Artificial intelligence, technology and medicine are working increasingly tightly together: the spread of electronic health records and the progress of monitoring devices have made it possible to collect ever-increasing amounts of patient data, especially in intensive care. Their analyses with automatic learning and predictive modeling could provide new information and improve patient care.
For this reason Humanitas, in collaboration with the Polytechnic of Milan, MIT and ESICM (the European Society of Intensive Medicine), will host for the first time in Italy from 1 to 3 February at Humanitas Hospital the conference “Milan Critical Care Datathon and ESICM’s Big Data Talk”.
“The aim of this important appointment, which is the largest event in Europe dedicated to Artificial Intelligence applied to intensive care, is to improve the outcomes of critical patients using the new technologies of Machine Learning and Deep Learning. We monitor our patients with a lot of machinery and generate a lot of data, both in those who are already in hospital and in those who may need hospitalization in a critical area. The new methods of data analysis could help doctors to make better and faster diagnoses, and thus set up better treatments,” explained Prof. Maurizio Cecconi, ESICM President-elect and Head of the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care at Humanitas and lecturer at Humanitas University.
International guests and experts
The event will be attended by about 300 specialists from different parts of the world and some of the most important experts on the subject, including Prof. Leo Anthony Celi of MIT Boston, various experts of ESICM in addition to Prof. Maurizio Cecconi, and finally, Riccardo Barbieri, professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Polytechnic of Milan.
A two-day challenge, practice and seminars
After the events in London, Boston, Singapore, Madrid and Paris, the MIT Critical Care Datathon finally arrives in Milan, the first ever in Italy.
The ‘two days’ will be divided into ‘practical’ events and seminars in which experts will give demonstrations on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to medical research, showing how machine learning models can be implemented for clinical research in critical care conditions. Among the topics: why the need for AI in intensive care, the state of the art of electronic health records in Europe, the creation of shared initiatives between institutions and even issues related to privacy and data security.
“It is an area still in progress, but the first research and scientific publications are encouraging: that of Artificial Intelligence applied to intensive care could really be a revolution in the medical field,” concluded Cecconi.
The aim is to raise awareness and promote interdisciplinary collaboration.
An award for the three best multidisciplinary projects
During the Critical Care Datathon, doctors, data experts and statisticians work in teams and compete for 24 hours to find new ways to answer real clinical questions using large data sets of electronic medical records. A full-immersion experience in which professionals test themselves and work with specialists from different fields, learn more about the potential of medical data and enable a step forward in critical care research.
During the challenge, several multidisciplinary teams of both medical and engineering staff will be assigned a clinical question and will have to find a way to query databases to provide an innovative solution to a particular problem. At the end of the weekend they will have to prepare a presentation to show their project: “The best projects will be rewarded and will be able to present their research project at the annual ESICM event in Berlin,” explained Prof. Cecconi.
