When image becomes cure: the new frontier of guided therapy

Worldwide, no less than 37 million people would need to replace a mitral heart valve that has become inefficient due to age or other reasons, but only a fraction of them undergo the procedure. This involves opening the chest and sternum, and most patients cannot handle such an invasive operation.

Soon, however, the number of those who get a new valve may increase, thanks to a device that integrates echocardiogram information with real-time X-ray information using artificial intelligence (Ai), returning 3D images that contain a navigation system in the individual heart. This allows surgeons to operate minimally invasively, and therefore with catheters.

Designing the DeviceGuide (this is the name of the instrument) was Philips, which presented this and other results of the integration of Ai in medical instruments at its headquarters, the Best campus near Eindhoven, within the life science area called BrainPort. DeviceGuide is an example of what is called Image-Guided Therapy, i.e. the most innovative approach to different types of treatment, in which information produced by imaging systems is processed by Ai in real time to direct the actions of doctors (surgeons but not only) towards the most appropriate decision for the individual patient.

Another example are instruments that correct radiotherapy beams based on CT data, which significantly reduce the risk of irradiating healthy tissues to concentrate maximum power on neoplastic ones. Similarly, new CT and MRI scans with Ai process images autonomously, correct the framing and thus make it possible to reduce diagnostic radiation and examination duration by up to 80 per cent, with sometimes impressive effects. A new paediatric CT scan with Ai, for instance, takes only a few tens of minutes as opposed to several hours for conventional ones, and as seen in studies in cancer hospitals, this reduces the need for sedation in children by almost 90%. Incidentally, after each action, it is still Ai who suggests possible improvements and corrections, so that each intervention represents a small step forward compared to the previous ones.

Ai is therefore coming fast into modern medicine and companies like Philips, which has been at the forefront of designing advanced medical equipment since the 1970s, know this. And they believe in it, for reasons explained by Shez Partovi, chief innovation officer of the Dutch giant that employs 3,500 people from 75 countries and with the most diverse skills in Best alone. Partovi explains: 'There is a dramatic shortage of doctors and nurses worldwide, which will not be resolved any time soon: it is estimated that by 2030 there will be a shortage of no less than ten million doctors. Falling birth rates and longer life expectancies are having a devastating effect on health systems, making care less and less accessible. One of the answers is the introduction of Ai, which can radically change the way practitioners work, with enormous benefits for everyone. Investments of this kind are successful precisely because they provide concrete solutions, revolutionising the way of working'.