Artificial intelligence can help make various diagnoses. You can use it to detect breast cancer and diagnose dementia. Artificial can also help determine lung damage in corona patients. And so a test is now being conducted in the Elisabeth-TweeSteden Hospital in which they use artificial intelligence to determine bone fractures.
–
–
Doctor is still needed
The aim of the test is to identify as many bone fractures as possible. Now doctors sometimes overlook a broken bone. Still, according to radiologist Erik Ranschaert, doctors are still needed, because the device does not yet recognize every fracture. “The algorithm is not flawless yet,” he says of the study. “It is especially difficult in children, because their bones are not yet fully developed.”
–
–
Willem Herter of Pacmed is an expert in the field of artificial intelligence. He thinks computers are a nice addition to healthcare, but not a replacement for a doctor. “A doctor must be the warm person who feeds back the information,” he believes. “A computer is very good at bringing the information together and having such a conversation well-informed.”
–
–
Moreover, according to Herter, a computer does not weigh everything. “Like how many times the doctor has seen the patient and the color of the patient. Maybe they see a little green or pale,” he says. “The doctor does take that into account in his advice and diagnosis.”
–
–
Positive development
Herter thinks that the role of technology in healthcare is increasing. That does not mean that the doctor will soon disappear. “The role of the doctor is going to change, but it won’t necessarily get smaller,” says Herter. “Doctors can thus keep their hands free to talk better with the patient and to spend more time on that.”
–
–
Ranschaert also sees benefit in technology within healthcare. “We as radiologists make the same mistakes as the algorithm. The only thing is that an algorithm can still learn a lot,” he tells EditieNL. “The more information you add, the better it gets.”
–
–
