The fAIr LAC Jalisco initiative presented the results of the pilot project for the prevention of diabetic retina through Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The fAIr LAC Jalisco project is an initiative made up of the Inter-American Development Bank, the Tecnológico de Monterrey in Guadalajara (ITESM), the Government of Jalisco and C Minds. The objective of the project is to use the benefits of AI, in conjunction with academia, society, civil, public and private sectors, to generate benefits for the population of Jalisco. Since 2020 this project began to be developed promoted by the IDB and initially it was specified that it would be a three-year project.
The results of the pilot project for the prevention and diagnosis of diabetic retina were presented at the end of August 2022 after its implementation in three health centers of the Decentralized Public Organization (OPD) of Jalisco Health Services. Likewise, the project had the collaboration of Tec Salud of ITESM, the Siloé Institute, Civil Hospital of Guadalajara and the College of Ophthalmologists of Jalisco.
The pilot test followed the following steps: firstly, health personnel captured fundus photographs of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus; second, the photos were analyzed by an AI program hosted in the cloud; thirdly, the medical staff analyzed the results: and finally, the patients were notified of the result, and only in specific and necessary cases were they referred to specialists in ophthalmology at the Civil Hospital.
This initiative uses an AI-based retinal test for telemedicine-assisted diabetic retinopathy detection. Its implementation was carried out over a period of eight months, from August 2021 to March 2022, and included the participation of 1,053 patients with diabetes mellitus who were evaluated free of charge.
Thanks to this, it was possible to make 100 diagnoses of this condition and allowed patients to be referred to specialists in ophthalmology. fAIr LAC Jalisco was the first initiative of its kind in Mexico and was also successfully tested by classifying images of saints and patients with diabetic retinopathy with an accuracy of 96%.
The program was implemented within the Cardiometabolic Diseases Program of the OPD in a model called "Systematic Screening of Diabetic Retinopathy assisted with Telemedicine and Artificial Intelligence".
The three health centers that incorporated this strategy were La Aurora and Esperanza and Yugoslavia in Guadalajara and Paraísos de Colli in Zapopan. "The results of the study will serve to make decisions in favor of patients with retinopathy caused by diabetes, another of the epidemics that we suffer in the world," explained Fernando Petersen Aranguren, head of the SSJ.
Likewise, Luis Tijerina, from the IDB and a specialist in Digital Health, explained that these types of projects are necessary and worth replicating to improve the health of the population and promote evidence-based decision-making.
Similarly, Enrique Cortés, director of Artificial Intelligence at ITESM, explained the usefulness of fAIr Jalisco "It is a field pilot with real and not theoretical results", and explained that the next step is to see the scale of the pilot and that collaboration between various sectors with health authorities will be necessary. In this way, in the future it is expected that this initiative will be replicated in more health centers in the state and benefit more people.
GOVERNMENT OF JALISCO
