Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a game-changing technology that delivers much in the way of improved productivity and process control. In medical applications, AI is frequently associated with image analysis. In fact, AI shows great promise for endoscopic image analysis. But AI can do much more. AI is doing much more. When used during advanced endoscopic procedures, AI technology dramatically reduces radiation exposure to the patient as well as to the staff.
In a 2018 article by Jennifer Bresnick discussing the top 12 ways AI will impact healthcare, Dr. Jeffrey Golden stated that artificial intelligence can improve productivity by identifying features of interest in images. Besnick concluded that using intelligent algorithms in (medical) devices could reduce cognitive burdens on physicians and help patients receive better care.
Taking this to its next step, AI can determine and control certain aspects of medical procedures, thereby freeing the physician to focus on what’s most important – their patient and the outcome. A great example of such a process is the establishment and control of the region of interest (ROI) during an interventional procedure. Like identifying features of interest in images (image analysis) an ROI can be learned and controlled by AI.
Many interventional cases are still done using a full field of view (FOV), disregarding the physician’s actual ROI. This exposes the patient to greater radiation dose and the staff to more scatter radiation. AI-enabled technology can detect where in the anatomy the physician is focused and automatically collimate to that ROI. With advanced image processing, the result is superior image quality that dramatically reduces radiation exposure to everyone in the room.
In a prospective study presented to The American Journal of Gastroenterology (AJG), Ji Young Bang MD, MPH, Matthew Hough MS, Robert H. Hawes MD, and Shyam Varadarajulu MD evaluated the utility of an AI-enabled fluoroscopy system to minimize radiation exposure during image-guided endoscopic procedures.
The results of the study conclusively showed that AI-enabled fluoroscopy systems significantly reduce radiation exposure to patients and scatter effect to physicians and staff. The dose area product (DAP) was 61.8% lower (2,178 vs 5,708 mGym2) while the scatter radiation to staff was 59.4% lower 0.28 vs 0.69 mSv) using the AI system compared to the conventional non-AI system.
The advantage of using AI technology during advanced endoscopy procedures is clear – superior image quality with lower radiation exposure to the patient, physician, and staff. AI provides an automatic, hand-free solution to radiation reduction that delivers the benefit of consistent and repeatable results beyond what conventional non-AI systems can provide – all while providing superior image quality with no change in existing workflow.
The fluoroscopy systems designed and built by Omega utilize advanced AI-enabled technology to deliver consistent and repeatable radiation reduction to patients and staff beyond anything else in use today. Omega takes radiation safety to a new level – creating a new standard of care and obsoleting systems without this technology.
