Future Healthcare Today curates the latest news and trends in the health IT industry. In this roundup, we focus on advancements in healthcare using AI including data-driven technology, like cyclotrons, to benefit patients and providers.

ACCELERATING REALITY THROUGH DATA-DRIVEN TECHNOLOGY PLATFORMS

Geisinger Health System, which serves over 3 million patients in central, south-central and northeastern Pennsylvania, and southern New Jersey, is now using data-driven technology to predict signs of cardiovascular disease including cardiac events. Housed within Geisinger’s Cardiac Imaging and Technology Laboratory is Tempus technology’s propriety machine learning platform which analyzes Geisinger’s clinical database to determine proactive treatments and interventions. “This collaboration brings together complementary areas of expertise unified behind a joint vision of integrating the best technology available to positively impact our patients,” said Brandon Fornwalt, MD, co-director of the Cardiac Imaging and Technology Laboratory at Geisinger. Read the story here.

DATA IS THE KEY IN MEDICAL IMAGING

We know that the healthcare industry is depending more and more on AI especially as it pertains to medical imaging. So, what’s the driver of success when using AI in medical imaging? Data. Because in the end, it’s not about machines churning out answers it’s about “developing insights and knowledge that can be put to work for the good of the patient and provider that were previously unrealistic in terms of time and complexity,” says shared data expert Mike McNamara. Read the story here.

USING PARTICLE ACCELERATORS TO SHOW HIDDEN ABNORMALITIES IN SCANS

It’s now confirmed that all three Mayo Clinic campuses are home to cyclotrons, otherwise known as particle accelerators, which are injected into patients prior to scans and show abnormalities including small amounts of cancer cells. While other imaging techniques are incapable of providing the metabolic information needed for treatment, the cyclotron produces radioactive material to image even the smallest of abnormalities which is then used to determine the patient’s therapy. Recently, one of Mayo’s cyclotrons was used to find a recurrence of prostate cancer in a patient. The patient was treated immediately and is currently cancer-free. Read the story here.