AI could even help humanity get back on track to achieve the United Nations' sustainable development goal of universal health coverage by 2030.

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AI assists in assessing ambulance needs. Photo: Weforum.org

However, despite the rapid technological advancements, the healthcare sector is "below average" in its adoption of AI compared to other industries, according to a World Economic Forum report titled "The Future of AI-Based Healthcare: Leading the Way."

According to the report, "AI-driven transformation is not just about adopting new tools, but requires rethinking the entire way healthcare is delivered and accessed."

With the AI-generated healthcare market projected to reach $2.7 billion this year—and nearly $17 billion by 2034—here are some ways AI is transforming the healthcare industry:

AI can analyze brain images.

A new AI software program is twice as accurate as experts in analyzing brain images of stroke patients. Two universities in the UK trained the software on 800 brain scans and then tested it on 2,000 patients. The results were impressive. In addition to its high accuracy, the software was also able to identify the timeframe of stroke occurrence – a crucial factor for doctors.

Neurologist Paul Bentley told Health Tech Newspaper: “For the vast majority of strokes caused by blood clots, if patients arrive at the hospital within 4.5 hours of the stroke, they are eligible for both medication and surgery. Within 6 hours, surgery is still possible, but after that point, treatment decisions become more difficult because many cases are irreversible. Therefore, accurately determining the onset and recovery potential is crucial.”

AI detects bone fractures better than humans.

Using AI for initial analysis could help avoid unnecessary X-rays and minimize the risk of missing fractures. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK says the technology is safe, reliable, and could reduce the number of follow-up visits.

Assessing ambulance needs using AI.

In the UK, around 350,000 people are transported to hospital by ambulance each month. The decision of who needs to be transferred to another hospital rests with pre-hospital medical staff, amidst a constant shortage of hospital beds. A study in Yorkshire (northern England) showed that in 80% of cases, AI could accurately predict which patients needed to be transferred. The AI ​​model was trained based on factors such as mobility, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, and chest pain – notably, the AI ​​showed no bias in its data processing.

Early detection of over 1,000 diseases.

A new machine learning model from AstraZeneca has the potential to detect disease before patients experience any symptoms. Based on medical data from 500,000 people in a UK medical database, the model can “predict with high confidence a diagnosis years later.”

Another study in the UK found that an AI tool could detect 64% of epileptic brain lesions that radiologists had previously missed. Trained with over 1,100 MRI scans of adults and children globally, the AI ​​not only detected lesions faster but also identified very small or hidden lesions invisible to the human eye.

Medical chatbots support clinical decision-making.

Doctors need to make quick and accurate decisions, and while AI can help speed up the process, it also carries the risk of providing inaccurate or biased information.

A US study showed that standard large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini cannot provide doctors with complete and scientifically- based answers. However, ChatRWD – a generative system with enhanced information retrieval – performed better, with 58% of answers being useful (compared to 2%-10% from conventional LLMs).

Digital interfaces are also being deployed to support patient triage. A 2024 report from the World Economic Forum's Digital Health Transformation Initiative states that the Huma digital patient platform could help reduce readmission rates by 30%, decrease physician review time by up to 40%, and “reduce the workload for healthcare staff.”

The report anticipates that future technologies will “dramatically transform the healthcare experience for patients. Healthy individuals can use monitoring devices to optimize their physical and mental health, while those with health problems will have access to a range of digital solutions.”

(According to Weforum.org)

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cach-ai-dang-lam-thay-doi-nganh-y-te-2386768.html