'Artificial intelligence may predict fate of AIDS patients'

The artificial intelligence may be used in future to predict the outcome in HIV/AIDS patients, said visiting professor, Dr Chris Tsoukas at PGI. "We are working on a research project which might ultimately result in the computer helping us to predict the outcome in our patients," said Dr Tsoukas, professor of medicine and associate director of McGill University AIDS Centre.

"PGI is one of the three centres in India that is sharing its database with us for the purpose of the research," said Dr Tsoukas. The other two are Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Emphasising that research in combating HIV/AIDS has become global, Dr Tsoukas said that various countries were combining strengths to come up with integrated data.
"When we want to access the condition of a patient, we need to see the CD4 count over a period of time. The same way, we need to remember the physical condition of the patient, the lab statistics and various other markers," said Dr Tsoukas. "While it is impossible for a doctor to compare values and arrive at a conclusion, a computer can do this and predict the outcome. So we are looking at this technology in the next 10 years."

Delivering a talk on the recent advances in the management of HIV infection, he said that more medications are available for the treatment of patients than ever before. "We have been using new combination of drugs to combat the infection," Dr Tsoukas said. "Moreover, patients who have failed the first three lines of drugs can be offered new therapies. As a result of this practice, some of my patients in Canada have been living for more than 25 years, " Dr Tsoukas said.