I-Corps: Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled point-of-care diagnostic ultrasound for injured children

University Of California-San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled, ultrasound diagnostic technology to safely diagnose internal bleeding in injured children. The current standard of care is to use a computerized tomography (CT) scan to diagnose internal bleeding, however, 4,000 of these children will develop cancer directly caused by the ionizing radiation each year. In addition, from the time the emergency provider orders the CT scan to the radiologist’s final report may be up to 24 hours. The proposed AI-guided ultrasound diagnostic technology may be able to diagnose internal bleeding in childrenwithout cancer-causing radiation and within minutes of arrival. The proposed technology also may give access to expert-level emergency care to those who do not live near a trauma center. Currently, 30 million people in the US do not live within an hour of a trauma center, and do not have access to CT. This I-Corps project is based on the development of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled software to use with existing ultrasound technology to safely diagnose internal bleeding in injured children. The proposed software may guide the acquisition of the correct images of the focused assessment with sonography during the trauma exam and may help interpret the results by identifying free fluid, indicating internal bleeding. A view classification model has been developed that accurately identifies the correct images for the pediatric trauma exam (accuracy of ~98%), and a novel machine learning algorithm to detect internal bleeding is currently in development. These models will be integrated into a software platform that may guide the ultrasound image acquisition, assist in the diagnosis of internal bleeding, and automate documentation workflow. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.