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How Will AI Research Based on Korean Medicine Big Data be Used in Clinical Trials?
Professor Seo Byeong-gwan from Kyung Hee University
Introduction
A
project for establishing Korean Medicine clinical big data is actively carried
out according to the government’s “4th Comprehensive Plan to Develop
Korean Medicine (2021–2025).” The project is planned to complete the
development of Korean Medicine AI algorithm beyond phased-in standardization
and quantification of Korean Medicine clinical data.
The
Western Medicine has already been developing various services using big data
such as an AI doctor. This makes us wonder just how unique the future AI
algorithm based on Korean Medicine big data will be.
In this edition of PEOPLE, we discussed with Professor Seo Byeong-gwan from Kyung Hee University about how far the AI research based on Korean Medicine big data has come.
1.
Why do you think AI trend is rising in the medical industry?
As you said, AI is
trending in the medical sector. AI technologies are pervading our everyday
life. You can see this in detail in films about the future. For example, a
child who has been ill for a long time enters a so-called diagnosis box and the
name of a disease and treatment method are instantly revealed.
It is a scene where a
“person” is excluded or minimized as a “medical provider” in the series of
processes for accessing the latest knowledge system to identify the patient’s
problem accurately and finding the optimized answer to solve the problem. In
short, the future will be heading towards a way of ruling out “human errors.”
To think about a reason,
it takes a lot of time and costs to produce medical professionals who can
provide quality medical service. In addition, it requires long hours of
training for medical professionals to organize a massive amount of information
generated in the treatment process, such as test results of a patient, reaction
to certain drugs, the nature of the related technology, and side effects, and
classify them according to priority.
However, AI can accomplish
these processes in only a short period of time. AI technologies can imitate
human intelligence to quickly judge which tasks to perform, collect
corresponding data, and evaluate the value of data. That’s why there are more
and more cases of AI being used in different areas of medical sites like new
drug development and surgical robots.
2.
We heard that you are studying AI based on Korean Medicine big data to be used
for clinical trials. Where do you put your focus on during the research?
In the process of
treating a patient, a medical professional collects comprehensive personal
health records (PHRs) through counseling, history taking, physical examination,
and more. Korean Medicine is a consecutive process of diagnosing a patient's
condition based on personal information, recommending the appropriate treatment
method to the patient, and providing improved medical treatment by evaluating
the result. This process is based on the understanding of all information
related to a patient, including medical treatment, general health information,
health insurance, genetic information, and public information, in other words,
big data.
Korean Medicine is a
personalized medicine in nature, and its goal is to present the most suitable
answers to patients based on comprehensive information. And that is what AI
research based on Korean Medicine big data aims for. We are trying to help
patients and medical professionals find the best alternative for the patient in
a more convenient way.
3.
What are the difficulties in researching AI development based on Korean
Medicine big data?
National Institute for
Korean Medicine Development (NIKOM) developed “Korean Medicine Clinical Practice
Guidelines (CPGs)”
to prove the safety and effectiveness of Korean Medicine according to the 3rd
Comprehensive Plan to Develop Korean Medicine (2016–2020).” The CPGs for a total of 30 diseases have passed the final
certification and taken the first step towards the standardization of Korean
medical services.
As the standard clinical
practice guidelines for 30 diseases have been developed and completed, we are carrying out the “Construction Project for
the Korean Medicine Clinical Bid Data Center” to apply the guidelines to actual medical sites and effectively collect and manage clinical data. For
this, we are promoting the development and supply of the linkable, standardized
Electronic Medical Record (EMR) for each disease in collaboration with the
Association of Korean Medicine and 12 Korean Medicine university hospitals.
To collect a vast amount
of information in the health and medical field, it is essential to use the
standard EMR. As the EMR is based on clinical site data, it can be used by
various organizations, thereby enabling evaluation and comparative study of the
safety, effectiveness, and economic feasibility of Korean Medicine treatment.
It can also prepare effective measures for improvement based on the data
generated at sites of Korean Medicine.
Keeping
up with this trend, the modeling of various data is designed based on the
disease-specific CPG, and an “input system prototype”1 is being developed
based on the standard EMR DB structure found through the modeling.
There is a prerequisite
to complete the AI development research based on Korean Medicine big data,
which is preparing a standard framework for converting the terms, information,
and format/content of medical charts used in medical treatment into significant
data applicable to actual medical sites. In other words, we must prepare a
standardized information system that can be used in any medical site uniformly
and prevent data redundancy or inconsistency. To this end, we need a
multilateral approach and support, such as a classification system including
the principle of name, definition, form, and rules about the data information
elements.
4.
How do you expect such research will have an impact on Korea and the world?
Today, artificial
intelligence is being developed as a tool for attending to the needs of medical
sites along with the advancement of deep learning technology. Accumulating
extensive data on patients is necessary to achieve goals, from a simple task of
evaluating the test result values and determining the problem to risk
evaluation through information analysis, suggestion of diagnosis and treatment
methods, and prognosis evaluation.
The era for establishing,
disclosing, and using medical data is coming. There will be a sea of
information that integrates numerous independent health and medical big data,
including data generated from medical institutions and local communities, data
generated from various research and clinical trials, and data produced from
literature materials like journals.
This vast array of
information will become the grounds for the development of AI technology based
on Korean Medicine and greatly contribute to raising the medical quality of the
world by making technical development of Korean Medicine treatment from
multilateral aspects, such as diagnostic techniques of Korean Medicine,
introduction of treatment technologies, and prognosis evaluation methods.