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In 2022, a joint effort between deepc and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) Hospital set a forward-thinking precedent at Munich's world-famous Oktoberfest by introducing AI technology into the festival's medical services. Employing deepc's Radiology AI platform, deepcOS, an AI solution for CT brain scans was seamlessly integrated into the festival’s medical response workflow, revolutionizing the way head trauma cases were handled on-site. The result was a remarkable reduction in unnecessary hospital referrals, making the care of attendees more efficient and the event overall safer. But the innovation doesn't stop there. As Oktoberfest 2023 gets into full swing, the transformation of medical care with AI continues to make advancements. This year, the Radiology Department at LMU Hospital will be using yet another AI solution, BrainScan CT, from deepcOS’ extensive AI portfolio, to continue to enhance the festival's medical capabilities in real time. In this post, we get some insight into LMU’s exploration of the deepc portfolio to choose their next AI solution to deploy at Oktoberfest 2023 and we discuss the future of medical care at the world's largest folk festival.
Coming off a 2-year hiatus in 2022 on account of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Munich Oktoberfest, the world's largest annual folk festival, encountered a unique set of challenges affecting local emergency medical services (EMS). With an average of 390,000 daily guests over approximately 17 days, a high incidence of injuries and intoxication was expected, putting immense pressure on the EMS [1]. One significant challenge in 2022 was to limit the burdens on local emergency departments by reducing unnecessary EMS transport referrals for mild traumatic brain injuries, which were prevalent during the event.
In response to these challenges, the Radiology Department at LMU, in collaboration with deepc, introduced mobile computed tomographic (CT) scanning and analysis on the festival grounds. With such advanced technology typically confined to the hospital setting, this marked a pivotal moment in Oktoberfest's medical services. deepc's Radiology AI platform, deepcOS, integrated a brain CT AI solution hosted on its platform into LMU's onsite CT workflow, playing a crucial role in the rapid and accurate triaging of head trauma cases directly at the festival in real time.
The outcomes were nothing short of remarkable. Out of 205 patients with presumed or observed mild traumatic brain injuries, the AI-powered CT scans identified 11 cases of intracranial bleeding, allowing for immediate intervention. Additionally, 23 midface fractures were detected, contributing to efficient diagnosis and timely treatment. The mean Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, a measure of neurologic status, hovered around 14, underlining the success of the AI-assisted evaluations.
As a result of this innovative approach, only 17 out of the 205 patients were referred to a hospital based on CT findings, significantly reducing the burden on EMS services and hospitals. Comparing this to historical data from previous Oktoberfests, it was evident that the introduction of the AI solution via deepcOS led to a reduction in daily regional trauma-surgical admissions, particularly on weekdays and high-attendance days.
Read more about the results in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Part of the successful medical interventions afforded by LMU at Oktoberfest in 2022 lies in the augmentation of analyses and diagnoses with AI. To make the addition of AI onsite as seamless as possible, LMU's Radiology Department chose to facilitate the integration of AI into their workflow through deepcOS, a dynamic platform designed to revolutionize the way AI is applied in clinical practice. One of deepcOS’ noteworthy features is its extensive and versatile portfolio of vendor-neutral AI solutions, each intended to address specific medical challenges. deepcOS doesn't follow a "one-size-fits-all" approach, offering singular point solutions; instead, it prioritizes diversity and performance, ensuring that a selection of the most rigorously tested and validated AI solutions are available on the platform. This allows clinical organizations like LMU Hospital the flexibility to select AI solutions that best align with their unique needs- like gaining insight on more pathologies from Brain CTs as was LMU’s intent for Oktoberfest 2023. deepc’s commitment to impartiality and a broad portfolio empowers clinical organizations to make informed decisions.
A closer look at deepc’s validation process and testing tools shines light on why LMU's Radiology Department has once again turned to deepc for the next phase of their AI-driven medical services at Oktoberfest in 2023.
To validate, deepc utilizes extensive and diverse non-public datasets that encompass various sources, modalities, scanners, and patient cohorts. This comprehensive data repository permits assessments of AI solutions on an unprecedented scale. Through meticulous testing and validation procedures, deepcOS identifies potential weaknesses, technical challenges, and outliers, ensuring the reliability and safety of the AI solutions featured on the platform.
deepcOS further enhances the evaluation process by offering tools to test and validate local ground truth data from the clinical site, enabling healthcare professionals to objectively evaluate and compare multiple AI solutions in context to their clinical setting. While those new to deepc can leverage the company’s AI evaluator for initial data testing prior to installation, current customers can easily test new solutions in real-time at their site separate from their clinical workflow. Such a robust evaluation platform empowers medical practitioners like those at LMU Hospital to select AI products that excel in performance and precisely meet their specific clinical needs.
As LMU Hospital again arrives at the anticipated Oktoberfest in 2023, their objectives continue to be driven by a commitment to enhance medical care and safety during this world-renowned event. Building upon the success of last year's collaboration with deepc with its implementation of deepcOS, LMU Radiology Department aims to further optimize their medical services, enabling insight into more clinical pathologies, to ensure that attendees receive swift and accurate diagnoses and treatment, particularly for head trauma cases.
This year, LMU's Radiology Department has leveraged deepc’s onsite evaluation tool to qualify and select a new AI solution for deployment at the festival. With no special IT requirements and no complexity, radiologic experts of LMU Hospital were able to run local data through AI solutions of interest outside of their PACS, allowing for a rapid and insightful view of performance across different AI solutions. Their final analysis led them to choose Brainscan CT, a complete clinical decision support for the analysis of brain CT scans. Detecting 16 classes of lesions based on a dataset of over 250,000 brain CT studies, BrainScan CT can detect life-threatening conditions such as brain bleed, stroke, aneurysms, and skull fractures in as little as 3 minutes with up to 99% accuracy. For certain pathologies, it is even possible to obtain heatmaps to highlight the region of interest. Intracranial hemorrhages can be life-threatening, and the ability to diagnose them within minutes, thanks to Brainscan CT's real-time analysis, is a game-changer for patient safety.
The use of Brainscan CT represents an advancement in LMU's capabilities by further optimizing the diagnostic process and limiting the referral of non-emergency cases to nearby hospitals, thereby minimizing ambulance transfers and strain on emergency resources. The integration of AI-based analysis into a challenging clinical environment like Oktoberfest allows for even faster and more accurate diagnoses, ultimately leading to more effective treatment. With the festival's unique dynamics and the high volume of attendees, efficiency and precision are of utmost importance.
With LMU Radiology Department's return to Oktoberfest in 2023, equipped with yet another AI solution from deepc's platform, it's clear that AI's transformative potential in healthcare is here to stay. Oktoberfest healthcare has entered a new stage, one marked by enhanced patient safety, streamlined healthcare processes, and the power of AI.
The successful implementation of AI for brain CT at Oktoberfest has not only revolutionized medical triage during the event but also serves as a compelling glimpse into the future of healthcare delivery in unconventional settings. Although its application at Oktoberfest represents a relatively small cohort, the innovative use of AI at the event showcases its adaptability and scalability, paving the way for more insightful healthcare solutions in diverse environments. With the increasing availability of advanced AI-driven radiology solutions, the capability to provide rapid and accurate diagnostics even outside of the clinic, to wherever it is needed, becomes more attainable than ever. Because these AI solutions are designed to swiftly analyze medical images, offering a prompt assessment of injuries or illnesses, they are particularly valuable in emergency situations at events where immediate care is crucial and the resources of surrounding emergency resources must be conserved- disaster relief efforts, for example. deepcOS’ ability to not only safely bring radiology AI where it’s needed, but also to enable the selection of optimal solutions for the setting through its practical testing tools, heralds a new era in medical care for large-scale scenarios outside of the traditional clinical setting.
deepc is proud to work with LMU Hospital to continue to enhance the quality and efficiency of medical care at Oktoberfest and looks forward to more opportunities to make optimal AI solutions available to more non-traditional settings, no matter the location.
To find out more about how you can seamlessly integrate AI into your workflow, visit www.deepc.ai
