Artificial Intelligence in Health Care – 2019

-- Rukmani Vinay Dasarapu.

Website url: https://www.k-digibiz.com/

September 29, 2019, celebrated as National Family and Fitness Day in US. Although there is a lot of progress made in the field of health care, the challenge to bridge the gap for easy access to the best medical service is being addressed through Artificial Intelligence (AI). A lot of innovation and automation is being created using AI, new applications are being built that give easy access to health information, better preventive and treatment options. AI will help patients save time, cost and recovery time. The most popular use of devices using AI is the use of wearable.

Health Tracking and Monitoring Systems

Wearable health trackers – like the FitBit, Apple, Garmin and others – monitors heart rate and track activity levels. They can send alerts to the user to get more exercise and can share this information to doctors (or AI systems) for additional data points on the needs and habits of patients.

Access to diagnostic information
is a big step towards recovery. If you can diagnose issues like Cancer, Diabetes, Alzhiemers, at a very early stage. There is a lot of scope to prevent, cure and even reverse these conditions.

Many Apps have been designed to provide such vital diagnostic results using Artificial Intelligence.

1.       Symptomate gives you an accurate evaluation of your health

i.              Enter symptoms

ii.             Answer a few questions

iii.            Done! You will receive information about:

·   possible causes of your symptoms

·   options for what to do next

·    suggested lab tests

2.       Ada asks questions regarding symptoms
and provides a diagnosis based on the
user’s response. It produces diagrams showing which of the symptoms for each disease were present and the strength of
the link, and a diagram of the percentage
of people likely to have that diagnosis.

Ada plans to customize their software to collect data on the prevalence of diseases, like malaria, which may help to prevent epidemics.

3.   Your.MD, everyone can access health information they need – wherever, whenever, for free. Users can check their symptoms via the company AI chatbot, view health information provided by the UK's NHS Choices and find next-step recommendations via its OneStop Health™ platform.

4.   Babylon - Babylon Health is a health service provider that provides remote consultations with doctors and health care professionals via text and video messaging through its mobile application. The subscription private healthcare services opened in the UK in 2013 and have since been expanded internationally to Rwanda, Canada and China.

 In the UK Babylon's NHS services cover more than 40,000 registered user-patients which has caused controversial disputes over NHS funding models.

Radiation therapy device for Cancer Treatment[4]

The CyberKnife System is a radiation therapy device, it is used to deliver radio surgery for the treatment of benign tumors, malignant tumors and other medical conditions.

CyberKnife System is a non-invasive treatment for cancerous and non-cancerous tumors and other conditions where radiation therapy is indicated. It is used to treat conditions throughout the body, including tumors of the prostate, lung, brain, spine, head and neck, liver, pancreas, kidney, and certain gynecologic indications, and can be an alternative to surgery or for some patients who have inoperable or surgically complex tumors. What makes the CyberKnife System unique is that it is the only fully robotic radiation delivery system. The robotic design, coupled with real-time imaging, enables the CyberKnife System to deliver a maximum dose of radiation directly to the tumor from many different angles with sub-millimeter precision. The CyberKnife System does this by tracking and adjusting for tumor or patient movement during treatment to minimize radiation exposure to healthy organs and tissues. Besides delivering the radiation with greater precision, the CyberKnife System removes the necessity for breath-holding or chest immobilization, making the treatment more comfortable for patients who may have compromised lung function.

Robotic-assisted Surgery[2]

 In the past, open surgery was the only way surgeons could operate. These surgeries required surgeons to make a long incision, and cut through muscles, tissues and bones to see the parts that needs operation. Although this method is still used for treatment patients Artificial Intelligence has made good progress in the healthcare field. Patients can now opt for more efficient and less invasive surgical options like – laparoscopy, da vinci and Robotics assisted surgery systems like the renaissance guidance surgery system. For Laparoscopy and thoracoscopic surgeries doctors insert special long-handled tools to perform surgery while viewing magnified images on a video screen.

1.    Da Vinci surgery system - With da Vinci, your surgeon sits at a console next to you and operates using tiny instruments through a few small incisions. A camera that provides a high-definition, 3D magnified view inside your body. Every hand movement your surgeon makes is translated by the da Vinci System in real-time to bend and rotate the instruments with precision.

List of Robotic-assisted procedures using the da vinci surgey system -

     - Colorectal condition

     - Bariatric surgery
- Gallbladder surgery
- Inguinal hernia repair
- Ventral hernia repair
- Acid reflux disease surgery (nissen fundoplication)
- Stomach surgery (gastrectomy)
- Pancreas surgery (pancreatectomy and pancreaticoduodenectomy/Whipple procedure)
- Small bowel surgery
- Spleen surgery (splenectomy)
- Urology – Kidney and Prostate
- Gynecologic conditions – Hysterectomy – Benign and cancer, Pelvic Organ     Prolapse Surgery
- Head and neck conditions - cancers of the mouth, soft palate, tongue, throat.
- Thoracic (chest) conditions affecting the lungs, esophagus (muscular tube that connects your throat to your stomach), trachea (windpipe), ribs and breastbone, connective muscles and tissues, and membranes that line your chest cavity,  gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), lung diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), benign tumors, trauma-related injuries, hernias in this region, and others

Refer to https://www.davincisurgery.com/ for more details and to locate a Surgeon.

Renaissance – Spine Surgery[3]

·         Utilizing Mazor Robotics Renaissance® Guidance System in a spine program can improve the execution and outcomes in a wide variety of procedures, including: minimally-invasive and percutaneous degenerative repair, pedicle screw fixation for complex spinal deformity, and vertebral augmentation.

·         Renaissance Spine Surgery uses the following 4 steps – Pre-operative plan, Mount, 3d sync, operate

Managing and Analyzing Data and Medical Records

Artificial intelligence is used for compiling and analyzing information (like medical records and other past history), data management.

Robots collect, store, re-format, and trace data to provide faster, more consistent access.
Robots are used to analyze tests, X-Rays, CT scans, data entry, and other mundane tasks that can be done faster and more precisely. Especially in the field of Cardiology and radiology. This helps Cardiologists and radiologists to focus on complicated cases where human supervision is useful.

Reference

[1] https://novatiosolutions.com/10-common-applications-artificial-intelligence-healthcare/
[2] https://www.davincisurgery.com/
[3] https://mazorrobotics.com
[4] https://www.cyberknife.com