It/Tech • healthcare-in-europe.com

Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System

FDA approval for implant to treat congenital heart disease

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first in the world non-surgical heart valve to treat pediatric and adult patients with a native or surgically-repaired right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). The device, called the Harmony Transcatheter Pulmonary Valve (TPV) System, is intended to improve blood flow to the lungs in patients with severe pulmonary valve regurgitation without…

News • Acidity analysis

Harnessing AI to identify cancer cells

Healthy and cancer cells can look similar under a microscope. One way of differentiating them is by examining the level of acidity, or pH level, inside the cells. Tapping on this distinguishing characteristic, a research team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed a technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine whether a single cell is healthy or cancerous…

News • Self-administration of medication

Many patients use their inhalers and insulin pens wrong. An AI system could fix this

From swallowing pills to injecting insulin, patients frequently administer their own medication. But they don’t always get it right. Improper adherence to doctors’ orders is commonplace, accounting for thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in medical costs annually. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a system to reduce those numbers for some…

News • Model analysis

Machine learning for Covid-19 diagnosis: promising, but still too flawed

Systematic review finds that machine learning models for detecting and diagnosing Covid-19 from medical images have major flaws and biases, making them unsuitable for use in patients. However, researchers have suggested ways to remedy the problem. Researchers have found that out of the more than 300 Covid-19 machine learning models described in scientific papers in 2020, none of them is suitable…

News • Chest CT workflow optimisation

AI-powered Covid-19 solution reduces report turnaround time by 30%

The results of a large-scale study indicate that the introduction of an AI-powered solution by healthcare software company Radlogics into radiology workflow to analyze Chest-CT scans during the Covid-19 pandemic reduced report turnaround time by an average of 30 percent, which is equivalent to 7 minutes per case.

News • Breast cancer diagnostics

New system to make AI diagnosis explainable

Researchers at TU Berlin and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin as well as the University of Oslo have developed a new tissue-section analysis system for diagnosing breast cancer based on artificial intelligence (AI). Two further developments make this system unique: For the first time, morphological, molecular and histological data are integrated in a single analysis. Secondly, the system…

News • Hybrid learning startegy

Digital platform for on-demand EHR system training adopted

The Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital (ETZ) based in Tilburg and Waalwijk in the Netherlands is adopting a new digital training platform. It helps clinical staff optimize the use of its electronic patient dossier (EPD) system, Epic. The healthcare organization is rolling out Ancile Solutions’ uPerform platform after successful completion of an initial project in 2020. ETZ is a leading clinical…

News • Pandemic forecast modelling

Exploring the uncertainties in Covid-19 simulations

Computer modelling to forecast Covid-19 mortality contains significant uncertainty in its predictions, according to an international study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) in the Netherlands. Their article ‘The Impact of Uncertainty on Predictions of the CovidSim Epidemiological Code’ was published in Nature Computational…

News • Vocal biomarker

Covid-19 'voice check' screening tool validated in large clinical study

AI-based vocal biomarker company Vocalis Health announced results of a clinical study conducted in collaboration with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) at their NESCO Covid-19 Center to validate Vocalis Health’s Covid-19 screening tool, VocalisCheck. The study included over 2,000 participants who spoke numerous languages including English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. Results…

News • On the go

Improving wearables for medical applications

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of fatalities in Germany. Medical wearables which measure vital parameters such as the blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen levels in real time could help detect these diseases early, and treat them on a preventive basis. In daily life and during sports activities, in the form of fitness bracelets or smart watches, these small, portable…

News • AI 'Haven' in intensive care

Machine learning to identify deteriorating hospital patients

Researchers in Oxford have developed a machine learning algorithm that could significantly improve clinicians’ ability to identify hospitalised patients whose condition is deteriorating to the extent that they need intensive care. The HAVEN system (Hospital-wide Alerting Via Electronic Noticeboard) was developed as part of a collaboration between the University of Oxford’s Institute of…

News • Herd immunity explained in virtual reality

Using VR to win over vaccine skeptics

People who are sceptical of getting vaccinated against infectious diseases may soon get a whole new perspective on things. Professor Robert Böhm and Associate Professor Guido Makransky from the Center for Social Data Science (SODAS) and the Department of Psychology at the University of Copenhagen have received DKK three million in funding from EIT Health for developing a virtual reality app to…

Interview • IT analysis and study

Optimising OR procedures in orthopaedic surgery

Could surgical procedures for hip or knee arthritis be improved? IT specialists at Leipzig University Hospital’s Innovation Center for Computer-Assisted Surgery (ICCAS), and physicians in the Department of Orthopaedic, Trauma and Plastic Surgery department, analysed and optimised the operating room (OR) setup, legwork and instruments handling. We asked project manager Juliane Neumann, at…

News • WHO online courses

Corona, Ebola & Co: conveying life-saving knowledge in real-time

The corona pandemic, which has been rampant for a year, and the Ebola epidemic of 2017 have shown the value of online courses for the rapid worldwide dissemination of life-saving knowledge, the German Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) points out. One year ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) published its first online course on Covid-19 diseases. HPI head Prof. Christoph Meinel reflects on its…

Oversight of medical software

FDA Releases Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Action Plan

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration released the agency’s first Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML)-Based Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) Action Plan. This action plan describes a multi-pronged approach to advance the Agency’s oversight of AI/ML-based medical software. “This action plan outlines the FDA’s next steps towards furthering oversight for AI/ML-based SaMD,”…

News • Symptom management

eHealth intervention can help cancer patients

Hundreds of cancer patients have benefitted from using computer algorithms to manage their symptoms and improve their wellbeing in a unique UK trial. The early stage colorectal, breast or gynecological cancer patients took part in the trial of the eRAPID system, developed by the University of Leeds, which allowed them to report online symptoms from home and receive instant advice on whether to…

News • Drug repurposing

AI finds new uses for existing medications

Scientists have developed a machine-learning method that crunches massive amounts of data to help determine which existing medications could improve outcomes in diseases for which they are not prescribed. The intent of this work is to speed up drug repurposing, which is not a new concept – think Botox injections, first approved to treat crossed eyes and now a migraine treatment and top cosmetic…

Video • Computer model vs. Covid-19

Discovering new weaknesses of SARS-CoV-2 through bioinformatics

The search for antiviral agents against the new coronavirus is in full swing. Using a novel approach, Bioinformaticians have now discovered a weakness in the virus that could be exploited for drug development. In a computer model, the scientists discovered a human enzyme that is crucial for the virus. When it was switched off in the model, the virus could no longer multiply.

Video • "InnerEye" Artificial Intelligence

AI could help cut waiting times for cancer radiotherapy

Doctors at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge aim to drastically cut cancer waiting times by using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate lengthy radiotherapy preparations. The AI technology, known as InnerEye, is the result of an eight-year collaboration between researchers at Cambridge-based Microsoft Research, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the University of Cambridge.

News • Wearable sensor

Covid sensor ring detects even subtle symptoms

A smart ring that generates continuous temperature data may foreshadow Covid-19, even in cases when infection is not suspected. The device, which may be a better illness indicator than a thermometer, could lead to earlier isolation and testing, curbing the spread of infectious diseases, according to a preliminary study led by UC San Francisco and UC San Diego.

News • Simulated system

New AI approach to find treatments for brain disorders

Getting computers to “think” like humans is the holy grail of artificial intelligence, but human brains turn out to be tough acts to follow. The human brain is a master of applying previously learned knowledge to new situations and constantly refining what’s been learned. This ability to be adaptive has been hard to replicate in machines. Now, researchers at the Salk Institute have used a…

News • Rapid antigen testing at point of care

AI-assisted SARS-CoV-2 testing: Cooperation for first live project in Munich

Medicus AI announces the successful launch of its first live project under SafePlay, the digital platform supporting rapid antigen testing, which went live in partnership with Roche Diagnostics Germany and 21Dx in Munich this month. Medicus provides operators with a tech-enabled end-to-end solution that supports the logistical aspects of testing, managing the administrative workflow from…

Article • Robots, chatbots and more

Conversational user interfaces: a new access to healthcare?

The deployment of conversational user interfaces (CUI) or chatbots to healthcare has started gaining momentum. It is fueled by the rising power of artificial intelligence (AI), the increasing popularity of mobile health applications as well as the desire for engagement and usability. The past few years have seen a myriad of innovations in chatbots that can automate and engage in human-like…

Article • AI, apps and more

Digital health tools to fight Covid-19

A great deal of solutions using new technologies have been released to help tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and a panel of international experts shared a few examples during the Barcelona Health Summit last October. Contact-tracing apps are an interesting option to manage a pandemic, but the creation process can take a long time and must meet several requirements, according to a Dutch official who…

News • Genome sequence analyzer app

Researchers build world’s first DNA “tricorder”

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) scientists developed the world’s first mobile genome sequence analyzer, a new iPhone app called iGenomics. By pairing an iPhone with a handheld DNA sequencer, users can create a mobile genetics laboratory, reminiscent of the “tricorder” featured in Star Trek.

503 show more articles