Could Artificial Intelligence be the breakthrough solution in revolutionizing chronic illness management, as demonstrated by the groundbreaking findings of the GOLDEN BRIDGE II study?
On February 8th, a groundbreaking study, named GOLDEN BRIDGE II, was presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference. GOLDEN BRIDGE II was an investigation into the usefulness of Artificial Intelligence in patient care. A total of 21,603 stroke survivors, spread across 77 hospitals, were provided with chronic care management over the course of three months. The patients were split into two groups, half of which had management programs directed by an AI system and the other half received the current status quo. They found that patients receiving AI based care had a 29% reduction in future strokes and 25.6% reduction of later cardiac events when compared to the control group. Stroke is a serious, oftentimes fatal, condition caused by the blocking of blood flow to the brain. It can kill in minutes as brain cells quickly die due to oxygen deprivation, and one in every six strokes is fatal. Ischemic stroke is one of the most common forms of stroke, covering roughly 87% of total strokes in the United States. It is caused by some form of obstruction in a crucial artery, unlike hemorrhagic stroke, a less common form caused by the sudden bursting of blood vessels. GOLDEN BRIDGE II targeted survivors of ischemic stroke in China by comparing the effectiveness of human directed care to AI directed care at reducing recurrent cardiac conditions. To clarify, the rate of ischemic strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, heart attacks, and death was reduced from 3.9% to 2.9&. A significant amount of strokes, around one in four in the United States, occur in people who have already suffered from a previous stroke. As such, effective management programs are crucial to preserving the lives and longevity of at risk individuals.
The image above shows the causation of strokes and its effects upon the human body
At its core, the artificial intelligence system in GOLDEN BRIDGE II utilized current knowledge of stroke classification, stroke causes, stroke diagnosis, and recommended treatment to interpret brain scans of patients. It then provided care recommendations to patients based on the analysis of the brain imagery, functionally overtaking all actions traditionally performed by an internal medicine physician. While the AI program had a higher success rate than human-governed care, and while the scientists behind GOLDEN BRIDGE II hope for their system to be implemented in China within the next five years, there are still unresolved concerns about the potential for replacing human specialists in favor of artificial intelligence. While “AI takeover” will always be a worry, many cardiac specialists are excited by the results of GOLDEN BRIDGE II and hopefully anticipate its future integration into cardiac healthcare best practices not just in China, but also worldwide. Until then, we must rely on more human forms of health management, and the simplest form of health management is preventative.
Article written by Abeni Smith, MedBitz
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