Exploring the Multi-facets of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) remains the topic of conversation at conferences and throughout the media in 2019. At the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA) 2018 meeting and the recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference in Orlando, all eyes were on AI. Contributing Editor Greg Freiherr wrote extensive pre-, at- and post-show coverage for both regarding the trending application, and how implementing it can be achievable and the steps needed to get there, or at least get a good start.

In Freiherr’s Podcast “Hear and Now: AI and Imaging, Your Data as Strategic Asset,” Esteban Rubens, an IT infrastructure architect and executive at Pure Storage, a California company that develops flash data storage hardware and software, acknowledged that there has been “a lot of hype” around medical AI. But he stated that the hype is giving way to real progress. “We are way past the pure hype stage, because we have real things happening,” he said. “We are starting to see a lot of actual applications down to the clinical practice level of AI.”

These applications are spreading across all modalities of radiology, including women’s health. A new study published in the journal Radiology states that there is an artificial intelligence algorithm that measures breast density at the level of an experienced mammographer. The researchers said the study, the result of a collaboration between breast imagers and AI experts, represents a groundbreaking implementation of AI into routine clinical practice. Study lead author Constance D. Lehman M.D., Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, attributed the successful clinical implementation of the AI model to two components: the availability of high-quality, annotated data evaluated by expert radiologists, and the collaborative efforts of experienced, accomplished medical and computer science professionals.

“We have to have radiologists and other physicians who understand the pressing needs of our patients and can partner with computer scientists who are experts in AI,” she said. “That is the collaboration that is going to move the field forward.”

Artificial intelligence is on the slate to be discussed in educational sessions at The Society of Breast Imaging’s annual symposium as well, where this year’s focus will be on value in breast imaging. ITN will also feature exclusive pre- at- and post-show coverage of this symposium. If you are attending, please stop by Booth #303 and tell the ITN team about the trends you are hearing about at the symposium this year.