Machine learning can predict low blood pressure during surgery

A new algorithm can predict potentially dangerous low blood pressure during surgery. Researchers have developed machine learning than can identify hypotension as much as 15 minutes before it occurs, and are correct about 84 percent of the time. The findings were published Monday in the journal Anesthesiology. "Physicians haven't had a way to predict hypotension during surgery, so they have to be reactive, and treat it immediately without any prior warning," Dr. Maxime Cannesson, a professor of anesthesiology at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, said in a press release. "Being able to predict hypotension would allow physicians to be proactive instead of reactive."