Future-tech medicine in Traveller

[Prodromoi]

This comes from something I was throwing around in my mind the other day - and I'm interested in other people's opinion. (And of course there's no right or wrong in this, it's just a bit of a thought experiment.)

What can medicine/future drugs/first aid etc. do in the 'norm' of Traveller? Limitations - I'm talking about the Tech Levels found in the Third Imperium as a standard. TL12 as the norm, with a TL15 uncommon maximum. No TL20 "space magic". However from our 2025 perspective, medical know-how in five thousand year's time is going to be quite impressive!

My expectation is that the kind of technology what we might understand being used includes stem-cell stuff, and nanites. IMTU the way I see nanites working is that they don't "magically" fix things instantly: a patient would have a load of nanites programmed to specifically combat the injury injected or otherwise applied, and while hooked up to an intravenous solution which 'feeds' the nanites whatever they need, the nanites would do their repair work.

I'm thinking about fixing trauma, rather than prevention. Let's take John Q Traveller, a typical player character. John breaks his arm or leg, and want to get it fixed (as anyone would). He's on a ship with a decent TL of medical aid available, or on a planet with the same. Trained medics or doctors can diagnose and administer (or auto-doc replacements thereof). So all is good for John Q Traveller.

That's the groundwork.

What does "fixing his broken arm" look like? How long does it take? I dont' see it as a "wave a techological wand" and it gets better immediately. But nor does it take the 6-8 weeks of the real (current) world. Does it need to be immobilised while the nanites (etc.) do their stuff. Are we talking hours, or days before it's back to normal?

For "fixing a broken arm", we can also consider things like "damaged-but-not-destroyed" organs as being about the same kind of thing. (Severed limbs or totally destroyed organs are the next 'level' up for these purposes.)

 

[Condottiere]

I'd study as to what's more cost effective, general practitioner, or autodoc.

At this point in time, the Imperium military probably has cutting edge medical care, which can be afforded by the aristocracy.

After that, you might need to study your health insurance policy, and if the local jurisdiction has socialized medicine.

Then, as to how tight the purse strings are.

 

[shirgall]

Fundamentally medicine is about understanding a subject's baseline, identifying deviations from that baseline, and then applying procedures to address those deviations to return to the norm.

As technology level increases, the detail to which this can be done increases. You can move on from helping someone breathe, stop bleeding, or set a broken bone to identifying and removing cell clusters that have mutated to become cancers. Deep space communities with large travel times can create local differences that means determining the baseline is harder, but new technologies can improve this discernment. New species can be added to a medic's database to allow helping other critters besides humans as well. Etc. etc.

So, think about ways these three elements can be improved and apply them to your scenario. Figuring out a bone is broken and what it should be can be quicker (and maybe no longer require an x-ray). Resetting the limb to the proper position and knitting the bone can be less painful or invasive (and maybe no longer require plates and screws) and will likely heal faster. I think you had it right that it is unsatisfying to wave a medical tricorder and it cybernetically kisses your boo-boo, but I think roleplay benefits from thinking about the three aspects and how they might be different will be satisfying to everyone at the table.

 

[actionman]

• Grav burn beds.
• Grav physical therapy to promote healing and strengthening without joint trauma.
• Replacement limbs could be easily grown from the patient's cells and grafted on to replace severed limbs.
• People probably would live long healthy lives due to perfected TL15 nutritional supplements, detox medications, food quality technology, etc.
• Small field medical devices which when placed over a cut, stab, or slash can automatically apply clotting agents, disinfect, and suture wounds. Such a device could even have exceedingly fine manipulator tendrils to perform these tasks deep inside a wound.
• A large medical device in a med bay which could 3d print missing tissues, organs, and limbs right onto the injury site (rather than building them separately then grafting them on).
• Hyperbaric oxygen chambers to promote faster healing.

Bone grafts take months to heal / fully integrate.
Organ transplants take two to six months.
If the tissue is 3d printed complete with blood vessels, nerves, everything all 3d printed then attached, it would be the speed of the body tissues growing connections to the grafted printed tissue. I guess that's what a transplant from another person is, so it would take months.

I don't think the human body's healing process can be increased beyond giving it the optimum rest, nutrients, raw materials, and oxygen for healing. That would be faster than normal, as hyperbaric oxygen treatment improves healing speed today, but human optimum time wouldn't be increased, IMO.

Hyperbaric oxygen:

"The plasma carries the pure oxygen deep into the body’s tissues, including the lymphatic system and the cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord. This results in a much higher concentration of oxygen within the body – up to 1,000 percent higher or more than is usual. In people with certain medical conditions, this delivery of highly concentrated oxygen via the plasma can be therapeutic and boost the body’s natural ability to heal."

The Healing Power of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

High levels of oxygen in the blood can have many health benefits including accelerated wound healing. Learn how hyperbaric oxygen therapy works.

www.uhhospitals.org

It's especially effective for poorly oxygenated tissues like tendons, ligaments, cartilage, deep tissue wounds and illnesses like gangrene, and for healing brain and neural tissue.

Traveller high TL trauma treatment would probably look something like this, except with way more screaming, arguing, profanity, mud, and gunsmoke.

 

[actionman]

Let's take John Q Traveller, a typical player character. John breaks his arm or leg, and want to get it fixed

"Let's take John Q Traveller, a typical player character. John breaks his arm or leg in a bar fight, and wants to get it fixed."

Fixed it for you

 

[Longboat]

CT tells us that any minor wound can be completely, 100% healed, in half an hour by a nurse or other medical professional with Medical-1 skill and a standard medkit, even if the character was knocked unconscious from the wound.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Panaceas exist as well. They are kind of anti-virals or anti-bacterials or anti-venoms(I never remember which) that basically work on everything.

 

[Condottiere]

 

[Longboat]

Panaceas exist as well. They are kind of anti-virals or anti-bacterials or anti-venoms(I never remember which) that basically work on everything.

Also known as Bacta.

 

[Condottiere]

They just invented Bacta in real life

Thanks to breakthroughs in hydrogel material science, we now have material that functions similar to Star Wars Bacta.

 

[MonsterX]

A lot of medical gear that s big now could be small at higher TLs. For example a genetic sequencer looks like this the picture below; I assume a TL 12 med kit has that capability, along with others, in a hand held device, and can do it really quickly - a quick bloodtest (for best accuracy - but any cell with DNA works), and flashing lights for a few minutes, then a beep and you're done. You'll probably want a bigger screen to analyze the data, though. Probably lots of devices, such as things with X-ray, MRI and ultrasound-like capability might also be packed into a standard med kit.

 

[Longboat]

Also like Star Wars, maybe robots take over the medical role.

Imagine a high tech battlefield with these basketball sized med-bots floating around, darting to the wounded, administering drugs and bandages and what not as soon as an person and injury are detected--or the bot is directed to a certain area.

 

[Geir]

One built-in assumption (in the Core book - p. 83 ) is that hospitals will have access to Slow drug (TL11), which makes the world look slow and heals (and technically ages) you fast: 30:1, pretty much in a drug-induced coma and external chilled and... nutriented (not a word) for the duration.

I'm fairly sure the Slow and Fast Drug names come out of Dumarest - but they're confusing as heck. Anyway, one day of hospital stay = 30 days of healing. Hmm. Wonder if it can be used for weight loss? - Just run that metabolism a little hot and cut back on the juice?

 

[Condottiere]

Would that be thirty days of muscle deterioration, as well?

 

[actionman]

I'm fairly sure the Slow and Fast Drug names come out of Dumarest

You're correct Sir, as do low berths, air rafts, and the general small ship, small group of crew and passengers dynamic. It's so 60's, got a problem, do a drug. I'm sure it could be used for weight loss. Do some Slow and an appetite suppressant and there you go. Look up Human Chorionic Gonadotropin.

 

[rinku]

We literally have the drugs now. I'm fairly sure body shape would be a menu choice within a few TLs.

 

[MonsterX]

Would that be thirty days of muscle deterioration, as well?

weight lost is directly associated with muscle loss: this is the central dilemma for bodybuilders who have to somehow manage to lose weight while keeping muscle. Also an issue for any sport with weight classes.

But this actually should raise issues for slow drug users that are healing damage as well. Any hospital stay will reduce your fitness, but I assume slow drug users have induced unconsciousness, maybe inside some sort of tank on par with being in a low berth but in reverse (limiting the number of people that can be healed at once), since a super high metabolism in a hospital bed will raise issues. I imagine the doctor will want to limit the number of days on slow drug, since 1) there is accelerated aging 2) patients need movement to mitigate muscle loss.

It would make sense to drop physical stats by a point or two each after two weeks of immobility, the same again for a month, but let them get it back through exercise, and get it back faster from physicial therapy.

 

[Condottiere]

Muscles are denser, and heavier, than fat.

And, of course, lack of gravity and bone loss.

 

[MasterGwydion]

I am guessing that nanotech would completely overcome the issues with muscle deterioration and bone loss. At least the way nanotech is described in the Robot Handbook. If it can restore stats, it should be able to prevent loss due to inactivity.

 

[actionman]

I am guessing that nanotech would completely overcome the issues with muscle deterioration and bone loss. At least the way nanotech is described in the Robot Handbook. If it can restore stats, it should be able to prevent loss due to inactivity.

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