Artificial intelligence presents immense possibilities for the transformation of human health. It is already helping to discover new drugs and make better medical diagnoses faster. It’s not hard to imagine the near future where artificial intelligence can reliably predict and stop the disease before symptoms appear.
At the outset, it is necessary to clarify that AI cannot replace man, only assist him in his daily activities, making processes faster, more precise, and technical.
In the near future, Artificial Intelligence will be able to assess the entire medical history of a family and identify whether a person is predisposed to develop a certain disease or not. In addition, the diagnoses will be more detailed, helping the doctor to identify diseases early, increasing the chances of cure and rehabilitation of patients.
Let’s take a look at the current status of artificial intelligence in the field of healthcare.
Agile software and electronic medical records
The medical records of previously manual patients were exclusively limited. Now, with Artificial Intelligence in health, it is completely different. Professionals can use smart electronic records, which can quickly collect, store, and retrieve patient information. Various kinds of software is available on the market that facilitates the discovery of diseases and the development of treatment plans. Thus, hospitals can more efficiently manage patient information. Artificial Intelligence in health can automate the maintenance of these records, improving existing innovations and increasing the data source for the collection of information from patients through sensors and devices. Thus, it is possible to feed the database providing new information directly in the medical records of each patient.
Improved disease diagnostics
Not every diagnosis is easily obtained. How many patients don’t go through different specialists until they discover their problem, don’t they? This is very common and, with the help of artificial intelligence, these cases can drop dramatically, since the detailed and accurate look of the machines can detect anomalies in a short period.
Data and images are crossed and generate other data that, combined, bring the desired answer. The specialist may never have encountered such a problem, but the machine has information about patients around the world in its file. Artificial intelligence programs in health are not always based on statistics and probabilities. They are based on symbolic models with the essence in nosology, that is, they relate factors linked to the patient and their clinical manifestations, within the classification of diseases.
Improved treatments
Artificial intelligence is being adapted to diagnose diseases, and it will also be efficient in treating them due to its analytical power. This advantage allows you to personalize medical treatments according to the unique needs of each individual.
Specifically, AI facilitates the decision-making of healthcare professionals to choose the most effective treatment for a particular patient. It also reduces the possibility of medical errors, saving time, money, and providing peace of mind for patients and more security for professionals.
Helps in Drug development
Getting effective new drugs through clinical trials can take more than a decade and cost billions. Therefore, streamlining the process through the use of AI could change the world. In the latest Ebola crisis, an AI-powered program was used to analyze existing drugs that could be re-designed to combat the disease.
The program found two drugs that can reduce Ebola infectivity in one day when such analysis usually takes months or years – a difference that possibly saved thousands of lives.
Besides, the use of computer models eliminates the need for animal experimentation, each time worse seen.
Conclusion
There is still a long way to go before an artificial intelligence device is perfected enough to replace humans in the care of geriatric patients. Therefore, with the advances obtained, it is already possible to provide valuable support to both family members and doctors and nurses who dedicate themselves to this work.
Like this one, there are many other applications of artificial intelligence in medicine, such as Telemedicine, which aims to allow, among other things, a specialist to perform diagnostics, treatments, and even long-distance operations.