Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong has introduced VUNO Med-DeepBrain, an artificial intelligence solution for diagnosing degenerative brain diseases, for improved diagnoses and health insurance benefits for patients.
VUNO Med-DeepBrain is a program that analyzes individual brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with AI technology. As Alzheimer's or dementia progresses, a decrease in the volume of the hippocampus and medial temporal inflammation of the brain occurs, leading to brain atrophy and enlargement of the endothelium.
DeepBrain can accurately measure the atrophy of 100 brain regions by AI, quantifying and numerically providing the degree of atrophy and degeneration of white matter in a specific brain area. Additionally, it analyzes and provides the relative age of the brain and the presence of degenerative diseases to help diagnose neurodegenerative diseases.
For the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease at the clinical site, positive emission tomography (PET) tests and MRI tests are normally conducted.
However, PET testing is expensive and has limited insurance coverage. On the other hand, brain MRI tests are inexpensive due to health insurance and can also identify structural changes such as atrophy of brain-related areas.
However, as a doctor's visual examination usually evaluates image reading, the reading results can differ depending on the clinical experience of the medical staff. Thus, deep learning programs, such as VUNO Med-DeepBrain, are expected to overcome these limitations as they can be accurately analyzed with AI, according to the hospital.
"By applying deep-learning to patient’s MRI scans, we expect this technology to help conduct the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's and dementia." Professor Ryu Chang-woo said.
A VUNO official said, “As the elderly population in Korea increases, early screening of neurodegenerative diseases is becoming more important.”
VUNO expressed its commitment to improving diagnostic imaging by working on more specific AI solutions, including VUNO Med-DeepBrain AD, to target Alzheimer's diagnoses better .