AI_PREMie has been included in a Global Top 100 list launching from the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 4th May 2023. 

The International Research Centre on Artificial Intelligence (IRCAI), under the auspices of UNESCO, has chosen AI_PREMie as one of the world’s top 100 projects using AI to solve problems related to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are a collection of seventeen interlinked objectives designed to serve as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”.

Led by Professor Patricia Maguire, UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, AI_PREMie uses artificial intelligence to diagnose the dangerous pregnancy condition preeclampsia [PET].

Professor Maguire said, “We are delighted that AI_PREMie has been ranked ‘excellent’ in this prestigious list and placed among the top 25 projects worldwide that are harnessing the power of AI for societal good.” 

“AI_PREMie is a new decision-support solution for diagnosis and risk stratification in PET. It draws upon cutting-edge biomedical, clinical and machine learning know-how to solve this problem. PET is notoriously difficult to diagnose and kills 76,000 women and 500,000 babies worldwide every year. Maternal health is a significant global and national challenge and is addressed in several SDGs,” she adds - and these include SDG3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG5 (Gender Equality), and SDG10 (Reducing Inequality).

AI_PREMie is a collaboration between UCD, the National Maternity Hospital, the Rotunda Hospital and Coombe Women’s and Children’s Hospital, in Dublin. A decision-support solution for diagnosis and risk stratification in PET, it removes diagnostic uncertainty by permitting accurate diagnosis in an expectant mother between 20-40 weeks gestation, which can be challenging even for the most experienced of staff. By assisting in the prediction of the patient’s risk of progression to severe disease, it also enables timely treatment and may permit more accurate control over delivery, potentially allowing a baby to remain in utero for several more precious days, impacting their survival and their long-term neurodevelopmental health.

The project has generated an easily interpretable decision support tool for diagnosis and risk stratification in PET that uses powerful ML algorithms to combine quantitative information from patented biomarker signals together with clinically-relevant maternal haematological / demographic / clinical assessment data. The team believes that AI_PREMie has the capacity to augment the clinical approach to care in the management of a hypertensive pregnant patient, in order to achieve the best possible outcomes for mother and baby.

Trialling AI_PREMie in three of Ireland’s largest and busiest maternity hospitals - representing 50% of all births in Ireland, has demonstrated compelling evidence that our technology works to accurately separate high-risk from low risk patients and will be used by care providers in a busy hospital setting. AI_PREMie is arming care providers with an affordable risk stratification tool to closely observe pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia, helping to prevent unnecessary adverse outcomes for mother and baby.

The IRCAI Global Top 100 report will be officially launched at the United Nations Science Technology and Innovation Forum for the SDGs on Thursday 4th May, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Register for the Forum here, and learn more about AI-PREmie here.