Pioneering artificial intelligence could ease winter pressures on hospitals

Pioneering artificial intelligence (AI) which automatically diagnoses lung diseases – such as tuberculosis and pneumonia – could ease winter pressures on hospitals, University of the West of Scotland researchers believe. Tuberculosis and pneumonia – potentially serious infections which mainly affect the lungs –often require a combination of different diagnostic tests,– such as CT scans, blood tests, X-rays, and ultrasounds. These tests can be expensive, with often lengthy waiting times for results. Developed by UWS, the revolutionary technology – originally created to quickly detect Covid-19 from X-ray images – has been proven to automatically identify a range of different lung diseases in a matter of minutes, with around 98 per cent accuracy. UWS researcher Professor Naeem Ramzan said: "Systems such as this could prove to be crucial for busy medical teams worldwide."