NEWS
GROUNDBREAKING AI TRAINED ON DE-IDENTIFIED PATIENT DATA TO PREDICT HEALTHCARE NEEDS
In a world-first study, an Artificial Intelligence( AI) model is being trained on a set of NHS data for 57 million people in England, from which personal information has been stripped away. The pilot study is being run by researchers at University College London( UCL) and King’ s College London( KCL). The model could transform patient care, identifying individuals where early interventions might improve or save lives. hospitalisation, heart attacks or a new diagnosis. Predicting these events early could enable targeted intervention, shifting healthcare much more towards prevention.
Dr Chris Tomlinson, one of the lead researchers from UCL, said:“ AI models are only as good as the data on which they’ re trained. So, if we want a model that can benefit all patients, with all conditions, then the AI needs to have seen that during training. Using national-scale data allows us to represent the kaleidoscopic diversity of England’ s population, particularly for minority groups and rare diseases, which are often excluded from research.”
Foresight, a Generative AI model, learns to predict what happens next for patients based on previous events. It’ s similar to models like ChatGPT which predict the next word in a sentence based on what it’ s seen previously from data across the whole internet.
Foresight is being trained on routinely collected, de-identified NHS data, like hospital admissions and rates of COVID-19 vaccination, to predict potential health outcomes for patient groups across England. This could be events such as
STRYKER RECEIVES FDA CLEARANCE FOR OPTABLATE BVN BASIVERTEBRAL NERVE ABLATION SYSTEM
Stryker, a global leader in medical technologies, announced that its OptaBlate basivertebral nerve ablation system
( OptaBlate BVN) received 510( k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration. OptaBlate BVNA is used in a targeted minimally invasive procedure providing long-lasting vertebrogenic pain relief. The addition of the OptaBlate BVN to Stryker’ s pain portfolio expands its advanced pain therapy solutions for patients and is an intersection of its two core competencies: radiofrequency ablation technology and vertebral access.
“ We often see patients with chronic low back pain who have tried multiple treatments – physical therapy, injections, medications – without lasting relief,” said Dr Jad Khalil, Spine Surgeon at Michigan Orthopaedic Surgeons.“ BVNA is a minimally invasive and innovative procedure that targets a key source of this pain, particularly in patients with specific MRI findings. Before BVNA, options for lasting relief were limited. For many, it offers meaningful improvement and can help avoid more aggressive treatments like surgery.”
Key features of the system include:
• Achieves at least a 1 cm lesion in 7 minutes2
• Steerable, dynamic curved introducer for targeted performance
• Microinfusion technology, which keeps the zone hydrated, reducing impedance errors and preventing charring
• 10-gauge access tools
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