BLOG

Harnessing the Power of Data and AI in Healthcare: Opportunities & Challenges

July 10, 2023
Approximately 90% of the world's data has been generated in just the past two years (1). The volume and intricacies of this data exceeds human comprehension, particularly in healthcare, where the data is both complex and heterogenous. Clinical notes, lab tests, medical images, sensor readings, omics, as well as operational and financial information, exemplify the diverse nature of healthcare data. Extracting valuable insights from this heterogeneous data is highly challenging, in fact, according to estimations of the world economic forum, up to 97% of the data generated goes unused (2).
To unlock the potential of untapped data, healthcareprofessionals need the support of artificial intelligence (AI). The combinationof data and AI has the potential to revolutionize the healthcare industry by improvingdiagnostic accuracy and efficiency, enabling personalized treatment decisions,and accelerating and enhancing clinical research, ultimately leading to betterpatient outcomes (3). While these advancements hold great promise, there arechallenges to overcome. In this blog post, we will briefly introduce you to AI,explore its potential in healthcare, discuss key areas where data x AI can revolutionize the healthcare sector, and address the challenges that lie ahead.

A general introduction to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an interdisciplinary field rooted in computer science, mathematics, and neuroscience, that at its core enables computers to mimic human cognition, including learning, decision-making, and action-taking capacities. AI and machine learning (ML) are often used interchangeably, but ML is a subset of AI and refers to technologies and algorithms that enable systems to identify patterns, make decisions, and improve themselves through learning (4). Deep learning (DL), a specialized subset of ML, leverages multi-layered neural networks to enhance the capabilities of traditional ML.

Overview of AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning

The power of Deep Learning

Deep learning methods, as impressively demonstrated in recent months by large language models and other multimodal generative models, are exceptionally powerful; this is primarily attributed to their ability to handle and generate unstructured data, such as text and images. Unlike traditional approaches, DL models often eliminate the need for manual feature engineering since they can autonomously learn and represent intricate data patterns, at times surpassing human comprehension and articulation. This capability makes them invaluable in fields like healthcare, where there is a need to handle complex, unstructured, multimodal data. DL models can identify and exploit new and unexpected data features enabling accurate predictions (4).

Opportunies of AI in healthcare

AI can enhance diagnostics, inform treatment decisions and predict patient response

AI can facilitate processing and analysis of data generated through patient care, and clinical trials. This enables healthcare professionals (HCPs) to extract valuable insights and uncover data patterns that can lead to improved diagnostics, treatment decisions, and better patient outcomes. Radiology serves as a prime example, where machine learning is already helping analyze vast amounts of digital, unstructured data, assisting HCPs in detecting abnormalities, providing accurate interpretations, and predicting treatment response, and patient outcomes (4).

AI can facilitate remote patient monitoring

Telemedicine platforms, AI chatbots, virtual remote consultations, and health monitoring are becoming more predominant and strongly contribute to the exponential growth of raw data in healthcare. Without AI this massive flood of information cannot be handled. AI-enabled algorithms and devices – in contrast to human doctors – can process the continuous stream of patient-generated data, such as wearables, companion apps or remote patient monitoring. With the help of smart, AI-based systems it is possible to generate meaningful insights from all these streams of raw data, in order to monitor vital signs, detect anomalies, and provide real-time feedback to healthcare providers or clinical researchers (3).

AI can accelerate drug development

Biopharma can use AI to expedite the drug development process. AI already accelerates up preclinical stages of drug discovery and target identification, by for example predicting drug-target interactions or evaluating drug safety profiles. But also, when it comes to de-risking clinical trials the combination of data and AI presents enormous potential. From utilizing Real World Data for patient identification and designing efficient trail protocols, to implementing remote monitoring for decentralizing trials, or employing deep learning to discover novel imaging-based biomarkers, the opportunities are extensive (5).

Challenges of integrating AI in healthcare

Key challenges in fully utilizing AI's potential in healthcare and drug development include integrating AI into existing workflows, ensuring quality of data and results, and addressing data security and privacy concerns. The initial task is to seamlessly incorporate AI into diverse organizational processes, which requires a strategy that is both flexible and adaptable. This is closely linked to the need for high-quality data as well as reliable analytical tools and reproducible results that can cater to various populations and stakeholders. The use of large, fragmented data repositories introduces its own set of hurdles, including ensuring data interoperability and maintenance of robust security measures to protect sensitive medical data. Effective AI models in clinical research and drug development depend not only on access to high-quality and interoperable data, but also on the interpretability and reliability of the models, since it needs to be guaranteed that generated insights can be understood and reproduced by clinical researchers (6).

Realizing the potential of data x AI in healthcare

To fully utilize the capabilities of data and AI in healthcare we need to overcome the challenges outlined above. At AICURA medical we recognize these challenges and are creating a secure and collaborative data x AI ecosystem for healthcare and life sciences. AICURA's platform simplifies data access, exploration, and curation, and allows biopharma to leverage AI for automated analysis and predictive models. The platform connects the various stakeholders across the healthcare industry, fostering data-driven research, accelerating drug development, improving patient care, and driving AI-based product innovation.

In the evolving landscape of healthcare, data x AI hold immense potential, from advanced diagnostics to remote monitoring and accelerating drug discovery. In light of this AI revolution, AICURA medical is paving the way for innovation. By simplifying the data x AI journey, we empower healthcare professionals and biopharma to revolutionize patient care. Join us as we shape a world where data-driven insights and cutting-edge AI solutions redefine the boundaries of healthcare possibilities.

References

  1. Systematic Integration of Biomedical KnowledgePrioritizes Drugs for Repurposing. Daniel Scott Himmelstein, Antoine Lizee, ChristineHessler, Leo Brueggeman, Sabrina L Chen, Dexter Hadley, Ari Green, PouyaKhankhanian, Sergio E Baranzini. (2017). eLife 6:e26726. Link: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.26726
  2. 4 Ways Data is Improving Healthcare. World Economic Forum. Link: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/four-ways-data-is-improving-healthcare/
  3. Role of Application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its Importance in the Healthcare Industry. Kiradoo Giriraj. (April 3, 2018). International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology, 9(2), 2018, 104–107. SSRN link: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3824630
  4. The Ultimate Guide to AI in Radiology. Ory Six. Quantib. Link: https://www.quantib.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-ai-in-radiology#AI-the-basics
  5. Applying AI Across All Stages of Drug Development. Sarah Wehlan. (25 May, 2023). Link: https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/blog/applying-ai-across-all-stages-of-drug-development-373732
  6. Next Decade’s AI-Based Drug Development Features Tight Integration of Data and Computation. Luo Yunan, Peng Jian, Ma Jianzhu. Health Data Sci. 2022:2022; DOI link:10.34133/2022/9816939

Accelerate clinical programs using advanced data insights

Want to learn more about how AICURA can power your clinical research with data and AI?
Schedule a Demo