Artificial intelligence may have already been used to diagnose you

A doctor looks at an X-ray on a screen helped by artificial
intelligence. (Photo by Damien Meyer/AFP via Getty Images)

Kentucky Health News

As Congress and federal regulators begin to take steps to monitor and control the use of artificial intelligence, "The technology has already been put to use in unseen and unregulated ways in health care," Ben Leonard and Chelsea Cirruzzo report for Politico Pulse, drawing on a Politico story by Daniel Payne and Ruth Reader on how A.I. is affecting Americans. Here are some ways:

Medical imaging: A.I. is is commonly used in radiology, to help "decipher medical images like X-rays — and some systems work on par with humans, according to recent studies," Politico reports. "The algorithms also measure and improve radiologists' performance."

Cancer: The progression of a cancer can be hard to evaluate, and A.I. can help, especially with prostate cancer, in which "tumors grow in multiple locations and extend in ways that might not get picked up on imaging," Politico reports.

Recordkeeping: "A.I. systems help doctors make better sense of their notes. Many health-tech companies target 'low-risk, high-reward projects' that can summarize information and act more like a secretary than a co-pilot.

Billing and coverage: "Firms are toying with technology that can change how bills are generated and processed. . . . A.I. can scrutinize bills more quickly than humans, leading to potential labor and time savings." Advocates say it will make claims move faster, "but skeptics worry AI could reduce transparency and accountability in decision-making" by health-care providers and insurers."

The Food and Drug Administration "has taken an experimental approach to regulating A.I. in medical devices, mostly issuing strategic plans and policy guidance," Politico reports. "The biggest challenge is that A.I. evolves over time, and companies don’t want to re-apply for FDA clearance to market their technology." The Department for Health and Human Services finalized a rule in December that would require more transparency about A.I. in clinical settings.

Study suggests there's too much imaging of low-risk prostate- and breast-cancer patients in the Evansville and Louisville areas

Hospitals and doctors in the Evansville and Louisville areas may be doing too much medical imaging on patients with low-risk prostate or breast cancer, according to a study of cases in the middle of the last decade.

Researchers at New York University examined Medicare records from 2004 through 2007 of 9,219 men with low-risk prostate cancer and 30,398 women with low-risk breast cancer, across 84 of the nation's hospital referral regions. They concluded that unnecessary imaging was done in 44 percent of men and 42 percent of women, they report in the journal JAMA Oncology.

The report did not give rates for each hospital region, but ranked them, and Evansville was second, right behind Slidell, La., and Louisville was 24th. Owensboro was 37th. Other regions listed were Paducah, 45th; Nashville, 57th; and Lexington, 78th. For the study appendix, listing the hospital areas and their rankings, click here.

The study found that "hospitals in the Northeast reported higher use of imaging tests for low-risk patients, while other regions, such as the Northwest and Utah, demonstrated more appropriate use of imaging," an NYU press release said. It quoted Dr. Danil V. Makarov, the lead investigator and professor, as saying, “Policy makers and researchers need to target high-utilization regions and promote incentives for appropriate care. Such a focus would enhance efforts to cut excessive health spending and build value-based strategies into health care practice.”

Imaging for prostate cancer generally involves CT scans or bone scans. Imaging for breast cancer generally involves CT, MR and PET scans.

Hybrid operating room, with both surgery and imaging, part of UK Chandler Hospital's $800 million expansion

A distinguishing feature of the $800 million expansion to the University of Kentucky's Chandler Hospital will be a hybrid operating room.

The 1,000-square-foot room, with a price tag of $3.2 million, allows physicians to perform surgeries as well as patient imaging and catheterization, thus giving it the "hybrid" label. The imaging is performed with help of a robotic arm, enabling doctors to get needed information without moving patients, the Lexington Herald-Leader's Mary Meehan reports. The room will allow surgeons to perform common heart procedures, such as the insertion of stents, as well as complex surgeries.

Dr. Bernard Boulanger, UK HealthCare surgical medical director, told Meehan the hybrid room will be used "every day, most of the day."

To test the efficiency of the room's design, a to-scale model was built out of Styrofoam in which doctors, nurses and technicians simulated procedures. The renovation, which is in its second phase, will also add eight standard operating rooms to the facility, each of which will cost $1 million. (Read more)