Artificial Intelligence is seeping into many aspects of our lives. As it continues to evolve exponentially its prominence in our everyday lives will become increasingly prevalent.

Within the broad field of healthcare, there has been phenomenal growth in the development of AI, particularly as a clinical decision support tool – for example, to help a identify a breast tumour in a mammogram. However, in healthcare it is also finding interesting applications outside of clinical decision support. One particularly smart application, which we look at in this issue, has been developed by the FingerKIt consortium. The consortium, which comprises five Fraunhofer institutes, is using AI to develop personalized 3D-printed finger joint implants. Using 2D templates, such as X-ray images, they have developed an AI that can use the 2D image to calculate and design a 3D model that can be 3D-printed, enabling these delicate finger joints to be customised for each patient. The group say this is a completely novel procedure and have a patent pending for it. It is likely that this procedure could become the new standard of care, even for complicated cases such as severely bent fingers, missing bone parts or very small joints. The consortium is currently looking for corporate partners to help bring their AI-created medical implants to market.

Also in this issue we look at an important development and potential breakthrough in the detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroscientists led by a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researcher have developed a test to detect a novel biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease in a blood sample. They say the biomarker, called ‘brain-derived tau’, or BD-tau, outperforms current blood diagnostic tests used to detect Alzheimer’s-related neuro-degeneration. They note that it is specific to Alzheimer’s disease and correlates well with Alzheimer’s neurodegeneration biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid. Blood tests are cheaper, safer and easier to administer, and as such this new test could significantly improve clinical confidence in diagnosing Alzheimer’s.

As in each issue, you will find an interesting selection of reviews of recently published research which looks set to significantly influence healthcare. You’ll also find news on some of the latest medical devices to come on the market
as well as developments in the industry.