Transforming Healthcare: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Blockchain
Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are forging ahead as disruptors and innovators in various industries. The vital healthcare industry is no exception, as new technologies and possibilities are unearthed that can benefit healthcare institutions, professionals and most importantly, the patient at the centre of it all.
AI in healthcare comprises a collection of multiple technologies enabling machines to sense, understand, learn and act so they can perform clinical and administrative functions. Unlike older technologies such as algorithms and tools that only complement a human, healthcare AI today can truly augment human activities.
With the huge potential to unleash improvements in cost, quality and access, AI’s popularity in healthcare is soaring. According to Accenture, growth in the AI health market is expected to reach US$6.6 billion by 2021 – a compound annual growth rate of 40%.
Likewise, blockchain has the potential to transform healthcare by increasing the security, privacy and interoperability of health systems. As reported by Deloitte, this technology could provide a new model for health information exchanges by making electronic medical records more efficient, disintermediated and secure. Blockchain-based systems also have the potential to reduce or eliminate the friction and costs of current intermediaries.
The application of AI solutions in healthcare could improve and even save people’s lives. The prospects of personalized medicine are today still being discussed in terms of aspirations and potential. Personalized medicine refers to a healthcare approach where diagnoses and treatments are highly tailored to meet the patient’s personal and family history as well as his or her specific risk factors and genetics. Although many personalized medicine options are little more than fads, AI could well change that. As more and more data is collected and analyzed by deep learning AI models, personalized medicine may well become a common reality.
The evolution of personalized medicine begins at the diagnosis stage. Home-based AI-driven diagnosis is still in its early stages, but exciting applications are emerging. For example, Remidio, a medical device company from India, makes a mobile phone-based diagnosis for diabetes by analyzing photographs of a user’s eye, a method which has already been used successfully.
Eventually, AI-driven personalized medicine may be able to analyze a person’s personal genome and determine what treatments are most likely to be effective. However, the machine learning training dataset for this doesn’t exist — yet.
AI may also be of help in one of the most “hands-on” areas of medicine: surgery. To be sure, there have been robotic solutions in surgery for years, including the advanced da Vinci system which enables surgeons to take control of precision robotic equipment to perform minimally invasive procedures. However, these are 100% human-controlled machines with no AI elements. But not anymore.
The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot (STAR) can already suture stitches that are cleaner and more accurate than what a human surgeon can do. Early tests show that the technology can also accurately remove a tumour with less damage to the surrounding tissue. Furthermore, many of these robotic procedures can be conducted laparoscopically (i.e.
