Intel and Samsung Medison, a division of Samsung Electronics, described on Thursday an improvement to ultrasound measurement using AI that is designed to reduce deaths of women at childbirth.
According to the World Health Organization, nearly 300,000 women died during and following pregnancy and childbirth in 2017. That number could be reduced with better tracking of fetal growth and fetal position during final stages of pregnancy, the companies said. In many hospitals, clinicians often perform a large number of manual fetal ultrasounds each day.
The companies said there has been no broadly accepted standard about the way a fetus is measured. Also, accurate measurements of head circumference and abdominal circumference can be difficult to obtain with manual methods.
Samsung Medison’s BiometryAssist ultrasound technology automates and simplifies fetal measurements, while LaborAssist automatically estimates fetal angle of progression during labor without the need for an invasive exam. The system relies on the Intel Core i3 processor and the Distribution of Open VINO and OpenCV toolkits for development of the software.
BiometryAssist automatically locates areas of interest in a fetal ultrasound and sets a caliper in 85 milliseconds, with a success rate of 97% to 99% for each measurement, according to a statement from Prof. Jayoung Kwon at the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, South Korea. Measurements are made of fetal femur length and head and abdominal circumference. In one example, the technology can help delineate femur length even in the presence of ultrasound shadows.
Using machine vision to analyze ultrasounds, LaborAssist has been shown to measure the angle of progress of the fetus to within 8 degrees, within 95% confidence. That level of precision compares to human observation where the variance has been measured at 14 degrees with 95% confidence. The Intel i3 processor also has sped up AI inference by nearly 5 times for BiometryAssist and LaborAssist, according to Intel.
With the information, doctors can better understand the labor process to determine the best method for delivery, the companies said. A more accurate and real-time progression of labor could help reduce unnecessary cesarean sections.
In the U.S. BiometryAssist and LaborAssist received Food and Drug Administration clearance this year.
Intel and Samsung Medison expect to collaborate on future ultrasound technology involving nerve tracking, software beamforming and AI modules.
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