AI System Prevents Anemia from Hemodialysis

Anemia, a condition characterized by the lack of healthy red blood cells in the body, is common in patients with chronic kidney disease who need to undergo routine hemodialysis (a process that helps to “clean” the blood when the kidneys don’t function well). Thus, red blood cell-stimulating agents (called “erythropoiesis-stimulating agents” or ESAs) and iron supplements (ISs) are administered as part of this process. But, complications can arise if the patients have an altered iron metabolism or poor response to medications. Moreover, the medications tend to be expensive and impose a heavy financial burden on public health. Thus, with such patients currently on the rise but not enough physicians suitably trained to administer treatment, additional support systems with smart decision-making capabilities are highly sought after. One option is to turn to artificial intelligence (AI), which seems promising but demands a large dataset and is not practical owing to diverse health conditions of patients.

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