Artificial intelligence to the rescue in medtech

Armed with a mouse and computer screen instead of a scalpel and operating theatre, cardiologist Benjamin Meder carefully places the electrodes of a pacemaker in a beating, digital heart. Using this "digital twin" that mimics the electrical and physical properties of the cells in patient 7497's heart, Meder runs simulations to see if the pacemaker can keep the congestive heart failure sufferer alive, before he has inserted a knife. The digital heart twin developed by Siemens Healthineers is one example of how medical device makers are using artificial intelligence (AI) to help doctors make more precise diagnoses as medicine enters an increasingly personalised age. The challenge for Siemens Healthineers and rivals such as Philips and GE Healthcare is to keep an edge over tech giants from Alphabet's Google to Alibaba that hope to use big data to grab a slice of healthcare spending. With healthcare budgets under increasing pressure, AI tools such as the digital heart twin could save tens of thousands of dollars by predicting outcomes and avoiding unnecessary surgery.