Due to the pervasiveness of modern technology, artificial intelligence (AI) has been considered as a great asset, especially when it comes to precision medicine. Following the previous reports about AI's potential in cancer and Alzheimer's disease detection and treatment, artificial intelligence is now ready to take on the challenge in blindness prevention.
Today, combining the field of medicine and artificial intelligence is no longer new and surprising, instead it has become very promising. But what is more interesting is the fact that the AI is not only invading the field of medicine but also the existence of its broad and expansive subspecialties.
Artificial Intelligence In Eye Medicine
Google DeepMind and London's Moorfields Eye Hospital have recently collaborated to create an artificial intelligence-based platform that will determine eye diseases from scans. According to Daily Mirror, the collaboration will use artificial intelligence to detect early signs of conditions, which are often missed by humans, in a million anonymous eye scans.
"Our research with DeepMind has the potential to revolutionize the way professionals carry out eye tests and could lead to earlier detection and treatment of common eye diseases such as AMD [Age-Related Macular Degeneration]," Moorfields Eye Hospital's National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Center in Ophthalmology director and professor Sir Peng Tee Khaw said, as per BBC News. "With sight loss predicted to double by the year 2050, it is vital we explore the use of cutting-edge technology to prevent eye disease."
How Artificial Intelligence Can Help In Eye Diseases Diagnosis
As for the project's mechanism, the artificial intelligence-based system will be reviewing blood test results and look for signs of deterioration. Then, it will reportedly send an alert to an appropriate member or staff if it would detect any problems.
Through the partnership with Google DeepMind, experts are hopeful that an artificial intelligence-based method can help in the examination of scans with greater efficacy and better accuracy compared to the traditional approaches. With that said, experts are optimistic it can lead to the early detection, intervention and prevention of eye diseases such as blindness, diabetic retinopathy and AMD, Engadget notes.
DeepMind Aims To Detect Two Specific Eye Conditions
Despite the criticisms over the collaboration, DeepMind aims to detect two specific eye conditions. These are the wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, which is considered as the most common cause of blindness worldwide, The Verge reveals.
"There's so much at stake, particularly with diabetic retinopathy," DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman told The Guardian. "If you have diabetes you're 25 times more likely to go blind. If we can detect this, and get in there as early as possible, then 98 percent of the most severe visual loss might be prevented."
In the United Kingdom, two million people are living with vision loss and almost 360,000 recorded cases were blind or partially sighted. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), on the other hand, is affecting more than 600,000 people and it has been predicted that around 700,000 people will have late-stage AMD in the U.K. by 2020.
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