Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare ..... Part 02

Applications of AI in Healthcare in near future.

The Healthcare industry is ripe for some major changes.  From chronic diseases and cancer to radiology and risk assessment, there are nearly endless opportunities to leverage technology to deploy more precise, efficient, and impactful interventions at exactly the right moment in a patient’s care. When it comes to our health, especially in matters of life and death, the promise of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve outcomes is very intriguing. 

While there is still much to overcome to achieve, AI-dependent health care, most notably data privacy concerns and fears of mismanaged care due to machine error and lack of human oversight, there is sufficient potential that governments, tech companies, and healthcare providers are willing to invest and test out AI-powered tools and solutions. Such tools and solutions are explained below:

• AI-Assisted Robotic Surgery:

Da Vinci Surgical Robot.

Robot-assisted surgery is considered "minimally invasive" so patients won't need to heal from large incisions. Via artificial intelligence, robots can use data from past operations to inform new surgical techniques. The positive results are indeed promising. One study that involved 379 orthopedic patients found that AI-assisted robotic procedure resulted in five times fewer complications compared to surgeons operating alone. A robot was used on an eye surgery for the first time, and the most advanced surgical robot, the Da Vinci allows doctors to perform complex procedures with greater control than conventional approaches. Heart surgeons are assisted Heartlander, a miniature robot, that enters a small incision on the chest to perform mapping and therapy over the surface of the heart.

• Virtual Nursing Assistants:

AI-Powered Virtual Health Assistance.

From interacting with patients to directing patients to the most effective care setting, virtual nursing assistants could save the healthcare industry a certain amount of billions annually. Since virtual nurses are available 24/7, they can answer questions, monitor patients and provide quick answers. Most applications of virtual nursing assistants today allow for more regular communication between patients and care providers between office visits to prevent hospital readmission or unnecessary hospital visits. Care Angel's virtual nurse assistant can even provide wellness checks through voice and AI.

• Aid Clinical Judgment or Diagnosis:

Admittedly, using AI to diagnose patients is undoubtedly in its infancy, but there have been some exciting use cases. A Stanford University study tested an AI algorithm to detect skin cancers against dermatologists, and it performed at the level of the humans. A Danish AI software company tested its deep-learning program by having a computer eavesdrop while human dispatchers took emergency calls. The algorithm analyzed what a person says, the tone of voice and background noise and detected cardiac arrests with a 93% success rate compared to 73% for humans. Baidu Research recently announced that the results of early tests on its deep learning algorithm indicate that it can outperform humans when identifying breast cancer metastasis. Prime minister Theresa May announced an AI revolution would help the National Health Service (NHS), the UK's healthcare system, predict those in an early stage of cancer to ultimately prevent thousands of cancer-related deaths by 2033. The algorithms will examine medical records, habits and genetic information pooled from health charities, the NHS and AI.

• Workflow and Administrative Tasks:

Another way AI can impact healthcare is to automate administrative tasks. It is expected that this could result in $18 billion in savings for the healthcare industry as machines can help doctors, nurses and other providers save time on tasks. Technology such as voice-to-text transcriptions could help order tests, prescribe medications and write chart notes. One example of using AI to support admin tasks is a partnership between the Cleveland Clinic and IBM that uses IBM’s Watson to mine big data and help physicians provide a personalized and more efficient treatment experience. One way Watson supports physicians is being able to analyze thousands of medical papers using natural language processing to inform treatment plans.

• Managing Medical Records and Other Data:

Since the first step in health care is compiling and analyzing information (like medical records and other past history), data management is the most widely used application of artificial intelligence and digital automation. Robots collect, store, re-format, and trace data to provide faster, more consistent access.

• Doing Repetitive Jobs:

Analyzing tests, X-Rays, CT scans, data entry, and other mundane tasks can all be done faster and more accurately by robots. Cardiology and radiology are two disciplines where the amount of data to analyze can be overwhelming and time consuming. Cardiologists and radiologists in the future should only look at the most complicated cases where human supervision is useful.

• Treatment Design:

Artificial intelligence systems have been created to analyze data notes and reports from a patient’s file, external research, and clinical expertise to help select the correct, individually customized treatment path.

• Digital Consultation:

Apps like Babylon in the UK use AI to give medical consultation based on personal medical history and common medical knowledge. Users report their symptoms into the app, which uses speech recognition to compare against a database of illnesses. Babylon then offers a recommended action, taking into account the user’s medical history.

• Drug Creation:

Developing pharmaceuticals through clinical trials can take more than a decade and cost billions of dollars. Making this process faster and cheaper could change the world. Amidst the recent Ebola virus scare, a program powered by AI was used to scan existing medicines that could be redesigned to fight the disease.

The program found two medications that may reduce Ebola infectivity in one day, when analysis of this type generally takes months or years; a difference that could mean saving thousands of lives.

• Precision Medicine:

Genetics and genomics look for mutations and links to disease from the information in DNA. With the help of AI, body scans can spot cancer and vascular diseases early and predict the health issues people might face based on their genetics.

Reference:

• www.forbes.com. 2018. No page title. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/07/27/how-is-ai-used-in-healthcare-5-powerful-real-world-examples-that-show-the-latest-advances/#52ae0d145dfb. [Accessed 04 October 2018].

• HealthITAnalytics. 2018. Top 12 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Healthcare. [ONLINE] Available at: https://healthitanalytics.com/news/top-12-ways-artificial-intelligence-will-impact-healthcare. [Accessed 04 October 2018].

• https://novatiosolutions.com/10-common-applications-artificial-intelligence-healthcare/

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