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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 21 M A R C H 4 , 2 0 2 4 F O C U S L I F E S C I E N C E S / B I O T E C H data from MaineHealth heart sur- gery patients in the ICU. New medical equipment was acquired to allow all data elements, usually generated piecemeal, to be collected and stored in a cloud-based server. So far, data have been collected from hundreds of patients. Finding patterns "Usually some data is collected and saved for some period of time, but not beyond the patient's hospital stay," says Sawyer. "And then they go into the OR and that's different data and it's not inte- grated. We're bringing it all together and asking, 'Can we learn something about who might have a bad outcome or might be at a high risk for those outcomes?'" A patient's condition can change for the worse in a short period of time. Machine learning algorithms "find these patterns and amplify them, and turn them into a signal that's suffi- ciently robust that the caregiver can say, 'is patient is heading toward septic shock,'" for example, says Winslow. "Humans can't do this, and they can't do it every moment." If predictions can be done reliably, then caregivers will have the advanced warning needed to intervene and decide if and how to step in. "And then, with early interven- tion, we'll be able to reduce the rate of negative outcomes and help patents," says Winslow. Winslow and Sawyer emphasized that AI-enabled predictions are con- sidered only as added information to caregivers, not as the final word. "Physicians are always going to be at the tip of the spear, holding the fundamental responsibility for help- ing patients and families make health care decisions," says Winslow. "We're giving them new information and new insights." It will be several years before there are any actionable outcomes, says Celebrate and meet this year's honorees on April 10! REGIS TER TODAY AT MAINEBIZ .BIZ/BLOY24 T I C K E T S W I L L G O F A S T ! Join us on April 10 at the Mainebiz Business Leaders of the Year Reception. Help us celebrate and recognize the 2024 honorees during this awards presentation. Enjoy two cash bars and appetizers while networking with Maine's business community. SP ONSORED BY FOLLOW U S @M AI NEBI Z #MBBLOY2024 C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » We'll see a blossoming of AI and machine learning approaches in understanding the fundamental basis of disease and how to target cures. — Raimond Winslow Roux Institute

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