A patient at the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya was saved thanks to an innovative application that incorporates artificial intelligence (AI).
The patient, who requested to remain anonymous, had complained of severe headaches over a prolonged period and had gone to the medical center for an elective computerized tomography (CT) scan.
Dr. Dan Paz, the director of the medical center's MRI Institute, received an urgent alert immediately after the CT scan from a new app on his smartphone. The alert showed that the patient was suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage and included the patient's CT scan results as well as his medical and personal details.
Paz called the patient, who was fortunately still in the neighborhood, and urged him to return immediately to the hospital where he underwent additional imaging scans that confirmed he was suffering from intracranial bleeding.
The following day, Dr. Sergey Abeshaus, a senior neurosurgeon, performed lifesaving surgery on the patient which included draining a blood clot above his brain. The patient was discharged safely two days after the surgery.
The lifesaving AI app
The Viz.ai Company, with offices in San Francisco, California, and Tel Aviv, developed this lifesaving application. The company combines the capabilities of artificial intelligence with imaging systems, with the aim of identifying cases such as stroke, cerebral hemorrhage, pulmonary embolism, aortic rupture, and cerebral aneurysm.
The Galilee Medical Center is the first medical center in Israel to begin using the application, after its effectiveness was proven in around 600 leading medical centers in both the US and Europe.
Paz, who participated in developing the app while working at the medical center, said that the app makes it possible to identify urgent medical situations in real time while synchronizing care providers.
"If it had not been for the app, the patient would probably have come to us late in a much more serious condition and with much worse results," Paz said.
“I'm glad it ended this way and I feel great. I want to thank all the wonderful angels who took care of me and saved my life," the anonymous patient stated. "I was happy to hear about this app, and I hope it will save the lives of many more patients in the future.”
Gad Sakin, general manager and chief product officer at Viz.ai in Israel, said “We are happy and proud when we hear about any case of a person’s life that was saved thanks to the technology that we developed. What happened in Nahariya is another story that emphasizes how much this technology can save lives.”
Prof. Masad Barhoum, the hospital’s director-general, concluded that “we are doing everything that we can to maintain the Galilee Medical Center at the forefront of global technology and help save lives, as in the current case. We continue to implement advanced technological systems for the benefit of the 650,000 residents of the Galilee whom we serve.”