The UK aims to save 22,000 people a year by 2033 utilising AI technology, in a new project to tackle chronic diseases launched today.
‘’Late diagnosis of otherwise treatable illnesses is one of the biggest causes of avoidable deaths,’’ Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to announce in Macclesfield later today.
The plan is to use emerging technology to catalogue and reference a person’s medical records, genetic information and habits against unspecified “national data”.
The plans to be laid out by the PM today aim to see 50,000 people each year diagnosed at the early stages of ovarian, lung and bowel cancer – diseases often caught dangerously late.
Commenting on today’s announcement Sir Harpal Kumar CEO of Cancer Research said; ‘’Earlier detection and diagnosis could fundamentally transform outcomes for people with cancer, as well as saving the NHS money.’’
“Using the power of artificial intelligence is pioneering,’’ and will; ‘”revolutionise healthcare,’’ Sir Kumar stated.
However, he did stress that while this type of technology has the power to transform healthcare, “we need to ensure we have the right infrastructure, embedded in our health system, to make this possible.’’
Prototypes on the Way
Emerging technology is about to have an impact on healthcare as prototypes are in development across all sectors.
This year Google announced its work on a microscope that will use augmented reality and machine learning to help doctors identify cancerous growths faster.
‘’The platform consists of a modified light microscope that enables real-time image analysis and presentation of the results of machine learning algorithms directly into the field of view,’’ Google announced via their blog.
‘’We configured it to run two different cancer detection algorithms: one that detects breast cancer metastases in lymph node specimens, and another that detects prostate cancer in prostatectomy specimens…the result of a given model is displayed by outlining detected tumour regions with a green contour.’’
This technique can speed up detection rates and as the algorithms use machine learning their detection of cancer growths becomes more accurate over time.
Microsoft is also working on treatments using AI and ML to further cancer research.
Andrew Phillip,s head of the biological computation research group for Microsoft at their Cambridge lab said on a Microsoft blog: “We can use methods that we’ve developed for programming computers to program biology, and then unlock even more applications and even better treatments.’’
