement in healthcare. In the long term, it can significantly reduce healthcare costs. Chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and respiratory disorders, are the leading causes of death worldwide, claiming millions of lives annually. In India, the situation is particularly concerning, with non-communicable diseases responsible for a staggering 66 per cent of all deaths. Given this, consider the scenario of being aware of your susceptibility to a particular illness even before the symptoms manifest.
The challenges: Advanced computer applications have the capability to assimilate a large amount of data generated through clinical examination and investigations and can identify distinct patterns that can predict future outcomes. This ability to have insights into the future course of health and illness in an individual is at the core of PPPM. While genetic testing and biomarker analysis are becoming more accessible, challenges persist. These include the high cost of advanced diagnostics and medications, the need for increased awareness among healthcare professionals and the public, and ensuring robust data security for handling sensitive genetic information.
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