2023-09-18 10:36:27
In the field of medical care and health in general, we all share a common desire: access to high-quality services. However, in Argentina, the health system has been on alert for years due to low medical salaries, work overload, along with the growing administrative burden in medical care. On the other hand, low adherence to the medical residency system, unequal distribution of health professionals, especially in primary care. It makes evident the need for innovative solutions that meet the needs of both doctors and patients.
In this context, Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as an invaluable ally, reducing time and costs, raising the quality of care and guaranteeing accessibility for all. Is AI the doctor’s unavoidable co-pilot?
A couple of weeks ago a Swedish study, published in the journal The Lancet Oncology, showed that AI when reading mammograms found 20% more breast cancers, compared to expert doctors who must do it manually, also reducing 44% your reading workload.
Also in the detection of prostate cancer, an AI solution emerges: PaigProstate, 16 pathologists examined 527 biopsies using this technology, and obtained a 70% reduction in false negatives and a 24% reduction in false positives. That is, it increased the capacity of pathologists by 7.3%.
But without going any further, in our own country, these AI tools are already applied as co-pilots. Specifically at the Italian Hospital, with ArtemisIA, whose objective is the implementation of a neural network that allows reducing the variability of categorization between doctors and identifying high-risk patients to contribute to the precision screening of potential breast cancer.
It provides the reporting physician with a second reading and interpretation of the study, allowing automated triage to be carried out to optimize time and resources in medical practice processes, identifying studies with potential critical findings in advance.
Also applied in our country is AiRA10.0, an AI risk analysis tool, a risk classification system and prevention of complications for surgery, dermatology and aesthetic medicine.
Let’s think regarding the advantages of being able to bring these tools closer to doctors with or without experience, in rural areas, where there is a lack of professionals, while making excellent service available to every patient.
The challenge of updating
Medicine is constantly evolving at a dizzying pace, with new discoveries, methodologies and treatments emerging every day. The question that arises is: how can doctors stay updated and take advantage of all this new knowledge in the current context?
It is important to note that in the field of medicine, we talk regarding “Augmented Artificial Intelligence”, since AI does not replace doctors, but rather improves human intelligence.
AI systems work alongside doctors in decision-making, achieving more efficient care and reducing doctors’ workload, allowing them to focus on more complex cases.
AI in medicine also poses enormous ethical challenges, such as privacy and confidentiality to name a few, it involves collection, storage, analysis of a large amount of data that contains private and sensitive information. We must guarantee security in the processing of this data for the correct application of AI in the health field. The Personal Data Protection Law in Argentina (Law 25,326), its implementation and updating, is relevant. Know the tool and prevent hacks.
AI must be understood as a valuable complement, in order to elevate professionals to an unprecedented level of excellence, improve the quality of care, increase accessibility and alleviate the workload of doctors.
The challenge is to take advantage of this tool wisely and ethically, always keeping the patient’s well-being as a fundamental priority.
(*) Member of the Institute of Law and Artificial Intelligence of the Neuquén Bar Association, directed by Vanesa Ruiz.
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