The Medical Futurist | May 28, 2019
Remember Monty Python’s brilliant Life of Brian movie scene where the Palestinian insurgent commando, planning the abduction of Pilate’s wife in return for all the horrors they had to endure from the Roman Empire, asks the rhetorical question: what have the Romans ever done for us? With the hype and overmarketing, not to speak about the fears around A.I, we asked the same question. What has A.I. in medicine ever done for us? Well, we found at least 45 things.
I have 45 responses to the pressing question on everyone’s mind who is interested in healthcare but tired of the hype or the doomsday scenarios around A.I.: what has this technology ever done for us?
Look at how smart algorithms transform the diagnostic process!
A.I. can support the early detection of atrial fibrillation.
A.I. helps with the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD.
Coupled with a wristband, A.I. predicts epileptic seizures in children.
A.I. built into an app helps diagnose autism in kids.
A.I. powers a tool for recognizing sleep disorders.
A.I. tracks insulin doses, quantifies blood glucose levels, and automatically sends the data to the paired app.
A.I. assists healthcare professionals in the management of Type 1 diabetes.
A.I. detects and quantifies coronary artery calcification.
A.I. vision screening system tracks eye movements for identifying visual tracking impairment.
A.I. powers symptom-checker chatbots, such as Symptomate, Ada Health, or Your.MD.
A.I. as a virtual medical assistant called Molly can gather data about the patient and recommend a diagnosis.
A.I. as a medical consultant can offer simple medical advice based on personal medical history and common medical knowledge.
A.I. acts as a tool for memory problem assessment for the elderly.
Look at how artificial intelligence revolutionizes medical imaging!
An A.I. system can evaluate thyroid nodules and categorize nodule characteristics.
A.I. detects stroke on CT scans and helps clinicians win the race against time.
A.I. is able to spot cancerous lesions in liver and lungs on CT and MR images.
A.I. autonomously detects diabetic retinopathy using retinal images.
A.I. helps neurologists interpret brain MR images.
A.I. as a robotics-based ultrasound guidance system observes blood flow to the brain.
A.I. is able to flag brain bleeding in head CT images.
A.I. together with expert cardiologists classifies echocardiograms better than only humans would.
A robust A.I. system trained on more than 1.28 million images diagnoses skin cancer.
A.I. automatically classifies breast density and detects breast cancer as accurately as human radiologists.
A.I. helps pathologists identify metastatic breast cancer.
A.I. assists with cancer diagnoses by analyzing digitized histology slides.
A.I. can aid healthcare providers in identifying wrist fractures with similar accuracy as human radiologists.
Look at how smart algorithms influence treatment and bring in prediction!
A.I. identifies unique genetic changes in tumors leading to more precise cancer treatment.
A.I. predicts heart attacks or strokes more accurately than the standard method by scanning routine patient data.
A.I. listens in on emergency calls and analyzes conversations in real time to helps dispatchers diagnose illnesses and provides prompts for effective action.
A.I. constantly analyzes patients’ state and calibrates their treatment in the ICU.
A.I. helps patients fighting opioid use disorder stay in recovery programs.
A.I. uses hospital admissions data, including age, gender, zip code, medication, and diagnostic history, to predict the likelihood of any given individual taking their own life.
A.I. creates digital twins of the human heart.
A.I. helps predict cardiovascular risk factors from retinal images.
A.I. can provide oncologists evidence-based cancer treatment options.
A.I. gives information about drugs during breastfeeding to medical professionals.
A.I. starts to design patients’ physical characteristics based on their DNA.
A.I. helps identify drugs and therapies from a database of molecular structures.
Look at how artificial intelligence takes down the administration and makes the entire healthcare system better!
Coupled with Google Glass, A.I. can cut down on administration and make healthcare more patient-centric.
A.I. as a voice assistant has the potential to free up the time of doctors spent on administration.
A.I. as a cognitive assistant helps medical professionals strengthen their analytical and reasoning capabilities.
A.I. can mine the data of medical records to provide better and faster health services.
With the help of a smartphone’s webcam, A.I. can help confirm that patients are adhering to their prescriptions.
A.I. analyzes the invoices of medical facilities telling if a doctor, clinic or hospital makes mistakes repetitively to improve the process and avoid unnecessary hospitalization.
A.I. starts to equalize healthcare in China.
This is just the beginning. The number of smart algorithms will exponentially increase in the coming years and in spite of the over marketing and hype around artificial intelligence, the area will revolutionize healthcare.