Microsoft's Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) technologies are helping Apollo Hospitals predict and suggest preventive steps for cardian diseases with utmost accuracy, a top hospital executive said on April 11.

Microsoft last month partnered with Apollo Hospitals to expand its healthcare AI offering. "Apollo Hospitals recognised the potential of technologies like AI, ML and data analytics in providing high-quality preventive healthcare services very early," Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd, told reporters here. "Our partnership with Microsoft bring us to the forefront of this remarkable metamorphosis that is allowing us to meet healthcare demand and maintain service excellence regardless of geography," Reddy added.

The AI Network for Healthcare, previously known as Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE), is a part of Microsoft "Healthcare NexT" initiative aimed at accelerating healthcare innovation through AI and Cloud computing. Nearly three million heart attacks happen in India every year and 30 million Indians suffer from coronary diseases. Apollo Hospitals, with Microsoft's AI Network for Healthcare, now has the capability of applying ML and AI to cardio-vascular health records to develop an Indian-specific heart risk score.

With the new heart risk score for India, Apollo Hospitals' AI model helps gauge a patient's risk for heart disease and provides rich insights to doctors on treatment plans and early diagnosis. "The beauty of these solutions is that all the depersonalized personal health data that Apollo Hospitals is crunching comes from the Indian population," Microsoft said in a blog post on Wednesday.

This means the model is two times more accurate than models with ‘borrowed' data from other countries with different lifestyles, socio-economic, genetic and environmental factors. Now, when a patient goes for a cardio health check, the doctor can build up a more accurate cardio-vascular health profile of the patient based on machine learning of all their previous patient data. AI can then, in turn, predict future coronary ailments the patient might experience in the next 10 to 20 years based on these multiple factors.

"Secondly, the doctor can make a patient health plan that addresses these possibilities whether it be prescribing medicine or recommending specific lifestyle changes," the post said. "Why does an individual with an X genetic biological presentation have disease X but not Y? Why does someone with the same lifestyle not have the same problem? Computing capacity is enabling us to take this data and generate clinical insights," explained Reddy. With the power of the Cloud, doctors can share high resolution 3D imagery and consult partner doctors locally and abroad in real time, improving surgery pre-planning and success.