It can sometimes be difficult to find suitable patients for clinical trials. This can cause delays in a potential life-saving drug coming to market through lack of testing. However, that may all be about to change as Cedars Sinai uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify those that are suitable for the trial and that it may actually help.
It’s estimated that as many as 40 percent of clinical trials are stopped due to lack of participants. Without clinical trials potential cutting-edge treatments are going undetected and patients lives are at risk.
Bobbie Rimel MD is a gynecologic, oncologist, and associate director for Gynecological Clinical Trials at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and for a while now she’s been using AI to seek out patients that will be suitable for certain clinical trials. The Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been in operation for more than 100 years. It’s a non-profit organisation specialising in a number of fields. It’s also a level 1 trauma center.
Along with the help of vendor Deep 6 AI, Rimel utilises AI software to sift through patient records and match them to the study’s criteria. “It’s designed to be able to look into the record and pull the language,” she said. “It’s designed to take inclusion and exclusion criteria and pull out the bits of language.”
It’s not always easy for even the AI to find a match as not all doctors write their notes in the same way. Whie some use abbreviations for terms, they’re not always the same. Still the AI works its way through different spellings and abbreviations for such terms. It also learns from previous queries.
“That’s what makes it incredibly powerful,” said Rimel. “It knows ‘I think this is what you mean here.’ That’s incredibly powerful. Say it nine different ways, in a different font; it’s close enough.
By including all patients suffering from the same cancer type will mean that all those that are suitable for the clinical trial will automatically be given the chance to take part. And that’s what makes it all worthwhile. “This is a pretty powerful opportunity for hospitals,” said Rimel. If you are interested in hearing more of what Dr. Rimel has to say on the matter , she will be speaking live at a session entitled “Finding the ROI of AI” 2.30pm on March 8th at the Venetian, Palazzo D.
Source HealthcareNews
