The Tribune

By CARA HUNT

Tribune Features Writer

cbrennen@tribunemedia.net

Two leading physicans from the Charles E Lynn Heart and Vascular Institute in Florida were in Nassau recently to discuss the emerging role AI is playing in heart care.

Dr Bradley S Taylor, Chief Medical Executive, and Dr Joseph McGinn III, cardiologist, both gave their perspectives on the topic the Rise of AI in Heart Care: How Robotic and Minimally Invasive Surgery is Getting Smarter at a conference held at the Atlantis resort last week.

Non evasive surgery is surgery that works by creating a smaller incision and makes smaller morbidity for the patient easier because it reduces blood loss pain and often reduces the time needed to remain in hospital.

Dr McGuinn noted that the percentage of sterntomies (the surgical procedure to reach the heart) is still high around 95 per cent, but he thinks that less evasive surgery will increase particularly with the new generation of doctors.

AI advancements have played a major role in peri-operative care - the periods before and after surgery, he said.

“We're not going to be seeing it in the OR, but it will help with peri-operative care. Decision-making before and after the OR, AI has been very helpful. It's been integrated into our EMRs as well. So I expect in the future we'll be able to use that as... Point of care information for our patients and also doing instantaneous research in the hospital on our actual patient population with our EMR and AI integration. So that's gonna happen in the next few years.”

Dr Taylor noted that AI can help doctors give patients answers up front.

“We can access large databases. The Society of Thoracic Surgery database has close to 9 million patients that have been operated on since 1989. And we can query that database and be able to tell patients what their risk of death, complications, likelihood of how long they'll be in the hospital by comparing them to a large number of other patients. It certainly helps us in preoperative planning, but also in simulation. And there's technology out there now to help us, or really differentiate outstanding cardiac surgery programs, or programs that can rescue patients, this concept of rescue.

“So as a patient's in the ICU, they're being watched both by people, by care providers, but also in the background there's artificial intelligence that helps identify markers before people get into trouble and have to be rescued. So there's a lot that's going on in that space and it's changing really, really rapidly.”

Like with anything that helps doctors effectively treat patients, AI has to be used responsibly.

Dr McGinn said, “So, you know, you have to use AI the correct way, I think. You know, especially now, anyone who uses AI with any frequency nowadays will understand it's very clunky. It hallucinates, they call it. There are some answers that, you know, don't make sense to a seasoned practitioner. So you have to have it in the hands of someone who also has experience and education in order to use it well. So that'll, I mean, AI will get better, but you still will need to rely on the human mind to care for patients fully.

Dr Taylor added, “I think of it this way. It's a form of collective intelligence. So the concept that if you have a complex problem and you put people with a series of brains together, you get multidisciplinary teams of people working together, and people from different disciplines will see that problem from a different vantage point. And you get them working on that problem. And, AI is just a tool to supplement or complement that concept of using a series of good brains, good people working together to solve that problem. It's really remarkable how you can access, you can ask a question and be provided a solid literature review, the latest concepts on any problem.

“And so it is a way of I mean, think back, I'm out of the generation where we had to go to the library and look in books and go to the encyclopedia for references. And now, in a moment's notice, we can access information on our phone in real time. It's really profound. Yeah, it'll give you that literature review. But then you have to put it into context as a clinician on the bedside.”

Both men note that it is important that medical students and doctors use it as a supplementary tool rather than complete reliance.

“When you're with a patient at the bedside, you need to know exactly what you're doing for certain emergency situations. And you even need to know enough to put the AI, you know, output into context,” said Dr McGinn.

AI can also be helpful in populations with less resources like the Bahamas.

Dr McGinn explained that it could help doctors with preoperative risk assessments which would help them determine if the patient could be treated in house or be sent off for treatment depending on the resources available.

Dr Taylor added that it also provides patients with a tool in their own health care management.

“We want to democratise and we want to commoditise healthcare to the point where people are able to think about it in a way that says what's best for me and my family. “

He added. “I can imagine if I were to live here, or my family were to live here, but I'd want to be able to have access to the latest and the best, just like everybody else would want. And again, we're close. We're 25 minutes away by flight, and we're neighbours. So there's lots of points of contact that we can use. I love talking to patients from outside the region and talking to families. I met a lady, who checked me through customs. I got information about a  family member of hers who needs some health care issues. So we're here to provide a resource.”