The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday said that it has approved the use of an artificial intelligence (AI) system that helps doctors scan chest X-rays to more quickly detect COVID-19 infections.
The diagnostic system was jointly developed by the start-up Taiwan Medical Imaging Co and some medical institutions, agency official Wu Ting-yao (吳亭瑤) said.
The start-up is owned by Tu Yi-chin (杜奕瑾), the founder of Taiwan AI Labs and Professional Technology Temple, the nation’s largest electronic bulletin board, Wu said.
The AI system can be used alongside polymerase chain reaction and rapid antigen tests as a fast diagnostic tool to detect COVID-19 by pinpointing a chest infection in an X-ray image, he said.
The agency on Thursday approved the commercialization of the system on a special-case basis in light of a COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan, Wu said.
The system would be particularly useful in cases where an undiagnosed and asymptomatic COVID-19 patient visits a doctor for another ailment, said Hsiao Shih-hsin (蕭世欣), an attending physician at Taipei Medical University Hospital.
In such circumstances, the AI system would issue an alert if it detects signs of a possible COVID-19 infection in the chest X-rays, Hsiao said.
Another doctor also welcomed the agency’s approval of the system, saying that it can be used as a fast detection tool among medical personnel if a COVID-19 case emerges in a hospital.
With the AI system, there would be no immediate need for the entire hospital staff to be tested in case of an infection, said Lee Chien-chang (李建璋), deputy director of the Center of Intelligent Healthcare at National Taiwan University Hospital and an attending physician in the department of emergency medicine.
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