THEartificial intelligence and big data “they always have more space to use in laboratory medicine“. However, in our country “just 10% of specialists declare they have specific skills on these new and complex technologies. Furthermore, adequate software, platforms and PCs are absent in 80% of healthcare facilities and in 16% of cases external suppliers are used”. Over 90% of professionals consider AI a precious resource that must be exploited more even in the laboratory doctor, however, only 2% predict that it will be able to totally replace human intelligence in medical analysis. These are some data from recent research conducted by Sibioc (Italian Society of Clinical Biochemistry and Clinical Molecular Biology) on over 200 of its members.
THE‘AI is one of the themes at the center of the 56th national congress of the scientific society which opens today in Bologna. The title of the event is ‘The clinical role of laboratory medicine in healthcare of the third millennium. “The digital revolution is revolutionizing the world of diagnostics, including laboratory medicine – states Marcello Ciaccio, national president of Sibioc – As emerges from our survey, there is a strong need for greater training for medical and healthcare personnel. Intelligence artificial intelligence represents a great and interesting challenge and opportunity for individual professionals and for the entire national healthcare system. In laboratory medicine, AI has already been a concrete reality for some years for some very widespread diseases in the general population, such as AI. hypercholesterolemia, diabetes or Covid-19 infections”.
“Thanks to cutting-edge computer programs – underlines Ciaccio – we can have millions of data available which are analyzed in a very short time. It is therefore possible to give more precise answers to medical questions but the work of the professional is always absolutely necessary. At the moment Therefore, artificial intelligence is not yet able to surpass that of the doctor, but it can be very useful in supporting his decisions.”
The Sibioc national congress will see the participation of over 1,000 specialists from all over Italy. “The clinical laboratory is a fundamental and essential part of the national healthcare system – explains Ciaccio – We play a crucial role in all phases and stages of medical healthcare, guiding and supporting the clinician in the correct management of the patient, from screening to diagnosis , monitoring of a pathology and therapy. For example, laboratory medicine allows the prevention of cerebro-cardio-vascular diseases which, with over 220 thousand deaths every year, are the leading cause of death in Italy. Today we have biomarkers that allow us to precisely and accurately photograph the state of health of a single individual, early identifying the risk of developing a pathology and thus allowing timely intervention, before the appearance of clinical symptoms”.
The role of the clinical laboratory in the oncology field is also of great importance. “Cancer is not a single nosological entity, but a group of very heterogeneous pathologies which includes over 200 different types which differ based on the organ or tissue affected and which overall affect over 3 million individuals in our country – points out the president Sibioc – The latest generation technologies make it possible to obtain in a single analysis a complete molecular profile of the neoplasm of each individual patient, allowing the identification of molecular targets and the implementation of targeted treatment strategies, thus implementing precision medicine in order to guarantee the best outcome for the patient with the least toxicity”.
“In other words, laboratory medicine really allows for the creation of precision and personalized medicine – concludes Ciaccio – It is a new approach that tends to look more at the person affected by an illness than at the pathology itself. This is possible thanks to the tests laboratory medicine that provides a more complete and precise picture of the individual patient. For all these reasons we believe that laboratory medicine should have greater visibility. Laboratory medicine has been defined as the ‘Hidden Science that saves lives’ , specialists who work in often very large healthcare facilities and we are almost never physically close to our patients’ beds. We rarely come into contact with relatives and caregivers. However, citizens find many answers to their health needs in the many medical laboratories active in the area ‘entire national territory’.
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