The tool, developed by researchers at the Hospital Clinic Barcelona, stratifies hospitalised patients with confirmed a diagnosis of COVID-19m according to if they are likely to suffer inflammatory, co-infection and/or thrombotic complications, allowing for timely and appropriate treatment.

In an initial assessment of the performance of the tool carried out in Barcelona, personalising treatment according to this stratification led to a 50% reduction in mortality. “The AI system that we have built is capable of supporting clinicians in the early diagnosis of patients more prone to develop complications,” said lead researcher Carolina Garcia-Vidal of the department of infectious diseases at Hospital Clinic Barcelona. “Thus we have been able to provide timely and personalised treatments,” she said.

Development of the AI tool was funded by EIT Health as part of its emergency call for research proposals to help deal with the pandemic.

The number of patients in the initial validation study was only 246, but it is a requirement of EIT funding is that the results can be replicated. Two more hospitals in Spain and one each in Belgium and the Netherlands, will take part in the initial scale-up.

“I am very proud of the early results demonstrated by our Digital Control Centre for COVID-19 project, which has been rapidly implemented and is already showing its potential to save lives,” said Jan-Phillip Beck, CEO of EIT Health. “We look forward to further validation and will work to make it available for as many patients as possible.”

Original news:https://sciencebusiness.net/live-blog/live-blog-rd-response-covid-19-pandemic?entry=7325#live-blog-entry-7325

More info: https://eithealth.eu/news-article/artificial-intelligence-tool-aiding-personalised-covid-19-treatment-decisions-demonstrates-50-percent-reduction-in-mortality/