scholarly journals Impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare

Biomedicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Manjula Shantaram

Artificial intelligence (AI) is prepared to become a transformational force in healthcare. From chronic diseases and cancer to radiology and risk assessment, there are nearly endless opportunities to influence technology to install more precise, efficient, and impactful interventions at exactly the right moment in a patient’s care.AI offers a number of benefits over traditional analytics and clinical decision-making techniques.  Learning algorithms can become more specific and accurate as they interact with training data, allowing humans to gain unique insights into diagnostics, care processes, treatment variability, and patient outcomes (1).     Using computers to communicate is not a new idea by any means, but creating direct interfaces between technology and the human mind without the need for keyboards, mice, and monitors is a cutting-edge area of research that has significant applications for some patients. Neurological diseases and trauma to the nervous system can take away some patients’ abilities to speak, move, and interact meaningfully with people and their environments.  Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) backed by artificial intelligence could restore those fundamental experiences to those who feared them lost forever. Brain-computer interfaces could drastically improve quality of life for patients with ALS, strokes, or locked-in syndrome, as well as the 500,000 people worldwide who experience spinal cord injuries every year (2).   Radiological images obtained by MRI machines, CT scanners, and x-rays offer non-invasive visibility into the inner workings of the human body.  But many diagnostic processes still rely on physical tissue samples obtained through biopsies, which carry risks including the potential for infection. AI will enable the next generation of radiology tools that are accurate and detailed enough to replace the need for tissue samples in some cases, experts predict. Diagnostic imaging team with the surgeon and the pathologist can be brought together which will be a big challenge (3).   Succeeding in the pursuit may allow clinicians to develop a more accurate understanding of how tumours behave as a whole instead of basing treatment decisions on the properties of a small segment of the malignancy. Providers may also be able to better define the aggressiveness of cancers and target treatments more appropriately. Artificial intelligence is helping to enable “virtual biopsies” and advance the innovative field of radiomics, which focuses on harnessing image-based algorithms to characterize the phenotypes and genetic properties of tumours (1).   Shortages of trained healthcare providers, including ultrasound technicians and radiologists can significantly limit access to life-saving care in developing nations around the world. AI could help mitigate the impacts of this severe deficit of qualified clinical staff by taking over some of the diagnostic duties typically allocated to humans (4).   For example, AI imaging tools can screen chest x-rays for signs of tuberculosis, often achieving a level of accuracy comparable to humans.  This capability could be deployed through an app available to providers in low-resource areas, reducing the need for a trained diagnostic radiologist on site.   However, algorithm developers must be careful to account for the fact that different ethnic groups or residents of different regions may have unique physiologies and environmental factors that will influence the presentation of disease.The course of a disease and population affected by the disease may look very different in India than in the US. As these algorithms are being developed,  it is very important to make sure that the data represents a diversity of disease presentations and populations. we cannot just develop an algorithm based on a single population and expect it to work as well on others (1).   Electronic health records (EHRs) have played an instrumental role in the healthcare industry’s journey towards digitalization, but the switch has brought myriad problems associated with cognitive overload, endless documentation, and user burnout. EHR developers are now using AI to create more intuitive interfaces and automate some of the routine processes that consume so much of a user’s time. Users spend the majority of their time on three tasks: clinical documentation, order entry, and sorting through the in-basket (5).   Voice recognition and dictation are helping to improve the clinical documentation process, but natural language processing (NLP) tools might not be going far enough. Video recording a clinical encounter would be helpful while using AI and machine learning to index those videos for future information retrieval. And it would be just like in the home, where we are using Siri and Alexa.  The future will bring virtual assistants to the bedside for clinicians to use with embedded intelligence for order entry(5). AI may also help to process routine requests from the inbox, like

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Hussain Ather

AbstractAs Karl Friston explained during the International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Brain Science 2020, active inference provides a way of using abstract rule-learning and approximate Bayesian inference to show how minimizing (expected) free energy leads to active sampling of novel contingencies. Friston elaborated how there were ways of making an optimal decision using active inference that can offer perspectives to advances in artificial intelligence. These methods of optimization within the context of active inference can also be used as a framework for improving brain-computer interfaces (BCI). This way, BCIs can give rise to artificial curiosity in the way Friston had described during his session. Using Friston’s free energy principle, we can optimize the criterion a BCI uses to infer the intentions of the user from EEG observations. Under Friston’s criteria for making an optimal decision, BCIs can expand their framework of optimal decision-making using active inference.


10.2196/19878 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. e19878
Author(s):  
Ping-Yen Liu ◽  
Yi-Shan Tsai ◽  
Po-Lin Chen ◽  
Huey-Pin Tsai ◽  
Ling-Wei Hsu ◽  
...  

Background As the COVID-19 epidemic increases in severity, the burden of quarantine stations outside emergency departments (EDs) at hospitals is increasing daily. To address the high screening workload at quarantine stations, all staff members with medical licenses are required to work shifts in these stations. Therefore, it is necessary to simplify the workflow and decision-making process for physicians and surgeons from all subspecialties. Objective The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the National Cheng Kung University Hospital artificial intelligence (AI) trilogy of diversion to a smart quarantine station, AI-assisted image interpretation, and a built-in clinical decision-making algorithm improves medical care and reduces quarantine processing times. Methods This observational study on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic included 643 patients. An “AI trilogy” of diversion to a smart quarantine station, AI-assisted image interpretation, and a built-in clinical decision-making algorithm on a tablet computer was applied to shorten the quarantine survey process and reduce processing time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results The use of the AI trilogy facilitated the processing of suspected cases of COVID-19 with or without symptoms; also, travel, occupation, contact, and clustering histories were obtained with the tablet computer device. A separate AI-mode function that could quickly recognize pulmonary infiltrates on chest x-rays was merged into the smart clinical assisting system (SCAS), and this model was subsequently trained with COVID-19 pneumonia cases from the GitHub open source data set. The detection rates for posteroanterior and anteroposterior chest x-rays were 55/59 (93%) and 5/11 (45%), respectively. The SCAS algorithm was continuously adjusted based on updates to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control public safety guidelines for faster clinical decision making. Our ex vivo study demonstrated the efficiency of disinfecting the tablet computer surface by wiping it twice with 75% alcohol sanitizer. To further analyze the impact of the AI application in the quarantine station, we subdivided the station group into groups with or without AI. Compared with the conventional ED (n=281), the survey time at the quarantine station (n=1520) was significantly shortened; the median survey time at the ED was 153 minutes (95% CI 108.5-205.0), vs 35 minutes at the quarantine station (95% CI 24-56; P<.001). Furthermore, the use of the AI application in the quarantine station reduced the survey time in the quarantine station; the median survey time without AI was 101 minutes (95% CI 40-153), vs 34 minutes (95% CI 24-53) with AI in the quarantine station (P<.001). Conclusions The AI trilogy improved our medical care workflow by shortening the quarantine survey process and reducing the processing time, which is especially important during an emerging infectious disease epidemic.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping-Yen Liu ◽  
Yi-Shan Tsai ◽  
Po-Lin Chen ◽  
Huey-Pin Tsai ◽  
Ling-Wei Hsu ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND As the COVID-19 epidemic increases in severity, the burden of quarantine stations outside emergency departments (EDs) at hospitals is increasing daily. To address the high screening workload at quarantine stations, all staff members with medical licenses are required to work shifts in these stations. Therefore, it is necessary to simplify the workflow and decision-making process for physicians and surgeons from all subspecialties. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the National Cheng Kung University Hospital artificial intelligence (AI) trilogy of diversion to a smart quarantine station, AI-assisted image interpretation, and a built-in clinical decision-making algorithm improves medical care and reduces quarantine processing times. METHODS This observational study on the emerging COVID-19 pandemic included 643 patients. An “AI trilogy” of diversion to a smart quarantine station, AI-assisted image interpretation, and a built-in clinical decision-making algorithm on a tablet computer was applied to shorten the quarantine survey process and reduce processing time during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS The use of the AI trilogy facilitated the processing of suspected cases of COVID-19 with or without symptoms; also, travel, occupation, contact, and clustering histories were obtained with the tablet computer device. A separate AI-mode function that could quickly recognize pulmonary infiltrates on chest x-rays was merged into the smart clinical assisting system (SCAS), and this model was subsequently trained with COVID-19 pneumonia cases from the GitHub open source data set. The detection rates for posteroanterior and anteroposterior chest x-rays were 55/59 (93%) and 5/11 (45%), respectively. The SCAS algorithm was continuously adjusted based on updates to the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control public safety guidelines for faster clinical decision making. Our ex vivo study demonstrated the efficiency of disinfecting the tablet computer surface by wiping it twice with 75% alcohol sanitizer. To further analyze the impact of the AI application in the quarantine station, we subdivided the station group into groups with or without AI. Compared with the conventional ED (n=281), the survey time at the quarantine station (n=1520) was significantly shortened; the median survey time at the ED was 153 minutes (95% CI 108.5-205.0), vs 35 minutes at the quarantine station (95% CI 24-56; <i>P</i>&lt;.001). Furthermore, the use of the AI application in the quarantine station reduced the survey time in the quarantine station; the median survey time without AI was 101 minutes (95% CI 40-153), vs 34 minutes (95% CI 24-53) with AI in the quarantine station (<i>P</i>&lt;.001). CONCLUSIONS The AI trilogy improved our medical care workflow by shortening the quarantine survey process and reducing the processing time, which is especially important during an emerging infectious disease epidemic.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 712-712 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiayin Zhang ◽  
Ziyue Ma ◽  
Huaijin Zheng ◽  
Tongkeng Li ◽  
Kexin Chen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
S. Srilekha ◽  
B. Vanathi

This paper focuses on electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) comparison to help the rehabilitation patients. Both methods have unique techniques and placement of electrodes. Usage of signals are different in application based on the economic conditions. This study helps in choosing the signal for the betterment of analysis. Ten healthy subject datasets of EEG & FNIRS are taken and applied to plot topography separately. Accuracy, Sensitivity, peaks, integral areas, etc are compared and plotted. The main advantages of this study are to prompt their necessities in the analysis of rehabilitation devices to manage their life as a typical individual.


Author(s):  
V. A. Maksimenko ◽  
A. A. Harchenko ◽  
A. Lüttjohann

Introduction: Now the great interest in studying the brain activity based on detection of oscillatory patterns on the recorded data of electrical neuronal activity (electroencephalograms) is associated with the possibility of developing brain-computer interfaces. Braincomputer interfaces are based on the real-time detection of characteristic patterns on electroencephalograms and their transformation  into commands for controlling external devices. One of the important areas of the brain-computer interfaces application is the control of the pathological activity of the brain. This is in demand for epilepsy patients, who do not respond to drug treatment.Purpose: A technique for detecting the characteristic patterns of neural activity preceding the occurrence of epileptic seizures.Results:Using multi-channel electroencephalograms, we consider the dynamics of thalamo-cortical brain network, preceded the occurrence of an epileptic seizure. We have developed technique which allows to predict the occurrence of an epileptic seizure. The technique has been implemented in a brain-computer interface, which has been tested in-vivo on the animal model of absence epilepsy.Practical relevance:The results of our study demonstrate the possibility of epileptic seizures prediction based on multichannel electroencephalograms. The obtained results can be used in the development of neurointerfaces for the prediction and prevention of seizures of various types of epilepsy in humans. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Visco ◽  
Germano Junior Ferruzzi ◽  
Federico Nicastro ◽  
Nicola Virtuoso ◽  
Albino Carrizzo ◽  
...  

Background: In the real world, medical practice is changing hand in hand with the development of new Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and problems from different areas have been successfully solved using AI algorithms. Specifically, the use of AI techniques in setting up or building precision medicine is significant in terms of the accuracy of disease discovery and tailored treatment. Moreover, with the use of technology, clinical personnel can deliver a very much efficient healthcare service. Objective: This article reviews AI state-of-the-art in cardiovascular disease management, focusing on diagnostic and therapeutic improvements. Methods: To that end, we conducted a detailed PubMed search on AI application from distinct areas of cardiology: heart failure, arterial hypertension, atrial fibrillation, syncope and cardiovascular rehabilitation. Particularly, to assess the impact of these technologies in clinical decision-making, this research considers technical and medical aspects. Results: On one hand, some devices in heart failure, atrial fibrillation and cardiac rehabilitation represent an inexpensive, not invasive or not very invasive approach to long-term surveillance and management in these areas. On the other hand, the availability of large datasets (big data) is a useful tool to predict the development and outcome of many cardiovascular diseases. In summary, with this new guided therapy, the physician can supply prompt, individualised, and tailored treatment and the patients feel safe as they are continuously monitored, with a significant psychological effect. Conclusion: Soon, tailored patient care via telemonitoring can improve the clinical practice because AI-based systems support cardiologists in daily medical activities, improving disease detection and treatment. However, the physician-patient relationship remains a pivotal step.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avishek Choudhury

UNSTRUCTURED Objective: The potential benefits of artificial intelligence based decision support system (AI-DSS) from a theoretical perspective are well documented and perceived by researchers but there is a lack of evidence showing its influence on routine clinical practice and how its perceived by care providers. Since the effectiveness of AI systems depends on data quality, implementation, and interpretation. The purpose of this literature review is to analyze the effectiveness of AI-DSS in clinical setting and understand its influence on clinician’s decision making outcome. Materials and Methods: This review protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta- Analyses reporting guidelines. Literature will be identified using a multi-database search strategy developed in consultation with a librarian. The proposed screening process consists of a title and abstract scan, followed by a full-text review by two reviewers to determine the eligibility of articles. Studies outlining application of AI based decision support system in a clinical setting and its impact on clinician’s decision making, will be included. A tabular synthesis of the general study details will be provided, as well as a narrative synthesis of the extracted data, organised into themes. Studies solely reporting AI accuracy an but not implemented in a clinical setting to measure its influence on clinical decision making were excluded from further review. Results: We identified 8 eligible studies that implemented AI-DSS in a clinical setting to facilitate decisions concerning prostate cancer, post traumatic stress disorder, cardiac ailment, back pain, and others. Five (62.50%) out of 8 studies reported positive outcome of AI-DSS. Conclusion: The systematic review indicated that AI-enabled decision support systems, when implemented in a clinical setting and used by clinicians might not ensure enhanced decision making. However, there are very limited studies to confirm the claim that AI based decision support system can uplift clinicians decision making abilities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Wahlstrom ◽  
N. Ben Fairweather ◽  
Helen Ashman

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