The FDA today approved what it's calling "the first medical device to use artificial intelligence to detect greater than a mild level of the eye disease diabetic retinopathy." The AI-powered, cloud-based system will be available for use by primary care providers. Over 30 million Americans have diabetes, and diabetic retinopathy--which occurs when blood sugar levels result in damage to retinal blood vessels--is considered mostly preventable. Still, it causes vision loss in tens of thousands of people each year and is the leading cause of blindness among working-age Americans. "Many patients with diabetes are not adequately screened for diabetic retinopathy since about 50 percent of them do not see their eye doctor on a yearly basis," Malvina Eydelman, MD, said in the FDA's official announcement.

New technologies often bring calls for new regulation. A current example is artificial intelligence (AI)--the creation of machines that think and act in ways that resemble human intelligence. There are plenty of AI optimists and AI pessimists. Both camps see the need for government intervention. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who believes AI will "allow us to produce a lot more goods and services with less labor," foresees labor force dislocations and has suggested a robot tax.

Our flagship product, Viz LVO, leverages advanced deep learning to communicate time-sensitive information about stroke patients straight to a specialist who can intervene and treat. In February 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted a De Novo clearance for Viz LVO, the first-ever computer-aided triage and notification platform to identify LVO strokes in CTA imaging. Most recently, Viz.ai announced its second FDA clearance for Viz CTP through the 510(k) pathway, offering healthcare providers an important tool for automated cerebral image analysis.

Health providers and artificial-intelligence software companies are developing tools that could help pathologists better spot diseases, prioritize critical cases and improve patient outcomes, according to a new research report from Frost & Sullivan. The Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve machine-learning pathology tools for use in patient care, but many pathologists say the day isn't far off. The FDA could put its stamp of approval on the technology in the next few years, said Dr. Liron Pantanowitz, vice...

FedEx Corp. has today announced the "SameDay Bot" – an autonomous delivery service, designed to help retailers make same-day and last-mile deliveries to their customers. Using this machine, retailers will be able to accept orders from nearby customers and deliver items directly to homes or businesses the same day. FedEx is collaborating with companies such as AutoZone, Lowe's, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart to help assess retailers' autonomous delivery needs. "The FedEx SameDay Bot is an innovation designed to change the face of local delivery and help retailers efficiently address their customers' rising expectations," said Brie Carere, executive vice president for FedEx. "The bot represents a milestone in our ongoing mission to solve the complexities and expense of same-day, last-mile delivery for the growing e-commerce market in a manner that is safe and environmentally friendly."

The robotic contraption rolling down the street just might be delivering a FedEx package to your home or office. That's the vision, anyway, behind the FedEx SameDay Bot that the shipping giant unveiled Wednesday. This sub-200-pound autonomous delivery robot was developed by DEKA Development & Research Corp, whose founder is Segway inventor Dean Kamen. The SameDay Bot is so-named because its mission is to help retailers make same-day, "last mile" deliveries to local customers. FedEx is collaborating with AutoZone, Lowe's, Pizza Hut, Target, Walgreens and Walmart.

Epilepsy is among the most common neurological disorders that affects 65 million people of all ages globally. In the United States, 3.4 million Americans have epilepsy according to the CDC. Epilepsy can interfere with a person's ability to drive a car, play sports, swim, or exercise. It is a non-contagious brain disorder where recurrent, unprovoked seizures occur. Epilepsy may be caused by many factors, including traumatic brain injuries, stroke, loss of oxygen to the brain, brain tumor, parasitic brain infections (malaria, neurocysticercosis from tapeworms), viral infections (Zika, dengue, influenza), bacterial brain infections, neurological diseases, genetic predisposition, and other causes.

While artificial intelligence promises to create actionable insights for clinicians to make better care decisions for patients, the regulations and standards for evaluating AI-based algorithms are lacking. Writing in the February 22 issue of the journal Science, they make the case that evaluations of AI-based algorithms are not held to traditional clinical trial standards--and, as a result, there has been little prospective evidence that predictive analytics improve patient care. "Several commercial algorithms have received regulatory approval for broad clinical use. But the barrier for entry of new advanced algorithms has been low," charge the authors. "To unlock the potential of advanced analytics while protecting patient safety, regulatory and professional bodies should ensure that advanced algorithms meet accepted standards of clinical benefit, just as they do for clinical therapeutics and predictive biomarkers."

SAN DIEGO--A novel smartphone app that uses artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms significantly reduced pain and pain-related hospital admissions in a group of patients with various metastatic, solid-organ cancers, according to results from a randomized clinical trial reported at the 2018 Palliative and Supportive Care in Oncology Symposium sponsored by ASCO (Abstract 76). The ePAL is a smartphone app that regularly monitors pain and uses AI to differentiate urgent from non-urgent issues in real time. It also collects and assesses patient-reported pain severity three times each day while providing daily tips on pain-reduction strategies. It is one of the first apps to utilize both patient-reported outcomes and AI clinical algorithms, according to the researchers. The app was developed and tested in 56 pain patients and a matched group of 56 control patients who received regular pain management care by investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, the hospital's Division of Palliative Care, and Partners HealthCare Pivot Labs, which is a new center of excellence that focuses on human-centered preventive care and chronic pain management.

Epilepsy is among the most common neurological disorders that affects 65 million people of all ages globally. In the United States, 3.4 million Americans have epilepsy according to the CDC. Epilepsy can interfere with a person's ability to drive a car, play sports, swim, or exercise. It is a non-contagious brain disorder where recurrent, unprovoked seizures occur. Epilepsy may be caused by many factors, including traumatic brain injuries, stroke, loss of oxygen to the brain, brain tumor, parasitic brain infections (malaria, neurocysticercosis from tapeworms), viral infections (Zika, dengue, influenza), bacterial brain infections, neurological diseases, genetic predisposition, and other causes.