BY AISHAH HISAMUDDIN
THE PadiMedical system was designed with the integration of Artificial Intelligence in mind, assisting in the detection of disease features and improving clinical workflow, giving medical practitioners the advantage of responding to the disease in its early stages as one of the supports to accelerate patient clinical image critical data sharing.
The cost of medical imaging is one of the issues that many nations face when it comes to healthcare because producing medical images necessitates complex procedures and the use of cutting-edge equipment. Many people, especially the elderly in low- and middle-income nations in this region of Asia, are very concerned about the rising cost of treatment.
Prof Dr Ahmad Sobri Muda, the principal investigator from the UPM Faculty of Science and Health Medicine, and Dr Anas Tharek have created an innovation called the PadiMedical System to address this problem. The PadiMedical system is a cloud-based platform for managing medical images that incorporate artificial intelligence.
“To meet the needs of the growing population and expand patient access in rural areas, there is a high demand in the health sector to expand technology facilities to ensure that efficient health services to these patients can be achieved thus helping them track and manage patient care effectively,” he added.
In line with the national blueprint of Malaysia to embrace the digital revolution, healthcare demands an accelerated adoption of digital technologies to optimize health management and improve access to more systematic healthcare systems, especially in the field of radiography and medical imaging.
The use of radiological advancement and medical imaging, such as x-rays, CT scans, MRI, Angiography, nuclear medicine, and ultrasonography, is crucial in detecting and evaluating medical problems to support diagnosis and better treatment of a disease. Such treatment is important for high-risk diseases like stroke, cancer, cardiovascular, and orthodontics.
The use of the PadiMedical System significantly aided medical imaging specialists and clinicians in addressing prior health sector weaknesses, such as patient access to care, rising healthcare costs, and an uneven distribution of high-quality medical imaging services across patient geographic areas.
This innovation replaces the manual film or CD method and acts as a Supplementary CloudPACS, which is distinct from the pre-existing Radiological Information System (RIS) and Archive and Picture Communication System (PACS).
By offering a rapid data exchange and comprehensive patient imaging management system, effective medical imaging data management that can be integrated with artificial intelligence to aid in early diagnosis, and effective time management when referring cases that call for a second opinion from specialists, it benefits medical professionals and the healthcare system.
Drawing lessons from the past challenges during the pandemic encountered by medical practitioners on the poor latency in data transfer and case sharing hence affecting the clinical decisions in the medical field, the PadiMedical system brings together health authorities, multi-disciplinary experts, medical practitioners, research institutions and healthcare organizations to share experiences and engage in holistic discussions on the medical case.
According to Dr Anas Tharek, this patented innovation has since been actively conducting commercial activities under Longe Medikal Sdn Bhd, UPM start-up company towards strategic collaboration with industry partners for commercialization and licensing purposes.
Funded by a Market validation Research Grant under the UPM InnoHub Programme, this innovation received various recognitions and awards from international and national levels including gold awards in the competition of International University Carnival on E-Learning 2022 (IUCEL 2022) and Virtual International Medical Innovation Competition 2022 (MED Innovation 2022). It was also listed as the winner in the AI segment during the 20th Asian Oceanian Congress of Radiology, 78th Annual Meeting of the Korean Society of Radiology (AOCR 2022 & KCR2022) and won Silver Medal at Malaysian Technology Expo 2022.
According to Professor Ir. Dr Hajah Kamarul Arifin Ahmad, Director of Putra Science Park, UPM is committed in its role as Research University to further collaborate with industries in solving some of the challenges in the 4.0 industry revolution, empowering education, exchanging expertise, and providing better corporate social responsibility to better serve the nation and society.
