What can machines do?: Practical benefits of big data and artificial intelligence in medicine

Abstract

With increasing computing and storage capacity, the application of big data and artificial intelligence (AI) is almost inexorably finding its way into medicine. The main areas of application so far have been in radiology and pathology, as well as in other areas such as genome sequencing and psychiatry. By evaluating ever larger amounts of data, patterns are sought that can make physicians’ work easier by making a preselection. In addition, efforts are being made to uncover previously unrecognized connections. Large amounts of data are recorded by the patients themselves using so-called wearables. How can this data be used meaningfully? What are the dangers? Efforts are also being made in urology to improve the treatment of urinary tract infections and kidney stones, for example, through the use of networked computer systems. Great progress can be expected in the next few years in the field of big data and AI. An enormous expansion of the areas of application is going to come; as such, we are only at the beginning of the development.