Artificial intelligence can recognize dementia years before it first appears

Artificial Intelligence.

Thursday, 12th August 2021

As supercomputers face the enormous challenge of accelerating research on the complexity of life sciences, artificial intelligence (AI) is not far behind. Researchers are testing an artificial intelligence-based system that can detect neurological diseases such as dementia with a single brain scan.

As researchers begin to experiment with the system, multiple scans and tests are now needed to diagnose dementia. Early diagnosis of this disease can save lives and improve treatment strategies. A team of researchers from the University of Cambridge expects that in the first year of the trial, the artificial intelligence system will be tested in a "real world" clinical setting with approximately 500 patients.

The system uses algorithms to detect brain scan patterns that even neurologists sometimes miss. According to the BBC report, artificial intelligence has been able to diagnose dementia in pre-clinical tests, and symptoms appear many years earlier without signs of brain damage.

Professor Kourtzi of the University of Cambridge, who participated in the study, told the BBC: “If we intervene early, treatment can start early and slow the progression of the disease while preventing further damage. This is that symptoms are likely to occur in later life, or may never occur."

As part of the trial, researchers will test whether it is suitable for clinical settings and the traditional methods of diagnosing dementia. Researchers conducting the trial at Addenbrooke Hospital in the United Kingdom will send the report to the participant’s doctor for clinical advice.

"These diseases are really devastating for people. So when I provide this information to patients, I can do my best to have more confidence in the diagnosis and to give them more information about the possible progression of the disease. Have more information to help them plan their lives is a great thing, ”the BBC said, citing neuroscientist Dr. Tim Ritman, who led the research.

Until now, doctors and neurologists have relied on brain scans and MRIs to identify neurological diseases, but A new system being developed can significantly improve your ability to identify problems and formulate early treatment strategies.

"Compared to clinical readings from scans, artificial intelligence has been shown to increase the diagnostic potential of brain scans, but there is so much heterogeneity between individuals that u n single scan, biomarker, or clinical test is completely impractical. Perform a single assessment, "Professor Clive Ballard, an expert on dementia at the University of Exeter, told The Guardian.

The Cambridge team's ongoing clinical trial is not the first to take advantage of advances in artificial intelligence. Cambridge 1, One of the world's fastest artificial intelligence supercomputers, has also started operating in the UK, seeking new medical breakthroughs with its unique ability to deal with numbers in Biology, Genomics, Quantum Computing, and Artificial Intelligence.

In the first attempt, Cambridge1 collaborated with AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Gay and St. Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, King's College London, and Oxford Nanopore to obtain information on diseases such as dementia, find new drugs and designs, and run simulations and improve knowledge. on the variation of the human genome.

The News Talkie Bureau

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Indiatoday