Digital stethoscope simplifies respiratory disease monitoring and control
Editor's note:
Information technology, artificial intelligence, and big data are playing increasingly significant roles in health care. This series on many sectors of the health industry is intended to demonstrate the role of advanced technology, intelligent systems, and new inventions.
Shot by Jiang Xiaowei. Edited by Jiang Xiaowei. Reported by Cai Wenjun. Subtitles by Cai Wenjun.
For many chronic diseases, long-term, regular and efficient monitoring is crucial for control and management of the condition, but a lack of effective and convenient means of doing so can greatly impact on effectiveness. Many patients visit the hospital until suffering worrying symptoms they can no longer overlook.
Smart medicine is making disease screening and management more convenient and more intelligent.
Medics from Shanghai East Hospital invented an AI-assisted digital auscultation system, which allows patients to receive long-term, convenient and remote monitoring of chronic respiratory diseases.
Auscultation refers to basic medical checks in which doctors use a stethoscope to listen to a patient's internal organs. It provides data on respiration cycles, frequency, change of strength and noise. It is used to monitor the air tubes, bronchus, and the lungs and check whether there might be any obstructions or spasms.
Stethoscopes are quick, non-invasive, non-radiative, and simple-to-use, so are a key medical tool in clinical practice.
"But the traditional method is facing challenges, as the disease evaluation is mainly based on the doctor's own judgement, which aligns closely with the medic's experience and ability," said Dr Wang Kun from the hospital's respiratory and critical medicine department and a leading developer of the digital stethoscope. "In addition, traditional stethoscopes can't store data, restricting prospective and retrospective evaluations on the disease's progress and therapy effects."
Medics from Shanghai East Hospital have developed a digital respiration sound collecting and analysis device, which consists of an electronic stethoscope for sound collection, data transportation and volume enlargement, and an accompanying smartphone App.
"So the traditional stethoscope has limitations on the long-term management of patients. With the development of medical engineering technology, big data and artificial intelligence, smart devices which can record patients' respiration and store, analyze, and process this data are the solution. Such a tool can make diagnosis more objective and intelligent, and meet the demand for long-term and holistic management."
Shanghai East Hospital's respiration and intensive medicine department teamed with scientists from Shanghai Jiao Tong University to develop the digital respiration sound collecting and analysis device, which consists of an electronic stethoscope for sound collection, data transportation, and volume amplification, and the smartphone App.
On placing the electronic stethoscope onto the designated positions, the system will start to record, store, and upload the respiration sound. Patients can do this themselves after training by medics.
A doctor at Shanghai East Hospital checks a patient's respiratory data collected by the digital system.
"It is an innovative technology, which is practical and convenient," Wang said.
Based on the system, the hospital has established the world's biggest database on adult respiration sounds for clinical research, and has developed an AI-assisted model for automatic evaluation of abnormal respiration sounds. The model has a high diagnostic accuracy for patients regardless of age, gender, or sound types. "Its judgement has been in line with the ability of a clinical practitioner," Wang said.
Shanghai East Hospital has adopted the system into its clinical practice to provide doctors with patients' real-time respiration sounds for better evaluation and improved management.
"The system can also be used by patients at home or by community-based hospitals for those with chronic respiratory diseases like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It can offer not only a remote medical service but also help doctors to adjust medication and remind patients to visit the hospital in time based on AI assistance," Wang added.
Wang said the Pudong New Area has purchased 600 sets of the devices and put them into use in its community-based hospital for chronic respiratory patients.
