The Roche Institute Foundation has released a new report on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Personalized Precision Medicine. The report, prepared by the Observatory of Trends in Future Medicine, examines various examples of AI implementation in healthcare, including prevention, prediction of risks, early detection and diagnosis of diseases, monitoring of diseases, and comprehensive treatment approaches.
The report also highlights the potential of AI in biomedical research, drug research and development, and in the training of health professionals and researchers. Consuelo Martín de Dios, the managing director of the Roche Institute Foundation, believes that AI tools will have a significant impact on medical care practice, leading to more precise and personalized medicine that benefits patients and creates a more efficient and sustainable health system.
Victor Maojo, the coordinator of the report and a professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, acknowledges the growing importance of AI but emphasizes that healthcare professionals will continue to make the final decisions in medical care.
The report explores the potential of AI in predictive and preventive health, which can be used to anticipate emergency situations and develop more accurate disease risk prediction models. This can help reduce the burden of diseases on health systems and identify individuals who are likely to benefit from prevention strategies.
AI’s ability to integrate and analyze data from different sources can also enhance early disease detection and offer more precise diagnoses. In fields such as radiology and pathology, AI advancements like radiomics and digital pathology can reduce variability in image interpretations and improve diagnosis speed and accuracy.
Furthermore, AI can contribute to understanding how various factors affect treatment outcomes, leading to the development of tools that aid health professionals in selecting the best treatment and dosage for each patient.
The impact of AI is not limited to clinical practice. It also has the potential to revolutionize medication research and development, reducing the time required for pharmacological research, identifying new molecules and therapeutic targets, and designing new treatments.
Despite these advancements, there are still challenges regarding the implementation of AI in healthcare. The variability in clinical practice and the lack of standardized systems across hospitals pose difficulties in applying AI universally. Additionally, the integration of AI requires increased investment in research, innovation, personnel, projects, and infrastructure in healthcare.
To advance the incorporation of AI in medicine, Victor Maojo suggests increasing the hospital budget for research and innovation. He also highlights the need for specific regulations addressing the ethical and legal aspects of AI’s use in healthcare.
The report concludes that the technological transformation of the health system is inevitable and should consider the complexities of clinical issues, as well as ethical and legal considerations. Specific regulations for AI’s use in healthcare are necessary for its successful implementation.