Peter Monteleone discusses how AI apps enhance critical care teams

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing how critical care teams are responding to stroke, pulmonary embolism, aortic artery aneurism (AAA) and other acute conditions by offering immediate access to imaging, patient information and communication with team members. Several vendors now have FDA-cleared AI that can independently monitor images coming from CT scanners, identify these conditions and alert all the care team members on the smartphones. The alerts notify the physicians about a suspected emergent case with links to the patient information and immediate access to the CT scan images. This happens before the images reach the PACS or a radiologist, which is designed to speed the care team activation process. 

Though these AI algorithms were originally aimed at helping better identify critical cases and alerting radiologists they need to do an immediate STAT read, the AI has seen a much biggest reception from critical care teams for stroke and pulmonary embolism (PE).

  "This technology was initially integrated for stroke detection within our health system and has now been expanded to include pulmonary embolism. Its implementation has been revolutionary, allowing us to make timely decisions and avoid missing critical cases," explained Peter Monteleone, MD, an interventional cardiologist, director of the interventional cardiology fellowship program at Ascension Texas Cardiovascular, national director of cardiovascular research at Ascension Health, assistant professor, UT Austin Dell School of Medicine, and a member of the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) at his hospital.