Every minute your brain is not getting enough blood into the circulation, you lose millions of neurons. So says Mayfield Brain and Spine neurosurgeon Dr. Jonathan Hodes. A delay in stroke treatment could determine whether you remain independent.
For the last five years, Mayfield has been using and perfecting an artificial intelligence program that may now be of assistance with other problems, both in and outside the brain.
Viz.ai is one of many AI programs doctors are increasingly using to speed up diagnosis when time matters. This video shows how it works:
- Patient has a CAT scan in the emergency room
- Image is shipped into the cloud
- AI determines within 3 minutes if there is a blockage of a blood vessel inside the brain or leading to the brain
- Entire stroke team is alerted by the program on a smartphone and sees pictures of the brain
- Transfer Center is alerted that a patient may be coming
The old way could take 45 minutes to an hour before doctors decided the treatment. Hodes explains each doctor would have to wait to see the images, look at them and then call the Transfer Center.
Mayfield uses the technology at 15 Tri-Health and Mercy Health sites. Viz.ai is in 15 countries and 49 states.
May is Stroke Awareness month.
Other AI uses in medical care
“We are actually beta testing with this application for detection of hemorrhage in the brain," Hodes explains. "Right now, what’s FDA-approved is detection of blockages in the arteries, leading to or inside the brain. In the near future, we anticipate that we’ll be able to detect hemorrhages with artificial intelligence in a similar manner.”
Hodes is also hopeful AI will be able to detect brain tumors on an MRI. There are a number of products assisting radiologists to detect early breast cancer through mammography, he says.
Beta testing is also underway to detect pulmonary embolisms on CT scans of the chest for patients in the emergency room.
