AI uses algorithms to detect patterns in brain scans that even neurologists sometimes miss.
While supercomputers are facing the daunting challenge of accelerating research in the complex life sciences, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not far behind. Researchers are testing an AI-based system to detect neurological disorders such as dementia in a single brain scan.
As researchers begin testing the system, multiple scans and tests are currently required to diagnose dementia. Early diagnosis of the disease could save lives and improve treatment strategies. The University of Cambridge research team hopes that the AI system will work and be tested in a “real” clinical setting on around 500 patients in the first year of testing.
The system uses algorithms to detect patterns in brain scans that are sometimes unnoticed even by neurological experts. According to a BBC report, AI was able to diagnose dementia in preclinical tests, even years before symptoms develop, when there is no sign of damage to the brain.
Professor Kourtzi of the University of Cambridge, who is involved in the study, told the BBC, “If we intervene early, treatments can start early and slow the progression of the disease while avoiding further damage. And it is likely that you will experience symptoms much later in life or it may never happen.”
As part of the study, the researchers will test whether it works in a clinical setting in addition to conventional dementia diagnostics. Investigators conducting the study at Addenbrooke Hospital in the UK will send the reports to the participants’ doctors for clinical consultation.
“These sets of diseases are really devastating for people. So when I am delivering this information to a patient, anything I can do to be more confident about the diagnosis, to give them more information about the likely progression of the disease to help them plan their lives is a great thing to be able to do,” BBC quoted neurologist Dr Tim Rittman, who is leading the study as saying.
Until now, doctors and neurologists have relied on brain scans and MRIs to identify neurological disorders; However, the new system under development could greatly improve your ability to identify problems and develop an early treatment strategy.
“AI has been shown to improve the diagnostic potential of brain scans compared to clinical reading of scans, but there is so much heterogeneity between individuals that it is utterly impossible for a single scan, biomarker, or clinical test to be in any given case that sure is unique assessment, “Professor Clive Ballard, a dementia expert at the University of Exeter, told The Guardian.
The Cambridge team’s ongoing clinical trial is not the first to take advantage of advances in AI, one of the fastest AI supercomputers in the world, Cambridge-1, with its unique digital processing capability, is also operating in the UK in search of new medical technology Breakthroughs to process biology, genomics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
In a first attempt, Cambridge-1 is working with AstraZeneca, GSK, Guy’s and St. Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, King’s College London and Oxford Nanopore in developing a deeper understanding of diseases like dementia, look for new drugs, design and run simulations and enhance knowledge around variations in human genome.
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