The coordinator of the Image Center of the Brain Institute of RS and professor at the School of Medicine at PUCRS, Bruno Hochhegger gave an interview to the website Gaúcha / ZH on the use of artificial intelligence to estimate the occupancy of beds in hospitals in patients with coronavirus.

The also researcher Bruno Hochhegger explains that the research is done through the use of artificial intelligence in chest tomography performed on people infected with Covid-19. According to him, the software evaluates the exam and relates to the need for this patient to be intubated or to need mechanical ventilation in the future. The researcher shows the percentage of patients who will need to be hospitalized.
“With the exams and the application of parameters, we were able to draw the patient's recovery or worsening curve, predicting whether he will have to use mechanical ventilation or not. It is a much more anchored method than mathematical projection. And the platform is not only focused on coronavirus cases, but it can be used in all severe respiratory syndromes, including future pandemics ”, notes the researcher.
The objective is that there is greater assertiveness in the reservation of places in hospitals, being able to predict the need for beds for the next 15 to 30 days.
The idea is that the system will be operational in three months and can be made available to the entire health network in Porto Alegre. For now, the software is already in use at PUCRS São Lucas Hospital.
The project was included in the Emergency Science and Technology Call to Combat Covid-19, launched in April by the Rio Grande do Sul Research Support Foundation (Fapergs), and has the work of a multidisciplinary team of researchers.
Check out the article from Gaúcha / ZH here .