September: Basel, Switzerland: ‘Intelligent Health 2019’, a conference dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, underlined the growing interest by the rising number of attendees – 1,400 in 2018, its first year, to 2,027 this year. With examples of AI use from around the world, the common thread throughout was how AI can serve humankind by enabling better understanding of…
From an initial focus on innovative manufacturing, in-house ICT technologies drove production efficiency and quality. Today, Taiwan has advanced to become a leader with its "Asian Silicon Valley" concept. The government also wants to further strengthen Taiwan's key position by independently developing medical products that meet the high demands of international markets – at…
Consider the diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities resulting from access to pertinent data from thousands of anonymized patient medical scans. What new patterns, options, or evidence for actionable insights could be derived from all this information? Cloud-based data is easily accessible via computer, smartphone, or tablet and is a valuable complement to the insights from the millions of…
Chemical analysis of blood samples, combined with an artificial intelligence program, could speed up the diagnosis of brain tumours, according to research presented at the 2019 NCRI Cancer Conference. Brain tumours tend to have ambiguous symptoms, such as headache or memory problems, and a brain scan is currently the only reliable way of diagnosing them. Researchers say their test, which works by…
Dr Clemens Martin Auer knows ‘disruption is an ambivalent concept’. Auer is president of the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG), in which healthcare policy is discussed annually from a European perspective: ‘For some, disruption is the promise of necessary change whilst for others it means suspicions and fears.’ The term – a synonym for ‘transformation’ but also for…
‘Compared to other sectors, healthcare is lagging behind in the systematic use of electronic data,’ says Martin Seychell, EU Deputy Director-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) and top official at the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG). ‘However,’ he adds, ‘this is changing and the digital transformation is happening right now.’
With KardioKompassi, researchers from the University of Helsinki have developed an interactive web tool that aims to predict and prevent cardiovascular disease. The application for patients and doctors uses traditional health information combined with genome information, including 49,000 DNA variations associated with the disease. Using this data, the risk calculator evaluates the risk of cardiac…
With the medavis REFERRER PORTAL your referrers have easy online access to the reports and studies you created. The web-based portal works with any RIS via standard HL7 interfaces to create a smooth workflow. Reports and images are automatically transmitted to the portal in the background as soon as you release them in your RIS. The referrers can then easily access their patients’ data – from…
How will artificial intelligence (AI) affect continuing education and management in radiology? This issue was discussed by an expert panel at the ESR AI Premium meeting in Barcelona. Continuing education – It must be clear what radiologists need to learn about AI; one way to go could be to give it more space in the training curriculum, according to Elmar Kotter, deputy director of the radiology…
The current introduction of instant access to all patient clinical imaging and medical documentation in one picture archiving and communication system (PACS) for use throughout the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust (PAHT), in Essex, UK, lies in the hands of Imaging Systems Manager and radiographer Stephen Townrow. In 2017, Townrow went to his hospital’s Board with a business case to consolidate…
Sensitive synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings – a crucial capability if they are to be in close contact with people. Inspired by human skin, a team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed a system combining artificial skin with control algorithms and used it to create the first autonomous humanoid robot with full-body artificial skin. This…
A trial tele-ophthalmology system pioneered by the University of Strathclyde and NHS Forth Valley, has paved the way for what's believed to be one of the world’s first tele-examinations of an eye streamed live using a 5G smart phone. The system uses a live video feed to securely connect doctors, opticians and patient through a mixture of 3-D printed technology developed at Strathclyde, and the…
A smartphone application has been developed that can help parents detect early signs of eye disease by searching their children’s photographs for traces of leukocoria, also known as “white eye”. The CRADLE app (ComputeR Assisted Detector LEukocoia) searches for traces of abnormal reflections from the retina called leukocoria or “white eye,” a primary symptom of retinoblastoma, as well…
The Queen Mary University of London team applied an artificial intelligence (AI) technique to analyse the heart MRI images of 17,000 healthy UK Biobank volunteers. They found that genetic factors accounted for 22-39 per cent of variation in the size and function of the heart’s left ventricle, the organ’s main pumping chamber. Enlargement and reduced pumping function of the left ventricle can…
When hospitals are hacked, the public hears about the number of victims – but not what information the cybercriminals stole.
Humans are inherently risk-averse: We spend our days calculating routes and routines, taking precautionary measures to avoid disease, danger, and despair. Still, our measures for controlling the inner workings of our biology can be a little more unruly. With that in mind, a team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) came up with a new system for better…
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is like a huge blanket that can cover anything from innocuous chess computers to robots which, depending on your viewpoint, could save, oppress or obliterate humanity. However, not every jar labelled AI contains AI. So what is intelligence and can it be created artificially, synthesised like a nature-identical flavouring substance?
The Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) is the first European university hospital to utilize IBM’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology to help uncover therapeutic options for cancer patients. HUG will use the IBM Watson Health’s precision oncology offering, Watson for Genomics, an AI tool that enables oncologists to provide patients with more personalized, evidence-based cancer care. Using…
During its latest keynote presentation, tech giant Apple announced cooperations for health studies. The latest model of their smartwatches are to be key in their execution. Apple announced the three medical studies in partnership with leading US academic and research institutions.
Researchers have developed a neural network approach that can accurately identify congestive heart failure with 100% accuracy through analysis of just one raw electrocardiogram (ECG) heartbeat, a new study reports. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a chronic progressive condition that affects the pumping power of the heart muscles. Associated with high prevalence, significant mortality rates and…
Technology developed using artificial intelligence (AI) could identify people at high risk of a fatal heart attack at least five years before it strikes, according to new research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). The findings are being presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress in Paris and published in the European Heart Journal. Researchers at the University of…
A new study, presented as ‘Late Breaking Science’ at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) annual congress, highlights the feasible use of mobile health (mHealth) devices to help with the screening and detection of atrial fibrillation (AF), a common heart condition. AF causes an irregular and sometimes, abnormally fast heart rate. The heart’s upper chambers (atria) contract randomly and…
Innovative software that allows a surgeon to view inside a patient’s heart in real time while applying treatment has been used for the first time in the UK in operations at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Leicester Biomedical Research Centre (BRC). University of Leicester Professor and Leicester’s Hospitals Cardiologist Andre Ng used the new technique in operations on two…
Scientists from EPFL have developed an algorithm that can determine whether a super-resolution microscope is operating at maximum resolution based on a single image. The method is compatible with all types of microscopes and could one day be a standard feature of automated models.
In a symposium on September 9, 2019, the School for Translational Medicine and Biomedical Entrepreneurship (sitem-insel School) in Bern, Switzerland, provides an overview about current trends in artificial intelligence (AI) in medical imaging. From 8.30 to 17.00, participants in sitem-insel, Freiburgstraße, Bern will learn about the principles of AI as well as innovative applications in the…