Page 58 - AIH-2-3
P. 58

Artificial Intelligence in Health                            AI in medical diagnostics: A multi-disease approach



            However, while AI has made significant strides, it is crucial   algorithms can analyze medical data, learn from patterns
            to acknowledge that these technologies are designed to   over time, and provide real-time insights to healthcare
            augment, not replace, human expertise in healthcare. The   providers. As healthcare systems continue to adopt digital
            ethical implications of AI use, including concerns about   technologies, AI’s role in diagnostics is expected to expand
            data privacy and the need for continuous validation of   significantly, aiding in the transition toward personalized
            AI models, remain critical areas for future research and   medicine.
            development.
                                                               6.4. Impact of AI on healthcare workflows
            6.2. Evolution of AI in healthcare                 Medical diagnostics is a complex and time-sensitive field,
            Driven by the challenges of an aging population and a global   often constrained by the limited availability of healthcare
            shortage of healthcare professionals, the adoption of AI in   professionals and the increasing demands of an aging
            medical diagnostics has expanded rapidly. AI’s integration   population. AI has the potential to alleviate some of
            into healthcare systems enables the development of   these pressures by automating routine diagnostic tasks
            intelligent, efficient systems for managing patient records,   and allowing healthcare providers to focus on more
            developing treatment plans, and diagnosing diseases. The   complex aspects of patient care. AI-enabled systems can
            evolution of AI has been categorized into two primary   continuously process and learn from new patient data,
            systems: expert systems and ML-based systems.      updating diagnostic models in real time and potentially
                                                               surpassing  human  capabilities  in  certain  diagnostic
              Expert systems are designed to replicate human   areas. 26-28
            decision-making, drawing from a structured knowledge
            base and inference engine. These systems assist in   For example, AI can be particularly effective in analyzing
            diagnostic processes using predefined rules and logical   medical images from multiple modalities (e.g., CT, MRI,
            reasoning to provide clinical insights. However, expert   and X-ray) to identify abnormalities that may be missed
            systems have limitations in scalability and adaptability due   by human eyes. In addition, based on up-to-date patient
            to their reliance on predefined knowledge bases.   information and medical data, AI-powered CDSSs can
                                                               offer real-time recommendations to healthcare providers,
              On the other hand, ML algorithms have become     guiding them toward optimal treatment strategies.
            increasingly prevalent  due to their  ability  to  learn and
            improve from large datasets without requiring explicit   6.5. Future directions for AI in medical diagnostics
            programming. ML models,  especially those using DL   Looking  ahead, the  future  of AI  in medical  diagnostics
            techniques, are particularly powerful in identifying   is likely to involve more sophisticated technologies, such
            patterns in complex data, including medical imaging and   as quantum AI (QAI)  and general AI (GAI).  QAI has
            genomic sequences. The predictive capabilities of these   the potential to accelerate diagnostic model training by
            models improve as they are exposed to more data, making   leveraging the  superior  processing power  of quantum
            them valuable assets in dynamic healthcare environments.  computers, enabling faster analysis of large datasets.
            6.3. AI models in clinical diagnostics             This could lead to more accurate and timely diagnoses,
                                                               especially for complex diseases that require the evaluation
            Numerous AI models, such as SVM, classification trees, and   of multiple factors.
            artificial neural networks (ANN), have shown promising
            results in diagnosing acute and chronic illnesses. 15-22  These   Similarly, GAI systems – such as IBM’s Watson, Google’s
            technologies have been successfully applied in detecting   DeepMind, and OpenAI’s GPT models – are increasingly
            conditions  such  as acute appendicitis  and Alzheimer’s   being integrated into healthcare applications to provide
            disease. 20-26                                     more holistic and generalized diagnostic solutions. AI
                                                               also holds promise in the realm of personalized medicine,
              Moreover, the integration of multiple AI algorithms has   where algorithms can analyze individual patient data –
            significantly enhanced the accuracy of detecting malignant   ranging from medical history to genetic information – to
            cells. 18-25  The development of AI-driven systems has also   tailor treatment plans specifically to the patient’s needs.
            shown promise in predicting the recurrence of diseases   This approach could lead to more effective treatment
            such as breast cancer and monitoring patients with chronic   outcomes and a more efficient overall healthcare system.
            conditions such as diabetes and swallowing disorders. 13-22
                                                               However, the widespread adoption of AI in medical
              AI’s application in healthcare diagnostics is particularly   diagnostics will require addressing several challenges,
            valuable in cases where human error is common or where   including the need for high-quality, labeled medical data,
            there is a need to process vast amounts of data quickly. AI   interoperability between AI systems, and the development


            Volume 2 Issue 3 (2025)                         52                               doi: 10.36922/aih.5173
   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63