2023-10-17 13:09:16
In the complex and diversified panorama of rare diseases, synergies can be created between artificial intelligence (AI) and humans. The human one can and must remain central in the face of a rapidly and radically changing scenario, grasping and exploiting the potential of AI, but always governing the process. This is the topic chosen for the first appointment of the ‘Sobi Talk’ series of meetings, organized yesterday by the biopharmaceutical multinational Sobi, in its newly renovated and expanded Milanese headquarters, with the aim – explains a note – of exploring, thanks to the with the help of experts in the sector, the most current topics, placing them in the specific context of rare diseases.
“It is important to clarify – says Federico Cabitza, associate professor of Human-Computer Interaction and Decision Support at the University of Milan-Bicocca – that artificial intelligence is not something that can be taken from a supermarket shelf and inserted as it is. “is in a hospital context, transforming it into clinical practice. AI – especially predictive AI, which uses data, statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques to identify the probability of future results based on historical data – is a versatile tool that it must be integrated within already existing organizational flows, which must not be distorted, but supported in some specific parts. This implies a collective effort, which must involve the various actors of the healthcare system, in identifying more effective process solutions, thanks to the AI integration, which can sometimes even be counterintuitive.”
We therefore need an integration process based on experimentation and ‘trial and error’ mechanisms, to bring benefits in the optimization of the diagnostic path up to the development of increasingly personalized predictive medicine and the efficiency of national health services, in particular universalistic ones, to make them more sustainable. In the case of rare diseases, “we are talking about pathologies with a low prevalence in the population – recalls Cabitza – therefore the AI must be trained on phenotypes, i.e. types of expression of the disease, for which there are not numerous cases: a problem not to be little”, such as that which concerns “man-machine synergy. Rare diseases are extremely heterogeneous and involve different therapeutic areas”, therefore there is “a reduced number of specialists who can make their know-how available to integrate the Ia in the process of research, management and management of a rare pathology”. Despite these challenges, “AI – reiterates Cabitza – can certainly be a key element in helping to overcome them, first of all by enormously reducing the time required to enroll and carry out clinical trials and pharmacological efficacy, or by reducing the development times of possible treatments “.
A reflection that is reflected in the experience of Angelo Claudio Molinari, specialist in Hematology, head of the Hemophilia Center at the Gaslini Hospital and professor at the Specialization School of Hematology at the University of Genoa, who considers the “integration of AI useful when it comes to the management and care of people with rare diseases. I am referring – observes Molinari – to logistical applications, to the organization of assistance services, but also to the diagnostic process, which is fundamental when dealing with rare pathologies, as a support in the analysis of radiological images (such as those produced by ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging or traditional radiology) or genetic data currently produced in ever-increasing quantities”.
But in a “scenario in which the medical data that is collected doubles every 73 days – reflects the hematologist – another application of AI that could really make a difference concerns the analysis of large amounts of information relating to quality of life in time”. The specialist points out that “in the field of haemophilia, for example”, information is already collected with “Apps and digital devices. By systematizing the collection of this data and analyzing it with the support of AI – highlights Molinari – we could obtain predictive models regarding the course of chronic rare diseases more accurately, lightening the work of the team of specialists and healthcare personnel who take charge throughout the entire treatment process”. To achieve these objectives, the expert warns, “the aspect of training healthcare personnel cannot be overlooked”.
As Annalisa Adani, Vice President and General Manager of Sobi Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus, recalls, “the objective of the new series of Sobi Talk meetings is to provide critical tools, which allow an informed reading of the present and, consequently, to turn the look to the future. To explore the frontiers of medicine, without losing sight of our mission as a company – to make a difference in the lives of people with rare diseases – opportunities for meeting and dialogue like this are particularly precious because they contribute to bringing the transformative processes into act, technological and management, in the lesser-known, but fundamental for us at Sobi, context of rare diseases”.
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