Tapping on their individual expertise, Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP), National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), and Kumamoto University (KU), Japan signed an agreement for research collaboration.
The research agreement by the three institutions will see the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted Automatic Heart Diagnosis System (AHDS) that will empower the use of a wearable ultrasound device to detect heart disease remotely.
Using deep learning techniques, the machine learning system was developed by the research team from NP led by Dr Rajendra Archarya to automatically diagnose heart conditions.
The collaboration leveraged on KU’s expertise in research and development of non-invasive remote ultrasound technology and the development of the wearable ultrasound device in combination with the AI technology put together by NP.
“We have developed flexible ultrasonic sensor technology for 20 years. It is a great pleasure that our sensors will commit to explore a new horizon of clinical ultrasound imaging in collaboration with Ngee Ann Polytechnic and National Heart Centre Singapore,” said Associate Professor Makiko Kobayashi, from KU’s Faculty of Advanced Science and Technology.
Associate Professor Tan Ru San, Senior Consultant at NHCS, and his team from the Department of Cardiology will be providing their clinical knowledge and expertise for more holistic implementation of the device for clinical practice.
The signing ceremony also included a live demonstration of the device where they were able to determine with 2 seconds of ECG signals the diagnosis of heart disease of the patient through the AI programme.
Currently under the development stage, the research team will be developing a wireless wearable ultrasound device prototype to continuously capture ultrasound signals of the patient’s heart and blood vessels, for extended periods of time. The AHDS coupled with the wearable ultrasound device, real-time analysis will be made possible and will reduce the need for routine manual interpretation.
“The use of remote monitoring technology like the AHDS-enabled wearable ultrasound device, which enables instantaneous collection and sending of cardiovascular signals, can potentially complement existing cardiac diagnostic tests and may translate to better patient care,” said Associate Professor Tan Ru San.
Mr Andrew T. Sabaratnam, Senior Director for Tech Innovation and Entrepreneurship also added that final year students from NP can look forward to working together with the research team on applications of artificial intelligence and in a clinical setting for their final year project. [APBN]