AI algorithms Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

How syncing wearables with AI chatbots can accelerate recovery time

Smart integration of AI chatbots and data collected by wearable devices can help patients and health care providers respond to early signs of illness.

By Nate MacLeitch, QuickBlox

[Illustration by Kudryavtsev via Stock.Adobe.com]

More effective public health and medical interventions could save 1.2 million lives per year, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

But the healthcare industry isn’t solely responsible. There is usually a gap between identifying an illness and seeking medical attention. Even when a patient feels unwell, they often don’t know the best path of care and may avoid medical support because they minimize their symptoms, lack physical access to local healthcare, worry about healthcare costs, or simply don’t have a doctor.

Wearable medical devices can bridge this gap by monitoring vital signs — often remotely — to determine irregular behavi…

Understanding medtech AI with alpacas, llamas and Hologic VP of R&D/Innovation Mike Quick

The difference between llamas and alpacas is a great way to talk about medtech AI, Hologic VP of R&D/Innovation Mike Quick says. [Photo by linaskk via Stock.Adobe.com]

When Hologic VP of R&D/Innovation Mike Quick talks about artificial intelligence and medtech AI, he draws on his personal experience as an amateur alpaca farmer.

He and his wife had a herd of nearly a dozen alpaca when they lived in the Boston area. Then they moved to Arizona, where they now have three alpaca on a small farm in Phoenix.

“They’re a lot of fun,” he said in an interview with Medical Design & Outsourcing. “… The difference between llamas and alpacas — because it’s a common misconception of what they are — is a great way to talk about AI and the difference between machine learning and deep learning and how to learn to tell two different things apart.”

You start with t…

How Hologic tapped AI and volumetric imaging for cervical cytology — and potential applications beyond

Hologic designed its Genius cytology technology for more efficient and accurate review of cervix cell samples — and there’s more to come.

Hologic says its Genius cytology technology reduces false negatives of high-grade squamous intraepithelial and more severe lesions by 28% compared to microscopic review. [Photo courtesy of Hologic]

Hologic‘s Genius cytology system uses new scanning technology and artificial intelligence to flag cervical cancer cells and pre-cancerous lesions.

Hologic won a de novo classification in January 2024 for its Genius Digital Diagnostics System and Genius Cervical AI algorithm for cervical cytology. Besides replacing Hologic’s ThinPrep Imaging System — used for the majority of cervical cancer screenings in the U.S. — the technology behind the Genius system could one day also help screen for other kinds of cancer like bladder cancer as well as infectious organisms, Ho…

How Medtronic’s using AI: Artificial intelligence insights and advice from the C-suite

Dr. Salomón Zebede prepares to operate using Medtronic’s Hugo robotic-assisted surgery system at Pacifica Salud Hospital in Panama. The hospital also uses Medtronic’s AI-powered Touch Surgery Enterprise product. [Photo courtesy of Medtronic]

Medtronic AI products are catching colon cancer, assisting surgeons and finding new uses across the varying technologies developed by the world’s largest medical device manufacturer.

In recent interviews, Medtronic executives discussed how artificial intelligence is leading to new or improved devices. They also offered insights that can help device designers and engineers across the medtech industry take advantage of the rapidly advancing technology.

“We’re harnessing the power of AI today for use in clinical decision support, creating new indications, and delivering personalized treatments,” Medtronic Chair and CEO Geoff Martha sa…

Wearable developer Empatica aims to develop new digital biomarkers

Empatica Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marisa Cruz discusses advances in wearable technology and how new digital biomarkers could advance medtech.

Empatica Chief Medical Officer Dr. Marisa Cruz [Photo courtesy of Empatica]

Dr. Marisa Cruz envisions a future where unobtrusive wearable devices with advanced sensors will continuously measure and record actionable biodata without patients having to lift a finger.

Cruz is an endocrinologist and internist who serves as chief medical officer at Empatica, which develops wearable devices for monitoring patient physiology with the ultimate goal of improving clinical outcomes.

In 2011, Empatica spun out of an MIT lab focused on wearable sensors for continuous, passive patient monitoring. That technology is made possible by ever-shrinking sensors and batteries, gains in effective computing, and materials and manufacturing methods that result in comfortable and intuitive…

How Google and iCAD will partner to advance AI mammography

iCAD’s AI for digital breast tomosynthesis provides a case score for each detection. (Image courtesy of iCAD)

iCAD will help Google Health get its AI mammography technology into clinical practice, while Google will help iCAD improve its algorithms and reach more patients through the cloud.

Google and cancer detection developer iCAD are teaming up on the development and commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI) for detecting breast cancer.

It’s Google Health’s first partnership with a mammography AI provider. The development and commercialization agreement is Google Health’s first deal to introduce its breast imaging AI into clinical practice through iCAD’s portfolio of AI products.

RELATED: How the cloud tools behind Google Maps and Photos can advance medtech

Nashua, New Hampshire-based iCAD (Nasdaq:ICAD) is licensing Google’s AI technology for breas…

Mayo Clinic develops AI childbirth risk prediction tool for women in labor

Dr. Abimbola Famuyide is a Mayo Clinic OB-GYN studying AI algorithms for childbirth. [Photo courtesy of Mayo Clinic]

Mayo Clinic researchers are using AI algorithms to calculate childbirth risk while women are in labor in an effort to reduce the rate of cesarean delivery and complications.

The machine learning algorithms — a type of device known as Software as a Medical Device (SaMD), where the software is the device rather than a mechanical device — analyze patterns of changes for women in labor.

ADVICE: How to pass the patent eligibility test for Software as a Medical Device

“This is the first step to using algorithms in providing powerful guidance to physicians and midwives as they make critical decisions during the labor process,” senior author Dr. Abimbola Famuyide said in a news release. “Once validated with further research, we believe the algorithm will work in real time,…

GE Healthcare picks AI imaging startups for inaugural Edison Accelerator

GE Healthcare has selected seven companies to test their AI imaging technologies with GE’s Edison Digital Health Platform. [Image courtesy of GE Healthcare]

GE Healthcare and Nex Cubed have selected seven companies focused on artificial-intelligence-augmented medical imaging for the first cohort of the Edison Accelerator in Canada.

The companies will be matched with mentors and test their technologies with GE’s new Edison Digital Health Platform over the next three months. The program will end with innovation showcase presentations to potential investors and customers, and some startups could have their products distributed through the GE Healthcare Marketplace.

The cohort’s six startups are:

16 Bit, a physician-founded startup that uses routine chest, spine, pelvis, knee or hand x-rays with computer-aided detection and notification software for low bone mineral density prescreenin…

Blue Spark’s TempTraq catches fevers faster. Fever prediction is next.

Blue Spark’s TempTraq continuous temperature monitoring patch could one day be used for fever prediction. The patch is 100mm long, 50mm wide, 3mm thick and weighs 5.1 grams. [Photo courtesy of Blue Spark Technologies]

Blue Spark Technologies developed the first wireless continuous temperature monitor patch, TempTraq, to enable faster fever detection than standard manual readings every four hours.

Westlake, Ohio-based Blue Spark is now looking at fever prediction rather than just detecting them.

The R&D team is working on developing an AI neural network model built on the company’s collection of continuous temperature data captured in the cloud, CEO John Gannon said in an interview.

“Taking our existing data, training an AI model to be able to understand and learn what fever profiles and onsets of fevers look like, and then apply that to new patients … we are working tow…

Researchers develop wearable robotic exomuscle system

Marie Georgarakis demonstrates her Myoshirt exomuscle device. [Photo by Florian Haufe for ETH Zurich]

ETH Zurich researchers have redefined the muscle shirt.

Marie Georgarakis, a former doctoral student at ETH Zurich’s Sensory Motor Systems Lab, is the creator of the Myoshirt, a wearable, textile robotic device that helps users lift their arms and reach. A motorized cable works like an artificial tendon, directed by sensors and an algorithm to support the wearer’s intended movement.

ETH Zurich researchers recently tested Myoshirt on a dozen people — one person with muscular dystrophy, another with a spinal cord injury and ten people without physical impairment — and all reported longer endurance when lifting their arms.

The Myoshirt exomuscle device’s cable acts like a tendon. [Photo by Florian Haufe for ETH Zurich]

MyoshirtR…

Sanolla’s smart infrasound stethoscope wins FDA clearance

The startup Sanolla has won 510(k) clearance for the clinical use of the VoqX stethoscope. The device is reportedly the first to capture infrasound, which is below the range of human audibility. The infrasound spectrum of 3–40Hz contains diagnostic information overlooked by traditional stethoscopes.

The technology recently won approval from the Israeli Health Ministry.

The Nesher, Israel–based startup has developed AI algorithms for the stethoscope that can classify common cardiopulmonary diseases such as COPD, pneumonia, asthma and cardiac morbidities.

The device has won eight patents to date. To date, the company has submitted 20 patents for the stethoscope technology.

The company also seeks regulatory authorization for VoqX-based AI algorithms for disease classification. The algorithms will be uploaded to the device after regulatory authorization.

Photo by Tiko Product Design Studio<…