Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been widely used across many industries. In healthcare, AI is able to capture and analyze large volumes of health-related data. AI can also provide various insights into patients’ illnesses and prognosis. The following are some of the applications of AI in the healthcare sector.
Cancer Detection
AI assist diagnosis by enhancing detection. Using computer vision, the system can be programmed and trained to read diagnostic images and detect anomalies such as tumors on various parts of the body. As more training data is given to the AI, the accuracy of the AI’s problem detection improves. Recent studies have also shown that AI is even capable of detecting cancer cells that are previously undetected by the human eye.
Dementia Diagnosis
Dementia takes time to manifest and by the time it is formally diagnosed on patients, the disease has already progressed to a later phase. AI can be used to identify changes of the physical structure of the brain, chemical composition, and changes to memory and thinking, in thousands of people’s data. Data can be gathered from detailed brain scans, written tests, and other various ways. Earlier detection and diagnosis help earlier prevention, treatment, and care, before the disease advances to a more severe stage.
Heart Disease Risk Prediction
In many cases, there are features that can be observed earlier in the body which indicate a potential health condition. This may occur unplanned, while other types of health screening are taking place. For example, chest CT scans for lung cancer screening are also able to detect the measure of plaque in the arteries. The plaque build-up is known as the coronary artery calcium, and it is analyzed to derive a score that determines follow-up medication for cholesterol. Unfortunately, it is not always measured during CT scans of lung cancer screening, because it requires comprehensive software analysis and its interpretation is time-consuming. Therefore, many CT scans for lung cancer screening usually focus only on lungs instead of including arteries. This may cause earlier heart disease risks to be undetected and uncontrolled. However, this can be changed by utilizing AI, especially Machine Learning. Machine Learning can improve and speed up the detection and scoring of coronary artery calcium, thus enabling earlier cholesterol control. This helps lower the risk of heart disease for the patients who undergo the chest CT scans. By training the machine using thousands of patients’ data, the system can automatically detect the condition of the arteries and cholesterol level in the body.
AI’s contribution in the healthcare sector not only improves detection and diagnosis, but also plays an important part in disease prevention and care. Experts in the medical field can leverage the insights obtained from AI and provide the best viable option for patients’ treatment or disease prevention. This is one of the most meaningful way to utilize the best of technology for the best outcomes of humanity.