Bhubaneswar: Artificial intelligence (AI) could soon become a key player in organ transplant, with experts saying it will first transform diagnosis, organ-matching and compatibility checks long before it enters the operation theatre.The view emerged at a workshop-cum-regional continuing medical education programme on ‘Organ Transplantation and AI in Healthcare’, organised here by AIIMS Bhubaneswar and National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) on Monday.Subhasish Panda, additional secretary at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), spoke about the transformative potential of AI in organ transplant.“AI could be a way forward for organ transplant by integrating vast datasets and assisting specialists in making informed decisions. AI can facilitate efficient donor-recipient matching using genetic, clinical and laboratory data, enable real-time tracking of organ availability, optimise transportation routes for faster delivery, and improve decision-making through predictive analytics and dashboards,” he said, adding AI could connect the entire healthcare institutions together and tell us where the organ is available.“It could also route or chart for us how the organ can be transported, which is the optimum route, minimum time taken for the organ to reach its destination where the transplant is going to take place,” said Panda.The president of NAMS, Dr Digambar Behera, said an AI module can be created to predict organ rejection by the receiver’s body. “AI can always assist the transplant team to analyse and evaluate different diagnostic reports and organ-matching. The team can later review the AI results and proceed for the transplant,” he said.Executive director of AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Dr Ashutosh Biswas, was very optimistic about the use of AI for organ transplant in future. “AI will help us to manage the initial process of organ retrieval and transplant, and analysis of blood genomics, proteomics, blood testing and organ matching. This process will be faster than now. Research is underway to understand whether AI-powered robots can be used for organ harvesting and transplanting,” he said.Former director of PGIMER Chandigarh, Dr Yogesh Kumar Chawla, said matching of the organ of the donor with the recipient is very important for transplant. “A lot of investigations need to be done in order to prevent rejection following transplant. Here AI gives you very good information about predicting rejection. We will gradually know more about AI’s use in this sector,” said Chawla, also the chairman of NAMS task force on organ donation and transplant.
