Sometimes, fast and correct answers are absolutely crucial, such as when a CT scan is needed to interpret a stroke. AI can then be a valuable tool. Is the stroke due to a blood clot or a brain haemorrhage? A few minutes saved in finding the right answer can save millions of brain cells, reduce the need for rehabilitation and save society a great deal of money.
An AI model can store data on tens of thousands of images to determine whether the event is a haemorrhage or a clot – and provide an immediate answer. Ingerid Reinertsen points out that a doctor still has to make the final determination, but AI can contribute to faster and more secure decisions.
Population is getting older
Another factor is that the aging population wave is putting pressure on a healthcare system that is already struggling with a lack of resources.
“We’re on a course that is not sustainable into the future,” says Ingerid Reinertsen, the research manager for the Medical Image Analysis group at SINTEF Digital.
Reinertsen envisions both better patient treatment and more efficient hospital operations with the help of artificial intelligence. The research manager believes that we are only seeing the beginning of what AI will be able to contribute. An example in Norway is Bærum Hospital, which first used AI to find bone fractures on X-rays.
New forms of treatment
In the long term, Reinertsen hopes that AI can contribute to major breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases like cancer and dementia, the development of new antibiotics and vaccines, and medicines for diseases that we not yet able to treat.
Preventing disease holds great and more immediate potential. Authorities estimate that 70 percent of the major non-communicable diseases are avoidable with prevention. Access to information about a person’s disease history and lifestyle habits could enable AI to create individually tailored measures to prevent diseases that would otherwise occur.
