López-Blanco R, Sorrentino Rodriguez A, Cubo E, Gabilondo Í, Ezpeleta D, Labrador-Espinosa MA, Sánchez-Ferro Á, Tejero C, Matarazzo M. Impact of new technologies on neurology in Spain. Review by the New Technologies Ad-Hoc Committee of the Spanish Society of Neurology.
Neurologia 2020;
38:S0213-4853(20)30429-1. [PMID:
33358062 DOI:
10.1016/j.nrl.2020.10.015]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2020] [Accepted: 10/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
New technologies (NT) are increasingly widespread in biomedicine. Using the consensus definition of NT established by the New Technologies Ad-Hoc Committee of the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), we evaluated the impact of these technologies on Spanish neurology, based on communications presented at Annual Meetings of the SEN.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
We defined the concept of NT in neurology as a novel technology or novel application of an existing technology, characterised by a certain degree of coherence persisting over time, with the potential to have an impact on the present and/or future of neurology. We conducted a descriptive study of scientific communications presented at the SEN's annual meetings from 2012 to 2018, analysing the type of NT, the field of neurology, and the geographical provenance of the studies.
RESULTS
We identified 299 communications related with NT from a total of 8,139 (3.7%), including 120 posters and 179 oral communications, ranging from 1.6% of all communications in 2012 to 6.8% in 2018. The technologies most commonly addressed were advanced neuroimaging (24.7%), biosensors (17.1%), electrophysiology and neurostimulation (14.7%), and telemedicine (13.7%). The neurological fields where NT were most widely employed were movement disorders (18.4%), cerebrovascular diseases (15.7%), and dementia (13.4%). Madrid was the region presenting the highest number of communications related to NT (32.8%), followed by Catalonia (26.8%) and Andalusia (9.0%).
CONCLUSIONS
The number of communications addressing NT follows an upward trend. The number of NT used in neurology has increased in parallel with their availability. We found scientific communications in all neurological subspecialties, with a heterogeneous geographical distribution.
Collapse