Using artificial intelligence to diagnose heart disease and cancer early
Researchers at a hospital in Oxford (UK) have developed technology that applies artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose heart disease and lung cancer early.
AI system diagnoses heart disease early and gives "positive" recommendations in case the patient is likely to have a heart attack - Photo: BBC
According to BBC (UK), the technology using AI to diagnose early heart disease called Ultromics is expected to be deployed for free in the hospital system of the UK Health Service (NHS) this summer.
John Bell, one of the UK's leading medical experts, believes AI could "save the NHS". He said: "The NHS is spending around £2.2 billion on pathology services, and AI could reduce that cost by 50%.
Cardiologists can now diagnose heart disease through imaging tests. However, even the best doctors still misdiagnose 1 in 5 cases.
With the AI diagnostic system developed by John Radcliffe Hospital, computers can diagnose scans of patients' conditions more accurately. This system can detect details that doctors cannot detect.
The system will then give a (positive) recommendation if it believes the patient is at risk of a heart attack.
The technology system has been clinically tested in six cardiology departments. The test results were published this year in a medical journal after being verified by experts.
AI systems that diagnose lung cancer can also provide early warning information to patients. Photo: BBC
Professor Paul Leeson, a cardiologist who developed the AI technology system, said test data showed the system was better at diagnosing diseases than cardiologists like himself.
If the AI system’s diagnostic capabilities are confirmed, it will be rolled out free nationwide. “As cardiologists, we accept that we can’t always be right,” said Professor Paul Leeson. “But now there’s an opportunity for us to do a better job.”
Clinical trial results show that AI systems can perform much better than health professionals. There are about 60,000 heart disease diagnoses in the UK each year and 12,000 are misdiagnosed.
This is costing the NHS around £600 million on unnecessary surgery and the cost of treating people who have heart attacks after being misdiagnosed as not having the disease.
