Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Our headlines are filled with the new dangers we face as a result. However, what we don’t talk about enough is how AI is revolutionising medicine to save lives; from diagnosing diseases to discovering life-saving treatments, AI is transforming medicine at an unprecedented pace. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, one notable case is a patient with idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease (IMCD) whose cure resulted from AI. IMCD is a rare condition where lymph nodes are swollen, which causes widespread inflammation around the body, leading to serious symptoms. The patient had undergone several unsuccessful treatments before a medicine was found through machine learning (an AI technique). The machine-learning tool searched through 4,000 types of medicines until it eventually identified an antibody called adalimumab, which was found to treat IMCD. The patient is now almost two years into remission because of this discovery, which has had a life-changing impact. This case shows how incredible AI can be in solving life-threatening and debilitating diseases.
AI isn’t just helping patients with rare diseases; an AI trial called Early Detection using Information Technology in Health (EDITH) has been created to find breast cancer at an earlier stage. Each year, 55,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer, making it the most common cancer among women. Therefore, finding signs earlier can be life-saving. The Department of Health and Social Care has said that nearly 700,000 women in the world take part in testing sites across the UK. Women between the ages of 50 and 71 will go to the sites every three years to be screened to detect potential cases of breast cancer. The technology being trialled will help with screening patients for subtle changes in breast tissue that may indicate cancer. It will also reduce the need for there to be two specialists reviewing each mammogram (a key tool for breast cancer detection), as one will be enough.
Additionally, the technology aims to ensure more patients are attended to and waiting times are cut. The CEO of the National Institute for Health and Wellbeing said,
“This landmark trial could lead to a significant step forward in the early detection of breast cancer, offering women faster, more accurate diagnoses when it matters most.”
Through trials like this, AI can be used to develop improved and extremely accurate screening methods, saving lives.
We still don’t know the full extent of AI’s potential; its possibilities are endless, even allowing us to translate thoughts into text. One such tool is being developed to help patients with aphasia, a condition that impairs a person’s ability to speak or understand language. Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin built on a previous brain-decoding system that could convert brain activity into text. The old decoder required 16 hours of training; however, the new version only requires one. Instead of having aphasia patients listen to podcasts for 16 hours, the researchers created simulations that closely mimicked the conditions of aphasia patients. This led to an impressive outcome where the decoder translated thoughts into text.
As AI advances, it has the potential to greatly benefit patients and revolutionise healthcare in ways we haven’t even imagined yet. Who knows what the future holds?
