DeepMind Leverages AI to Tackle Sight-Threatening Eye Diseases in New NHS Collaboration

DeepMindis a UK-based subsidiary of Google, which recently announced a partnership with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) ofMoorfieldsAn ophthalmology hospital has launched a new research project to apply artificial intelligence technology to the early detection and treatment of vision-threatening eye diseases.

This project isDeepMindwithNHStheir second collaboration, and the first to incorporate artificial intelligence.NHSofMoorfieldsThe eye hospital will provide toDeepMindProvide10010,000 anonymous eye scans, which will be used to study how machine learning analyzes optical coherence tomography (OCT) images and develop algorithms capable of detecting early signs of ocular diseases such as wet age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. The goal of this project is to enable artificial intelligence to identify vision-impairing symptoms through a single retinal scan.

This collaboration between the two parties is attributed to MoorfieldsOphthalmologist at the HospitalPearse Keane, he withDeepMindReach out to explore collaborative approaches to combat these two special eye diseases that affect over 100 million people worldwide, with diabetic retinopathy being the leading cause of blindness.

MoorfieldsIntegrate the scan data collected in patients' daily care over the past few years withDeepMindshared; therefore, the information involved in the study will not directly affect current patient care, and this will help researchers detect and intervene in vision deterioration more rapidly. Currently, eye care specialists useOCTSDigital ocular scanning generates images that are complex and time-consuming to analyze, rendering traditional computer-based analytical tools inadequate for the task.

DeepMindYu2014Year1acquired by Google in May this year.2Month, GoogleDeepMindAnnounced a partnership with the UK's National Health Service to jointly develop medical applications. One of the apps is "Data Flow" (Streams), providing physicians with information on patients with acute renal failure, and the other is "listening" (Hark), assisting doctors and nurses in organizing handwritten notes for immediate processing.

Last time withNHSduring collaboration on application development,DeepMindDue to full access to approximately160medical records of tens of thousands of patients, which has sparked some controversy. However, this collaboration should not raise concerns about patient privacy, as the data involves anonymized eye scans and related information on ocular conditions and disease management. ，Moorfields The hospital has already collected data through routine care over time. 

“This means that no patients can be identified from these scan images.” GoogleDeepMindIn a statement, it said, “Moreover, these scans are part of the historical record; that is to say, our findings can be used to improve future healthcare but will not affect the care currently received by patients.”

Original Source:mobihealthnews.com