Artificial intelligence can transform healthcare for patients and doctors

"Radiology has been a fundamental platform of healthcare for more than a century. From basic X-rays to more sophisticated CT scans, the technology offers pictures from inside the body that can help diagnose everything from tumours to blood clots.

Timely analysis of these images is critical for early interventions and to put patients on the right treatment path for better care outcomes. But radiology faces a crisis: a global shortage of the skilled experts needed to interpret the images has increased waiting times and reduced access to necessary care. Delays in diagnosis can have life-threatening consequences. And as the population of the United States and other countries age, there are an increasing number of these images that need to be reviewed.

Physicians at Atlantic Health System in New Jersey are showing that artificial intelligence (AI) can help. Their patients are already benefitting from the speed and efficiency that machine learning techniques offer.

In 2020, Atlantic Health introduced an AI algorithm that can analyse CT scans for the signs of pulmonary embolism — a potentially life-threatening condition when blood flow is blocked to part of the lung. Humans are still very much part of the loop. AI screens positive scans to be urgently reviewed by radiologists, leading to earlier diagnosis and faster treatment for the people who most need it. In this way, the technology supports the core mission of Atlantic Health, to maximize patient safety and quality of care.

The success at using AI algorithms to find embolisms in radiology images, as well as a different condition called intracranial bleeds, helped Atlantic Health last year to win a CIO 100 award for ‘AI-assisted radiology tool powers’. These annual prizes celebrate teams at 100 organizations who use IT in innovative ways to deliver business value..." Lire la suite