Introduction
The idea of machine learning started back in the 1950s when Alan Turing introduced the concept of a machine that could learn and think like a human. Since then, machine learning (ML) has been used in many areas — from recognizing faces in security systems to improving public transportation and, more recently, in healthcare and biotechnology. This is called AI and machine learning in healthcare
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and ML have already changed how businesses work and how we live our daily lives — and now they are making a big impact in healthcare too. These technologies are helping doctors by improving the accuracy of diagnoses, speeding up processes, and even predicting diseases before symptoms appear.
It helps spot trends in health data, build models to predict illnesses, and manage huge amounts of patient information. Big hospitals are using ML to organize electronic health records (EHRs), detect problems in blood tests, organs, and bones using medical images, and assist in robotic surgeries. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ML systems like GE’s Clinical Command Center helped hospitals track and manage beds, patients, ventilators, and staff more efficiently. AI also played a key role in studying the virus’s genetic code and helping create vaccines.
As healthcare continues to adopt modern technology, AI and ML are becoming essential tools. This article explores the pros and cons of using machine learning in healthcare. We’ll look at how it’s being used today, what areas benefit most, and what the future might hold. We’ll also talk about the ethical and practical challenges that come with using AI in such a sensitive field.
1) Key Areas of Machine Learning in Healthcare
- In this article, we focused on how machine learning (ML) is being used in three major parts of healthcare:
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- Medical Imaging
- Genetic Engineering
These fields generate a lot of digital data, often called “big data” in healthcare. Some of this data is organized (like numbers and tables), while some of it is unstructured (like doctor notes). These areas have shown great potential where ML tools are already being applied successfully. We selected these topics because they have plenty of digital data available and are already being used or tested in real-world healthcare settings.
2) Disease Prediction
Machine learning is helping doctors predict diseases before they happen, which means treatment can begin earlier.
For example:
Liu, Zhang, and Razavian created an AI system using deep learning (LSTM and CNN) to predict serious illnesses like heart failure, kidney failure, and stroke. Their model used both organized data (from health records) and unstructured data (like doctors’ notes). This mix made the predictions much more accurate.
- In another study, Ge and team built a system that predicts the chances of getting pneumonia after a stroke. Their tool could predict this risk within 7 and 14 days with over 90% accuracy.
- Similarly, Ahmad and colleagues designed a tool called SRML-Mortality Predictor, which used patient health records to predict death risk in people suffering from paralytic ileus (a serious gut problem). The system gave 81.3% accurate results.
3) Medical Imaging
ML is doing wonders in reading medical images more accurately and faster than humans in some cases.
Esteva and team trained a computer model to identify 2,000+ skin diseases by looking at images. The tool performed just as well as experienced skin doctors.
McKinney and team used deep learning to detect tumors in breast X-rays (mammograms). Their system performed even better than traditional screening methods.
Arcadu and team developed a tool that could find small signs of eye disease (caused by diabetes) in eye scans. The AI could detect tiny damaged blood vessels that were hard for the human eye to see.
Rajpurkar and team created a very deep learning model (with 121 layers!) to read chest x-rays. It identified lung-related diseases with 81% accuracy—slightly better than the doctors.
4) Genetic Engineering
- Machine learning is also changing the field of genetics, especially in making gene editing more accurate and useful.
- Lin and Wong used deep learning to improve CRISPR gene editing results. Their model reached nearly perfect accuracy (over 97%) in predicting which genes could be safely edited.
- O’Brien and team created a system called CUNE that helps find the best spots in DNA for editing. This system used decision trees (random forest algorithms) to guide gene editing.
- Pan and colleagues built a tool called ToxDL that can predict if a protein might be toxic to the body. It only needs the protein’s sequence—no extra data.
- Malone and team used ML to study the structure of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Their system helped identify important parts of the virus that could be used to create vaccines.
4) Pitfalls and Challenges
While machine literacy- grounded operations in healthcare present unique and progressive openings, they also raise unique threat factors, challenges, and healthy dubitation
. Then we bandy the main threat factors including the probability of error in vaticination. Its impact, the vulnerability of the systems’ protection and sequestration, and indeed the lack of data vacuity to gain reproducible results. Some of the challenges include ethical enterprises, loss of the particular element of healthcare, and the interpretability and practical operation of the approaches to bedside setting. One of the most important pitfalls of machine literacy- grounded algorithms is the reliance on the probabilistic distribution and the probability of error in opinion and vaticination.
- This also gives rise to a healthy dubitation related to the validity and veracity of prognostications from ML- grounded approaches. Indeed though the probability of error and reliance on probability is deep- embedded in the colorful aspects of health care, the counteraccusations of ML- grounded . One result is to subdue these machine literacy- grounded approaches to strict institutional and legal blessing by several associations before their operation( 94, 95). Another approach that can be enforced is the mortal intervention and oversight from an educated healthcare worker in largely sensitive operations to avoid false-positive or false-negative judgments ( e.g., opinion of depression or bone cancer).
The addition of present healthcare professionals in developing and enforcing these approaches may increase adaptation rates and drop enterprises related to smaller employment openings for humans or the revulsion of the pool( 96). Another threat associated with the operation of ML and deep literacy algorithms to health care is the vacuity of high- quality training and testing data with large enough sample sizes to insure high trustability and reproducibility of the prognostications.
Given that the ML and deep literacy- grounded approaches’ learn’ from data, the significance of quality data can not be stressed enough.of the population sample. also, in several healthcare parts, data collected are deficient, miscellaneous, and have a significantly advanced number of features than the number of samples. These challenges should be taken into great consideration when developing and interpreting the results of ML- grounded approaches.
- The open wisdom and recent drive towards exploration data sharing may help in prostrating similar challenges. One should also consider the threat associated with sequestration as well as ethical counteraccusations of the operation of ML- grounded approaches to healthcare. With the understanding that these approaches bear large- scale, fluently expandable data storehouse, and significantly high computing power, several ML- grounded approaches are developed and enforced using pall- grounded technologies.
- Given the sensitive nature of healthcare data along with sequestration enterprises, increased data security and responsibility should be one of the first aspects to be considered well before model development. With respect to ethical enterprises, experimenters working on applying ML- grounded approaches to healthcare can readily learn from the field of inheritable engineering which has experienced expansive ethical debate.
- The contestation girding the use of inheritable engineering to produce long- lasting inheritable advancements and treatments is a nonstop converse. Identification and editing of pernicious inheritable mutations, similar as the HTT mutation that causes Huntington’s complaint, may give life- altering treatment for dangerous conditions( 97). conversely, creating treatments that alter the existent’s genome, as well as that of their seed, while it’s still inapproachable due to costs, may worsen the socio- profitable peak for populations that are unfit to go similar care( 98). lately, there has been an emergence of guidelines for the development of AI ministry.
In 2019, Singapore proposed a Model Artificial Intelligence Governance Framework to guide private sector associations on developing and using AI immorally( 99). The US Administration has also released an administrative order to regulate AI development and “ maintain American leadership in artificial intelligence ”( 100). These guidelines and regulations, though strict, have been put forth to insure ethical exploration conduct and development. Given the complex structure of ML- grounded approaches, especially deep literacy- grounded styles, it becomes incredibly complex to distinguish and identify the original features’ donation towards the vaticination.
Al though this may not present significant concern in other operations of ML( similar as web quests), lack of translucency has created a huge hedge for the rigidity of ML- grounded approaches in healthcare. As easily understood in healthcare, the result strategy is as important as the result itself. There must be a methodical shift towards relating and quantifying underpinning data features used for vaticination.
The involvement of croakers and healthcare professionals in the development, perpetration, and testing of ML- grounded approaches may also help ameliorate the relinquishment rates. also, although there’s healthy dubitation related to the eventuality of a dropped particular relationship between a case and PCP due to increased perpetration of ML- grounded approaches, they represent a unique occasion to increase engagement.
Studies have shown that the croaker – case relationship has formerly come a fading conception, and nearly 25 percent of Americans do n’t have a PCP( 101). Then, ML can give unique openings to increase engagement where cases bandy the results of implicit judgments and increase the effectiveness of outreach programs. Beforehand prognostic due to ML- grounded approaches may also help cases develop a healthy life in consultations with their PCPs.
Eventually, a croake concentrated check set up that 56 percent of croakers were spending 16 twinkles or lower with their cases, and 5 percent of them spent lower than 9 twinkles( 102). The operation of AI approaches in judgments and symptom monitoring can ease stress and give croakers more particular time with their cases, therefore perfecting patient satisfaction and issues.
Challenges of AI in Healthcare
Even though AI has many benefits, there are still some problems that need to be solved:
1) Data Privacy and Protection
- Healthcare data is very private. AI systems need access to this data to work properly, but it must be well protected so that it doesn’t get stolen or misused.
2) Bias and Fairness
- If the data used to train AI is biased (unfair), then the results will also be biased. This can lead to wrong or unfair medical suggestions, especially for minority or underrepresented groups.
3) High Starting Costs
- While AI can help save money later, setting it up and training staff can be expensive in the beginning.
4) Lack of Clear Rules
- AI is still new in the medical field. There are no clear laws or rules for how it should be used, which can slow down progress and cause uneven results.
5) Human Supervision is Important
- AI should support doctors — not replace them. The final decisions should always be made by skilled medical professionals, with AI working as a helping tool.
Benefits of AI and ML in Healthcare
1) Faster Diagnosis
- AI can study and understand medical data much faster than humans. This fast speed is very helpful in emergencies, where every second is important.
2) More Accurate Results
- AI systems can find patterns and mistakes that doctors might not notice. This helps in giving the right diagnosis and better treatment.
3) Saving Money
- By making work faster, reducing mistakes, and doing regular tasks automatically, AI can help hospitals and clinics lower their expenses.
4) Better Care for Patients
- Custom treatment plans, early discovery of illnesses, and regular check-ups using AI all help in giving better care and improving people’s health.
5) Easier Access to Healthcare
- AI makes it possible to offer medical services in faraway or poor areas through online doctor visits, remote health checks, and smart tools that can suggest diagnoses.
CONCLUSION
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are changing the world of healthcare. They are making medical care quicker, smarter, and more suited to each patient. From spotting diseases early to improving the way hospitals work, these tools are helping us see medicine in a whole new way.
However, as we move forward with these exciting changes, we must also be careful. It’s important to protect patient privacy, treat everyone fairly, and make sure that healthcare always feels human and caring.
AI won’t take the place of doctors — but doctors who use AI might take the lead over those who don’t.