A newly developed tool that harnesses computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) may help clinicians rapidly evaluate placentas at birth, potentially improving neonatal and maternal care, according to new research from scientists at Northwestern Medicine and Penn State.
The study, which was published Dec. 13 in the print edition of the journal Patterns and featured on the journal's cover, describes a computer program named PlacentaVision that can analyze a simple photograph of the placenta to detect abnormalities associated with infection and neonatal sepsis, a life-threatening condition that affects millions of newborns globally.
"Placenta is one of the most common specimens that we see in the lab," said study co-author Dr. Jeffery Goldstein, director of perinatal pathology and an associate professor of pathology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "When the neonatal intensive care unit is treating a sick kid, even a few minutes can make a difference in medical decision making. With a diagnosis from these photographs, we can have an answer days earlier than we would in our normal process."
Northwestern provided the largest set of images for the study, and Goldstein led the development and troubleshooting of the algorithms.
