AI technology impacts gynaecological ultrasound by detecting preterm birth

On 29 March, International Women’s Day, Ultrasound AI Inc announced that it had been awarded its first patent for its newest predictive diagnostic tool, Preterm AI (PAI). Ultrasound AI is a Cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) company that provides ultrasound imaging, and is headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, US. PAI combines ultrasound technology with AI to predict preterm birth, allowing for earlier interventions.

When applied to real-world data in a clinical context, PAI has been able to show predictive values of over 90% when predicting preterm and normal births.

Preterm Birth (PTB) is a major, long-lasting public health problem. It is the leading cause of mortality and long-term disabilities among neonates and has heavy emotional and financial consequences for families and society. The prediction of PTB risk has been an exceedingly challenging problem for first-time mothers (nulliparous women) due to the lack of prior pregnancy history.

Over $26 billion is spent annually on the delivery and care of 12% of infants who are born preterm in the US. One crucial challenge for this space is to identify women who are at the highest risk for early preterm birth and to develop interventions that address this risk. The ability to identify women who are at the lowest risk for preterm birth is equally important to avoid unnecessary and costly interventions. PAI provides a potential solution to both problems by detecting the risk of preterm birth in women who may or may not have any known risk factors, and alert physicians to prevent a preterm birth by introducing interventions early on.