Innovate Healthcare: How AI changes radiologists' approach to stroke care

As artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities increase, there is sometimes concern that machine learning will replace the work done by human experts.

In the field of radiology and stroke care, however, radiologists see the progression of AI as an opportunity to bolster the work they do.

Achala Vagal, MD, vice chair of research and professor of radiology in the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and a UC Health neuroradiologist, cowrote a recent editorial in the journal Radiology with Luca Saba, MD, of the University of Cagliari in Italy. Innovate Healthcare's Health Imaging, an online publication, recently highlighted the editorial, noting Vagal and Saba said that AI will not replace radiologists, but rather will "augment our intelligence and workflow."

The radiologists said AI is helpful in improving workflows, detecting issues the human eye cannot see and offering suggested decision-making support in time-sensitive triage scenarios, but AI being used as the standalone decision maker for treatments has led to medical errors. 

“It is important to understand the intended clinical use of the technology,” the doctors explained. “The best use case scenario is not autonomous AI, but rather AI partnered with human supervision.” 

Read the Innovate Healthcare article.

Read more about Dr. Vagal's current stroke recovery research.

Featured photo at top of brain scans. Photo/Ravenna Rutledge/University of Cincinnati.