Artificial intelligence (AI) eye diagnosis and treatment has recently been offered to the public by the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center (ZOC) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, marking the first step in utilizing AI in clinical applications.
This AI outpatient service, first offered on Friday, is a world first. Patients with congenital cataract can receive treatment both by cataract experts and an AI eye doctor.
Patient data is transmitted to a cloud platform after an examination. The AI doctor is then able to make a diagnosis and work out the treatment in a couple of minutes.
It conducts a primary diagnosis according to the eye-examination image which shows the focus size, densification and other features of the cataract. The accuracy can be over 90 percent with high-precision images and 80 percent with photos taken by people.
The accuracy rate made by the AI eye doctor achieves the level of an oculist, said Lin Xiaofeng, deputy director and spokesperson of ZOC.
Professor Lin Haotian, head of the AI eye service team of the cataract center at the ZOC, said the AI eye doctor is available to over 10 patients every morning free of cost.