According to statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association, more than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and one in three seniors will die from it.
Genetics, lifestyle and environment are many different factors that affect a person’s life Risk of developing Alzheimer’s diseasemany doctors are moving away from one-size-fits-all approaches and looking for individualized treatments.
This is a concept called precision medicine. This inspired a company called uMETHOD to create RestoreU, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to help doctors create personalized care plans for patients with Alzheimer’s and other types. dementia.
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“Dementia is a complex disease,” CEO Vic Chandra, Founder and CEO of uMETHOD Health in Cary, North CarolinaHe said this in an interview with Fox News Digital.
“This means that there are many underlying causes that lead to the development of dementia in a patient over time.”
Most of the more than 50 causes are treatable with available medications and interventions, he said. But because doctors spend only about eight minutes on average with each patient, they don’t have much time to thoroughly evaluate the patient and decide on treatable causes.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than six million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease, and one in three seniors will die from the disease. (Foundation)
The RestoreU system acts as a doctor’s assistant, Chandra said.
“Its role is not to help the doctor diagnose the patient, but to help the doctor assess the cause of the treatment and then refer the patient to the appropriate treatment,” he explained.
“It’s really about improving care,” he added. “It’s not about seeing where they are or whether they have dementia, it’s about what to do to improve the cognitive health of the patient.”
“When we’re dealing with human health, people’s lives, it’s impossible to make wrong recommendations or make mistakes.”
RestoreU’s AI tool is most effective for patients who are beginning to experience mild cognitive impairment and are in the early stages of dementia, Chandra told Fox News Digital.
“The data tells us that about 10% of the population over 65 – just over six million people – have dementia, and about 20% have mild cognitive impairment,” he said. .
How it works
Through a partnership with Quest Diagnostics, uMETHOD has released an AI service to physicians who can order services through a patient’s electronic health record.
Once a doctor orders a service, it triggers a detailed exchange of information between the doctor’s electronic health system and Quest Diagnostics, Chandra explained.
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“It gives the doctor a lot of information about the underlying causes of cognitive decline, whether it’s medications, beta-amyloid, thyroid, B12 or lifestyle issues like sleep,” he said.
RestoreU then reports to the doctor how to treat the patient, including adding or changing medications.
The doctor receives a comprehensive plan that can be used “to decide the course of care for each patient,” Chandra said. “Everything is tailored to the needs of that patient.”
Historically, medical care has relied on general guidelines that can be difficult to adapt to the nuances of each patient, the doctor said. (Foundation)
Patient privacy is protected throughout the process, he said.
“We operate our infrastructure in compliance with HIPAA, which maintains the security and integrity of patient data,” said Chandra.
AI may have ‘huge potential’ for Alzheimer’s disease
Mark Dredze, associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Marylandis a big proponent of using AI to treat dementia patients.
“Caring for patients with cognitive impairment is very complex and requires integrating multiple sources of information into a single care plan,” he told Fox News Digital.
“AI has the ability to integrate different types of patient data into an actionable treatment plan.”
Historically, medical care has relied on general guidelines that can be difficult to adapt to the nuances of each patient, he explained.
“AI has the ability to integrate different types of patient data into an actionable treatment plan.”
“The potential of artificial intelligence in medicine is enormous because it can integrate different types of information into a personalized plan for each patient,” added Dredze.
At the same time, he emphasized the importance of understanding the biases and risks of these technologies in order to improve the standard of care for all patients.
The AI tool works
Ashish Sachdeva, MD in Peoria, Arizonahas been using the RestoreU AI tool for their patients for five years, calling it a “no-brainer” for any primary care physician.
“It sets a baseline and lifelong care plan for healthy living,” he told Fox News Digital. “With information from the report, doctors can identify potentially reversible causes of cognitive decline, such as drug side effects or hormonal imbalances that mimic dementia.”
“AI has the potential to develop precise treatment recommendations that allow doctors to personalize care for each patient,” an expert told Fox News Digital. (Foundation)
“The information will also help identify interventions that can slow or, if possible, stop the progression of dementia,” Sachdeva added.
The tool provides the physician with laboratory reports, social history, drug history, psychological history, and advice on lifestyle changes, including diet, sleep, exercise, and stress management.
“The primary care doctor has to do it anyway, but everything is on a plate,” Sachdeva said.
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A key advantage of cognitive AI tools is their ability to identify risk factors early, he said.
“If you want to make kika-90, the process has to start at 50,” Sachdeva told Fox News Digital.
“This report will help identify risk factors and consider lifestyle changes, pharmacologic changes, supplements, and other interventions to help achieve this goal.”
“There is no one-size-fits-all solution”
Except for identical twins, people are not alike, Chandra said. That’s why he believes in the power of precision medicine, which involves treatments focused on the specific needs of the specific patient.
Through a partnership with Quest Diagnostics, uMETHOD has released an AI service to physicians who can order services through a patient’s electronic health record. (Foundation)
“The underlying causes of a patient’s chronic illness, such as cognitive decline, vary from patient to patient,” he said.
Of the 10,000 patients the AI tool has served so far, 52% have one or more causes of cognitive decline, and that varies from person to person, Chandra said.
ALZHEIMER’S DIAGNOSES ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 13 MILLION BY 2050.
“Treatment and intervention should be specific to the specific patient, looking at the specific causes that person has,” he said. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution.”
In addition to improving patient outcomes, Chandra believes precision medicine can significantly reduce care costs because patients are not exposed to expensive drugs and treatments that ultimately don’t work for them.
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But this explanation carries some responsibility, the doctor said.
With hundreds of different AI algorithms, it’s important to understand how systems arrive at their conclusions.
One of the main advantages of cognitive AI tools is their ability to identify risk factors early, says the doctor. (Foundation)
“Classes of algorithms using UMETHOD can always justify why they came to a particular set of conclusions, why they made a particular set of treatment recommendations,” he said.
“When we were deals with human healthIt’s simply not acceptable to make bad suggestions or make mistakes about people’s lives.”
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“We took great care in choosing the right set of algorithms so that doctors can have more confidence in our solutions to provide the best care for these patients,” he added.
Going forward, Chandra said uMETHOD aims to use preventative solutions with the goal of identifying early symptoms before patients develop dementia.
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