Filling the Gap in Radiology: Kernel Accelerates Cancer Treatment Despite Staffing Shortages.Siemens Healthineers shows how AI in medical imaging is improving cancer treatment speed and accuracy at Intel Vision.
The healthcare industry is at a turning moment. As individuals live longer, fewer kids are born, and a significant group approaches their senior years, the population is shifting towards an older demographic. The rate of cancer diagnosis rises with age and advancements in cancer screening.
When those factors are combined with a severe lack of radiology technicians the American Society of Radiologic Technologists reports that the vacancy rate has increased from 6.2% in 2021 to 18.1% currently it creates the ideal environment for cancer patients to face longer treatment plans, delayed diagnoses, or the risk of cancer progression, all of which are accompanied by elevated anxiety.
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However, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly emerging as a way to reduce radiologists’ workload and expedite patient care. Siemens Healthineers employs artificial intelligence to more precisely identify anomalies with the use of potent Intel Xeon Scalable processors. This enables patients to receive diagnoses more quickly and start targeted therapies sooner.
AI Aids Patients in Beginning Treatment More Quickly
Siemens Healthineers, a multinational medical technology firm dedicated to delivering innovation to patients and healthcare professionals, is one of Intel’s top clients in the healthcare sector. Siemens Healthineers is showcasing its AI-Rad Companion software, which is powered by Intel Xeon Scalable processors optimized for AI at the edge, at the Intel Vision event beginning.
A collection of AI algorithms called AI-Rad Companion aids physicians in expediting diagnosis and treatment. The AI can almost immediately visually partition anatomical structures and color-contour, or “shade,” the cancerous cells of a tumour to be targeted for radiation treatment, leaving healthy cells unaffected, using a CT or MRI scan of a patient slated for cancer treatment.
The clinician may need to spend hours or perhaps days manually separating out these various anatomical elements. Intel can now accomplish it in a matter of seconds to the AI-Rad Companion,” explains Siemens Healthineers’ Director of Digital and Automation, Peter Shen. As a result, cancer patients who have been impatiently awaiting the start of their radiation therapy no longer have to wait days or weeks. Plans for those radiation treatments can be created very instantly.
AI-Rad Companion’s algorithms have been taught to identify organs and anatomical data using Intel’s OpenVINO technology, an open source toolset that can be used to speed up AI inferencing. The AI can detect even the smallest aberration and alert the doctor with its position and nature using that data. It helps doctors diagnose neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s and brain, prostate, and lung disorders. Because it expedites patients’ treatment planning, this can lower the cost of care.
A clinician’s diagnostic interpretation time while evaluating complex imaging cases can be decreased by using the AI-Rad Companion program to help them locate, measure, characterise, and quantify anomalies. Additionally, medical clinics utilising AI-Rad Companion can select the most effective method of software access because Xeon Scalable processors are made for both server-based and cloud-based applications.
AI Assists Clinicians, Does Not Replace Them
Keep in mind that AI will never replace human thought. A clinician approves the AI advice while a physician makes the diagnosis. However, compared to results from human technicians, contour scan results are significantly more consistent due to the AI’s thoroughness.
Clinically acceptable outlines are produced by AI in about 95% of cases. Additionally, the public’s acceptance of AI use is growing.
According to a 2023 poll of 1,027 Americans from four generations, 64% of them would trust an AI diagnosis more than a human physician. Among Gen Z respondents, that percentage increased to 82%. Additionally, the area of medical imaging analysis was where consumers felt most at ease with AI.
Additionally, radiology technicians may do other important duties and see more patients with the same number of staff members to the enormous time savings that AI-Rad Companion offers.
Why It’s Critical Clinicians Get Comfortable with AI
According to Siemens Healthineers, AI-Rad Companion has processed more than 2 million imaging tests in clinics and hospitals worldwide. For the industry, increasing adoption is essential.
The FDA has authorised over 1,000 AI algorithms to date, yet only a small percentage of them are covered by Medicare or Medicaid. Furthermore, private insurance companies do not now cover any of the costs of AI-assisted treatment.
Despite the fact that AI-driven diagnostics and treatments have been shown to accelerate diagnosis and treatment, hospitals and clinics are less willing to invest in these technologies if they cannot receive reimbursement for them. Only a few patients and providers who can afford them get these benefits.
Shen stresses the importance of acclimating therapists to this technology and explaining how an AI system makes therapeutic recommendations.Doctors that use technology can justify its therapeutic and economic value using data and patient outcomes, improving reimbursement and even changing legislation.
Shen spoke before the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Finance Committee in 2023 and 2024 as to why AI in healthcare needs a common reimbursement system.
Intel has been actively working to support various approaches, such as reimbursement, to encourage the use of AI in healthcare and guarantee that this cutting-edge technology is accessible to clinicians for both diagnosis and treatment.
