Every scientific innovation is the result of a fictional concept that in the past was considered pure magic. Take cell phones for example, they are a common part of our lives now, but ask someone who was there 50 years ago, a device like this didn't exist anywhere other than their wildest fantasies. So this led me to a question – what could be the greatest fantasy for the medical world? Several ideas came to mind but James Cameron's masterpiece “Avatar” caught our attention. The concepts used in this science fiction can be considered the epitome of medical evolution, where the soul of a living crippled man is regularly transferred to another healthy body, giving him the opportunity to lead a normal life, bypassing the restrictions of his own amputated body. . Imagine this turning into a reality where sick, dying and crippled people could have the opportunity to live a normal, better life. However, this is an unlikely reality and we are not talking about it. We are talking here about something as fascinating and useful as the concept discussed in the previous lines, but it is a current reality – Artificial Intelligence or AI.
Fig.1: Advanced science as shown in the movie Avatar
As Britannica defines it, Artificial Intelligence is the special ability of a digital computer or a computer-supported machine to perform tasks that are normally performed by intelligent beings. Systems like these follow the simple human thought process that includes the ability to reason, identify meaning, generalize it and continue to learn from past experiences. Although big names like Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and Bill Gates have their own suspicions about its future, it is currently helping the medical industry in creating a better, healthier world.
Fig. 2: Artificial Intelligence Representational Image
AI is still in its juvenile phase where its applications and implications are being used to reduce redundancy of elongated tasks and improve the accuracy rate. As these two attributes are highly sought after in the medical and healthcare field, this is definitely changing the entire scenario of this sector. In the following paragraphs, we are just trying to explain this point in a better way with some highly interesting examples that will surely pique your interest and help clarify its importance for the healthcare sector.
● Virtual Healthcare Assistant: VHA or Virtual Healthcare Assistant can be crucial for patients who need to completely depend on others for even the most menial tasks. Take, for example, dementia patients who need reminders to take their medications or people who suffer from anxiety may find a monitor on their arm that tells their caregiver to come check on them.
Fig. 3: Representational Image of the VHA
Most VHAs are designed to help patients with treatment options for common medical problems or offer prescriptions for people on strict diets. VHAs are also able to monitor patients based on data and allow doctors to interact with pharmacies and patients, reminding them for prescription pickups and refills and also suggesting preventative measures from time to time.
● Predictive Care : Have you ever played chess, every player needs to think three steps ahead when calculating the opponent's moves. Those who are new to the game may find it more difficult to make so many calculations, consider each outcome and plan their moves to continue defending their pieces. This is the basic difference between predictive and reactive thinking. The current healthcare model is quite reactive and does not consider the issues of the near future. Doctors only focus on treating the patient's symptoms but have no solution to the future implications of these problems.
Fig. 4: Image representing a typical predictive care system based on artificial intelligence
Not long ago, Intel worked with San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare to develop an AI system that recognizes individuals at high risk of experiencing sudden health problems. The system worked with 8/10 accuracy showing when an emergency situation would arise with the patient. It also enabled Sharp HealthCare to strategically plan and keep its emergency response teams ready, increasing success in treating life-threatening conditions and saving more people from life-threatening conditions.
● Chat Bots : We all like to share it with the closest and most trusted person we know whenever we have any health issues. But what if that friend was replaced by an expert medical system that was just a click away? This new specialist has all the medical data and knowledge, which means the chances of wrong advice are as low as zero. Chat robots or chatbots have been around for a long time, but with the integration of AI, they are getting smarter with each passing day.
Fig. 5: A typical chatbot
Currently, they are being used to book doctor appointments and monitor health status, but at some point they will be able to help you in a much better way. The information provided has been approved by medical experts and automatically schedules appointments based on the severity of your queries.
● Diagnosis: AI has also played a vital role in improving the accuracy of medical diagnosis, which is one of the biggest demands of the Indian medical industry. With so many people losing their lives due to wrong diagnoses and treatments carried out by underqualified doctors, it is time we bring in machines that can improve the accuracy of this task. It is already being used by our neighboring countries, such as China and Japan, where they have systems for reading X-rays, computed tomography scans and identifying suspicious lesions and tumors in cancer patients. It helps doctors in early diagnosis, saving time wasted in sending samples to laboratories and analyzing the results.
Fig. 6: Image showing medical diagnosis through AI
Another team of researchers working at Stanford University recently created an AI algorithm that can recognize and diagnose skin cancer. It makes use of physical features like injuries, rashes and blemishes and may someday be available as an app on your phones.
Conclusion
AI is gaining traction in various fields and will definitely have a huge and positive impact on the healthcare sector. It will be crucial in reducing the duration of diagnosis, simplifying treatment plans. On a broader scale, it will reduce the mortality rate and improve the general health of living beings. There are so many nations across the world that are currently facing a manpower crisis due to the poor health status and high mortality rate of their working population. Furthermore, the increased use of chemical products in all spheres has generated new diseases that had not been heard of until now. We need faster diagnosis and more efficient treatment plans if we are to overcome these problems. If we consider an overall health record, our younger and future generations have poorer health than their predecessors, diseases such as cancer, diabetes and tumors are spreading through younger age groups as small as 4 and 5 years old, more frequently. We will need smarter systems if we want to guarantee better lives for our next generations and leave them a better world. AI has a revolutionary role to play in this context and we cannot help but support its development in this aspect.
