2023-11-08 14:34:36
Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained notoriety in the last year, especially when we refer to the creation of images, texts or videos, or to investigate a topic on the Internet; but there is also another field where it has been growing: medicine.
Dr. Gabriela Calderón indicated to El Comercio that AI has become an important tool, and there are several examples of application, especially in Sweden and Germany. In our region, Uruguay and Argentina would be the leaders in the use of this technology for medical purposes.
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“The advantage could be this: it improves the speed in diagnosis and treatment, and another advantage is that with each attempt we make we identify errors, and then this system can be refined, profiled, so that there are fewer and fewer errors.” “said the oncologist from the International Clinic and president of the Peruvian Society of Mastology.
Another important detail is that AI can be applied regardless of location or distance, it optimizes the time of reporting only that information that the AI chooses as suspicious and improves people’s lifestyle.
“I live it daily. We have patients who come from the province because the tools and treatments are not available there to be able to deal with their illness,” he commented. That is to say, if this technology were available in the province, patients could receive their treatment without the need to travel and on time.
Besides…
Artificial intelligence in Peru
AI is at least 70 years old. After the appearance of ChatGPT, research has expanded in the last year, and in Peru a career in Artificial Intelligence Engineering is being proposed at the UNI. “He will have the ability to interact with different professionals: doctors, lawyers, psychologists, with other engineers, with architects,” commented Professor Wester Zela, about this professional.
However, Calderón also indicated that a weak point is the false positive, that is, an error can be made. For this reason, he also specified that medical work goes hand in hand with other professionals, such as systems engineers, or personnel who handle Big Data and artificial intelligence.
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What type of AI is applied in medicine? The general manager of the Multilab laboratory, Mateo Bedoya, indicated to this newspaper that there is a trend to use machine learning, unlike normal artificial intelligence. “Here you don’t give a specific rule to the computer, but rather you let the computer train itself and reach its conclusions,” said the specialist. Some forms of application are carried out in magnetic resonance or in the formulation of new drugs.
AI against breast cancer
Artificial intelligence applied in medicine is also an opportunity in Peru. At the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), the use of AI is being developed for the primary detection of breast cancer, one of the main causes of death of thousands of women.
This is a double project. Benjamin Castañeda, senior professor and researcher at the Department of Engineering at PUCP, tells us that “the first consists of the development of a digital palpation device whose idea is to improve the detection of breast cancer nodules.”
The device is applied to the breast, as if palpating the breast.
And the objective is to improve the self-palpation method because, according to the specialist, a lot depends on the person’s ability to detect something. “Many times it may not be detected, even though there is a nodule there, that there is a change in hardness,” he indicated, since the experience and sensitivity of the person is needed. And this is what the device will do.
To fulfill this function, there are pizoelectric sensors that detect small variations in hardness, a characteristic of the nodules. The next step is the second project, which consists of “using ultrasound to make an image of the breast in the place of interest that has been detected by the previous project.”
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Castañeda indicates that normally these exams are evaluated by a radiologist. However, in our country the great distances and lack of specialists make the early detection of diseases such as breast cancer difficult, therefore, using AI a call to action can be made for a specialized diagnosis.
The software used delivers the results that help the doctor make decisions. For the creation of the AI, we had the support of Samsung, but the PUCP researchers have also been working on their own algorithm.
University students also participate in the AI application project.
“To see a diagnosis as a call to action is very effective: more than 95% correct; The issue is that there are still several legal loopholes in how to handle some of the information that artificial intelligence gives you, and above all who assumes responsibility for having given, let’s say, that assignment,” commented the researcher. In the case of the PUCP project, what is done is to give a reference.
The startup MedicalINT, Sichuan Cancer Hospital (China), Samsung Medical and the University of Rochester are also participating in this double PUCP project. In the coming months it will be tested in regions.
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AI that uses sound
Another project that will soon arrive in Peru is developed by Audium Health and MultiLab. It consists of the creation of an AI that can detect signs of a possible lung disease, be it tuberculosis, pneumonia, fibrosis, bronchitis and even the dreaded COVID, through sound.
This would be the process of applying the device that identifies possible lung disease. (Image: Diffusion)
In this case, Mateo Bedoya, general manager of the Multilab laboratory, told us that there are already stethoscopes on the market that can record the sound of the lungs, so his work focuses clearly on the creation of an algorithm that recognizes possible diseases. . This work is performed by Audioum Health.
“Audium Health has a lot of experience in what they call acoustic deep learning and its application to sounds. So, some members of the team have worked, for example, applying to engines. How does this work? You approach an engine with a recorder so it can hear the sound,” she indicated. An algorithm will then indicate if maintenance is needed. It is this idea that the project follows to detect respiratory diseases.
Multilab’s work will consist of carrying out tests and providing information to the algorithm for artificial intelligence work. “They [Audium Health] They have more expertise in the deep learning part. We have more ‘expertise’ in the medical part. It is always important, let’s say, to have someone who is with the patient on a day-to-day basis,” commented the specialist.
The project is still in formation. It can be adapted to digital stethoscopes that cost around $400. Furthermore, Mateo Bedoya pointed out that in two or three years it could be available to specialists in different medical restorations as screening tests.
Deep learning is just one of the possibilities for using artificial intelligence, which consists of training a computer to perform tasks like those performed by human beings. This is how medicine has been changing in the world, and also in our country.
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