Artificial intelligence begins diagnosing patients in Eastern Iowa
Artificial intelligence begins diagnosing patients in
Eastern Iowa
First of its kind device created by IDx to detect
diabetic retinopathy
Ophthalmologist Dr. Michael Abramoff, president and
director of IDx, discusses the IDx-DR system his Coralville company has created
and is selling to detect diabetic retinopathy using an artificial intelligence
diagnostic system. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)
CORALVILLE — The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
has become the first to employ new technology — developed by a company rooted
in the university’s research engine — that uses artificial intelligence to
diagnose an eye disease.
On June 12, the Diabetes and Endocrinology Center at UI
Health Care-Iowa River Landing in Coralville began using technology developed
by IDx, the Coralville-based medical diagnostics company.
The device, which received approval from U.S. Food and
Drug Administration in April, was developed to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, a
diabetes complication that can cause blindness.
Called IDx-DR, the device uses software and a retinal
camera to take images of a patient’s retina. From there, the AI analyzes the
patient’s images “the same way I do as a clinician” to determine if the patient
has the condition, said Dr. Michael Abramoff, president and director of IDx and
UI Health Care ophthalmologist.
“It looks for different lesions like hemorrhages,
microaneurysms, many other abnormalities you get from diabetes in the retina if
it’s abnormal, which is what I do when I look for a patient,” he said.
“Then it analyzes the combination of all these different
features and it gives you a clinical decision by itself.”
The Diabetes and Endocrinology Center has approximately
7,200 patient visits per year, according to UI officials in a news release on
the device.
Diabetic retinopathy can affect anyone with Type 1 or
Type 2 diabetes, and is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United
States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Early detection is key, Abramoff said. However, as
diabetic retinopathy lacks early symptoms, individuals must undergo regular
retinal exams to spot the condition.
Abramoff hopes his device can make that process easier by
providing accessibility to this exam outside of an eye specialist. IDx-DR is
used by provider staff during routine visits and can provide results within
moments.
Then, if IDx-DR detects more than mild diabetic
retinopathy, the patient is referred for follow-up examinations and treatment
with an eye specialist.
According to his clinical trials with 900 patients before
the FDA approval, Abramoff said the device had an 87 percent sensitivity to
detecting the disease in all types of patients.
Any procedures or treatments to be conducted by an
autonomous AI are far off, but Abramoff said he is hopeful the technology will
expand to more clinics and other health care settings.
This, he believes, could be the future of detecting and
diagnosing other diseases.
UI Health Care plans to expand use of this device across
the system, university officials said in the news release.
“I see a great future,” Abramoff said.
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