North Texas clinics at forefront as AI revolutionizes dialysis care
NORTH TEXAS – It seems AI is everywhere – social media, chatbots, and self-driving cars. However, perhaps the biggest impact AI is making is in the medical field, especially with dialysis patients.
"Anything that can help, it's worth using," said Farida Lalani, who manages dialysis clinics for Innovative Renal Care.
She has been running dialysis machines for more than 20 years. AI is now changing the landscape of patient care.
"The AI is able to look into the patient's clinical data, not just the present, but the past," Lalani said.
DeLorean AI analyzes data from back in time and helps doctors create a treatment plan for the future. The approach is innovative for Innovative Renal Care.
"The AI predicts that this patient might be at a higher risk of hospitalization or missing treatment or whatever, so that helps me focus on those areas," Lalani said.
This new technology could help patients like Pesh Patel.
"I didn't think I'd make it out of the ICU. I thought that was it," Patel said.
In 2017, while he was on a business trip to Australia, Patel didn't realize he was having kidney failure.
"Within two hours of entering the ER, I had two blood transfusions and was moved up to ICU," Patel said.
Patel had only developed one kidney, which operated at only two percent. He needed to be on dialysis while he waited for a kidney transplant, which he received in 2018.
"Fast forward two and a half years, unfortunately, that kidney was rejected, so here I am again back on dialysis and on the transplant waiting list," Patel said.
While Patel's dialysis treatment center doesn't use DeLorean AI technology, he advocates for it to be in every dialysis clinic in the country.
"When DeLorean AI is implemented, it's really going to help facilitate better patient care, and I think it's going to help create more efficiency within the dialysis units," Patel said.
He hopes that this will lead to better outcomes and longer lives for dialysis patients.
"You're not alone, help is here. Don't be afraid," he said.
The National Institutes of Health says more than 500,000 Americans are on dialysis. People like Patel hope implementing AI into their treatments can help them have better outcomes.
