ABSTRACT
Chapter 11 summarizes the final vision of the authors regarding the outlook of nanotechnology as tomorrow’s health care treatments. Nano-medicine, a scientific branch of nanotechnology, which operates at the same scale as biology, exploits the possibility of healing from inside the body by the manipulation of matter at cellular or molecular levels. Thus, it has all the potential to become a disruptive and revolutionary technology in terms of its healthcare application. It holds the promise to develop the next generation of orthopedic implants, providing structured scaffolds to support cell proliferation and efficient regeneration systems. Nanometer-scale devices could soon swim in bodily fluids and live under the skin or even perform robotic surgery in the digestive system. Artificial organs and biomolecular motors are closer than we think. These technologies could revolutionize the prevention, treatment and interventions of disorder conditions. Eventually, they would eradicate current deadly diseases. In this book, we do not just want to list examples of nanotechnology applied to medicine, our objective is to give a deeper vision to demonstrate the importance of technology and the great advantage it would bring to human health. Our commitment is to open the vision of health care professionals that eventually will be the end users of this knowledge, including ethical concerns that need to be sorted out before the use of nanomedicine spreads wide in healthcare.
