German radiologists are eager to co-create with Arterys the future of AI in their field

LEIPZIG, Germany - June 18, 2019 - PRLog -- German radiologists are eager to co-create with Arterys the future of AI in their field.

Arterys, the leader in web-based, AI-powered medical image analysis, was recently featured at the German Radiological Society's Röntgen Congress in Leipzig (known as RöKo19).

One hundred fourteen years ago, the first Röntgen Congress was held in Berlin to explore Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen's discovery, X- Rays, a medical miracle and diagnostic tool allowing doctors to see inside the human body without surgery, which eventually became the foundation of radiology.

This year, from May 29 to June 1, the 100th Röntgen Congress commemorated this long, illustrious history, and once again brought together experts to explore new technologies that will transform their profession.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the main topic of the opening lecture, Radiology 4.0, and four Highlight sessions. Congress President and Director of Radiology at the Essen University Hospital, Professor Michael Forsting said:

"As Congress president, I wanted us to focus on the digitalization of radiology or Radiology 4.0 and by digitalization, I mean the possibility of making better diagnoses with the data available to us, for example using artificial intelligence."

"At the moment, Google, Amazon or Apple have the most advanced algorithms, but not radiological data. That's why we want to learn in this Congress what we radiologists can develop and get off the ground when it comes to AI."

AI and its subsets of Machine Learning, Deep learning, and Computer Vision can already automate reporting, detect lesions, classify and track nodules, and in the future promises to customize preventive medicine using cross-functional data, like genomics and historical data.

Another common thread throughout the congress was the urgency of such tools to relieve the workload pressure from trends such as an aging society, lack of personnel and increasing demand for imaging. From 2007 to 2015 alone, the German Federal Statistical Office estimates the number of CT and MRI images to have risen by 40% and 55% respectively and it is widely expected to continue growing.

The automation of certain parts of the workflow will free a radiologist's time, and allow them to take on more patients or to apply more of their skill and resources to complex cases. This was underscored by Anton Quinsten, Lead Radiology Technologist at the University Hospital Essen, who gave a talk entitled Radiology Technologists 4.0: We must change!

"Today in Germany, there is a tremendous lack of technologists, while demographic change will cause a dramatic increase in requests for radiology imaging. We need new solutions to take on this challenge"

"Two main things will transform the radiology world: Automation, which will change our workflow and AI, will enable physicians to perform certain diagnostics that are executed manually today. Our role will be to supervise and validate the results."

Adding his voice to this message was Arterys Head of Machine Learning, Babak Rasolzadeh, who spoke at RöKo19 about the advantages of cloud computing and open modular diagnostic platforms in helping hospitals to quickly and reliably introduce AI-powered tools to their practice, with minimal workflow disruption.

When asked about the future of the radiologist, Rasolzadeh said, "My prediction is that we're nowhere near, not even within the next generation or two, replacing radiologists with AI. That's almost science fiction."

He continued, "It's a matter of augmenting them, making them better. Radiologists will be able to spend more time with patients because AI will replace the menial, repetitive tasks."

RoeKo19 demonstrated that AI is here to stay and needed support to radiologists. At its first showing in Germany, Arterys reinforced its vision to not only provide AI-driven diagnostic applications but also to foster co-creation of these tools on its platform, which already includes FDA, CE marked CardioAI and LungAI clinical applications, with BreastAI coming soon.

About Arterys, Inc.

Arterys was founded in 2011 to facilitate the global advancement of healthcare and enable insight-driven medicine by leveraging cloud computation and artificial intelligence. Its first significant milestone was the first-ever clearance of cloud-based deep learning software for clinical use. Arterys offers a suite of applications for clinicians on the Arterys network via its cloud-based, web-enabled A.I. medical imaging platform. The Arterys enterprise imaging platform enables use and interaction with deep learning algorithms in real time, augmenting the clinician workflow and expediting image interpretation.

The company's mission is to reduce variability and subjectivity in clinical diagnoses and alleviate the enormous workloads radiologists face. With AI, the company is improving the accuracy and consistency in imaging interpretation across practices. Arterys is now leveraging its medical imaging cloud platform to make medical imaging vastly more automated, quantitative, and useful.

https://www.arterys.com/