Healthcare Perspectives

Across the globe, radiology departments are grappling with a paradox: imaging volumes are climbing while the trained workforce needed to operate scanners is shrinking.  Using AI-driven tools, a drive towards fully-automated radiology promises faster diagnoses, greater diagnostic accuracy, and more efficient workflows, improving both the patient and clinician experience. It is rapidly transfor...

Medical imaging is already an integral part of modern healthcare, but as hospitals face growing imaging demand and staffing challenges, new solutions using artificial intelligence have become an effective way to help ease the load. On today’s episode of Siemens Healthcare Perspectives, you’ll hear a panel conversation discussing AI’s increasing role in radiology, recorded live at the Radiological...

Access to quality healthcare is still out of reach for millions worldwide — particularly in low- and middle-income countries and underserved rural areas. One of the biggest drivers of this gap is a shortage of trained healthcare workers, a challenge made worse by workforce migration, limited local training opportunities, and uneven distribution of resources. In this episode of Healthcare Perspecti...

Is it possible for artificial intelligence to make healthcare more environmentally sustainable?  In the field of radiology, AI may prove to be transformative. It has the potential to streamline processes, cut costs, and increase accuracy in imaging, diagnostics, and prevention. When we talk about sustainability, we often think of carbon emissions or climate change. But environmental sustainab...

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), also known as fatty liver disease, is a chronic liver condition that affects nearly 1 in 3 people worldwide. It is closely linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. Unchecked, it can progress to a more severe form of disease called Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH).  Prognosticating the r...

A reversible liver condition is the fastest growing cause of liver transplantation in Western countries: Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease—or MASLD—affects patients worldwide. It’s characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the liver and can progress into more severe forms of liver disease, potentially resulting in fibrosis, cirrhosis and liver failure. Risk factors for...

Radiotherapy plays a vital role in cancer treatment. In Europe alone, incidents of cancer are projected to rise around 20% by 2040, mainly due to an increasingly aging population. It’s numbers like these that emphasize the importance of pushing boundaries in radiotherapy.   With AI-optimized workflows, it’s possible to speed up treatment planning and ensure highly personalized therapies and t...

With significant disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and funding when compared to men, women’s health has long been underserved. These gaps affect not only individual health outcomes, they also have societal and economic implications which are highlighted by a recent report by the World Economic Forum and The McKinsey Health Institute which addresses a $1 trillion dollar opportunity to improve li...

Sepsis, originally known as blood poisoning, is a life-threatening medical emergency. Tune in to learn about the complexities of sepsis diagnosis, the role of lactate and procalcitonin levels, and the global health challenge it poses. Hear from experts and a sepsis survivor about the advancements in identifying and managing this critical condition.   Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to a...

Regular exercise is one of the most effective methods to keep the heart healthy and efficient. In rare cases, however, there are reports of athletes collapsing mid-game due to cardiac arrest. And while exercise is generally also a key part of the rehabilitation process for those who’ve experienced cardiac events, caution should still be taken. This is where physician input is important, and where...

Every year, more than 12 million people suffer from strokes. With 6.5 million dead and many left with permanent disability, it is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide.  Today, we’ll learn about the stroke pathway and secondary stroke risk as well as the underlying diseases that are connected to stroke and how they can be identified and treated. In this episode, host Wie...

In medical imaging, there is a constantly growing gap between the need for diagnostic imaging and the availability of specialist staff. At the same time, groundbreaking developments in the field of artificial intelligence continue to transform the face of the imaging field as we know it. In fact, AI is currently being used as an efficient and cost-reducing solution to a variety of industry challen...

Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate of all cancers. Globally, it is the deadliest cancer among men and women. One of the biggest contributing factors to lung cancer’s devastation is that it often goes undetected in its early stages. Because the lungs don’t have pain receptors and the chest cavity allows a relatively spacious growing environment for tumors, symptoms typically don’t manifest...

The carbon footprint of healthcare has been estimated to be 4 to 5% of the worldwide total. To put this number into perspective, if “healthcare” was a country, it would be the fifth largest emitter in the world, coming in just behind China, the United States, India, and Russia. Today we face pressing global issues like climate change and an energy crisis, that impact our health and wellbeing. It b...

Urine is more than a natural waste product—it can provide a wealth of information about an individual’s overall health, and urinalysis is one of the oldest diagnostic tests in existence. Its use has been dated as far back as Mesopotamia and ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote extensively about the use of urinalysis in diagnosing disease in the 6th century BCE.   Today, urinalysis can be...

A vast number of cancer patients will undergo radiotherapy during their treatment process. Because of this, experts are searching for ways to treat patients as effectively as they can through radiotherapy while also reducing the treatment’s side effects as much as possible. One answer to this is adaptive radiotherapy. Recent advancements in AI and imaging technology have refined the process and ma...

The World Health Organization states that access to care is a human right. This means all world citizens should have access to quality health care and services, whenever and wherever they need it. To reach this goal, skilled employees are required at all levels of the healthcare system.  For many low- and middle-income countries, this access is extremely difficult and training and develo...

By 2030, the World Health Organization predicts a global shortage of 15 million healthcare workers. As the number of individuals requiring medical care increases, staff shortages are becoming more of a problem. In diagnostic areas with complex indications, the lack of trained and knowledgeable staff can lead not only to errors but also to insufficient time for patient care. Radiology tec...

Top-class, professional soccer demands the highest performance from athletes’ bodies—both in training and in competition. As the years have progressed and skill and competition have augmented, physical demand from athletes has increased exponentially. In addition to an elite running game, professional footballers are also trained to achieve cannon-like kicks of up to 120 kilometers per hour and wi...

One of the Covid pandemic's impact is an increase in resignations in healthcare. Combined with rising patient needs, hospitals are now understaffed and looking for new solutions. This is where remote technologies may help. In fact, some hospitals are already seeing success in implementing remote technologies to help in treatment and diagnostics without increasing staff in specific locations. Today...

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed many weaknesses in the healthcare systems in both developed and developing countries. At the same time, the pandemic led many healthcare leaders to think out of the box and embrace new technologies in diagnostics, treatment, human resources, funding, and general patient care. Beyond the pandemic, we are seeing a greater commitment to create a more sustainable and resi...

A diagnosis of cancer is one of the most devastating a person can receive—and worldwide, the number of new cancer diagnoses per year is on the rise, putting even more stress on patients, their families, care teams and health systems.  Today, Gabriel Haras, MD, president of Cancer Therapy Imaging at Varian, a Siemens Healthineers company, is exploring whether digital twin technology could help...

Breast cancer is the most common cancer found in women worldwide, and one of the most effective ways to combat it is early detection through screening. However, this faces several challenges, such as limited access to screening, socio-economic issues and the difficulties in getting conclusive results from some tests. Taking screening closer to the people and employing artificial intelligence in di...

The pursuit of precision medicine using technology has given rise to the idea of creating patients' digital twins. The successful development of digital twins of individual organs has set the stage for its development. However, the quantity and quality of data required to create a functional patient twin is an obstacle that is yet to be conquered, as are legislative and regulatory challenges. Toda...

Understanding neurodegenerative diseases require a lot of data to be collected and analyzed by the researchers involved. If they have accurate data that they can get deeper into, they increase the likelihood of identifying patterns that can lead to meaningful conclusions. That is why many researchers are now using AI in analyzing the vast amount of available data. This helps in getting accurate in...