Artificial intelligence is being used everywhere in our daily lives. Whether it's to track and predict the impact of the global pandemic, to recommend you a cool series to watch on your streaming service, or to drive your car, it seems artificial intelligence is all the rage these days.
That got us thinking: could artificial intelligence make its way into BPH patients? BPH, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, is a condition in men around 40 and older where the prostate grows in size and may interfere with urinary and sexual function. This could mean constantly looking for a bathroom when you're out and about, sleep deprived nights, trouble in bed with your partner, and overall lower quality of life.
The way BPH is diagnosed is through going to the doctor. The doctor may perform a digital rectal exam to feel the size and texture of the prostate- this is important to differentiate between prostate cancer and other conditions like BPH and prostatitis. A prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test may also take place to check PSA levels in the blood. And, men may fill out a questionnaire called the international prostate symptom score (IPSS) to rank their symptoms and determine how mild or not the BPH is.
There may some aspects of the diagnosis which over time may be handled by artificial intelligence for the purposes of worldwide statistics, incidence rates, and recommended treatment options. Although artificial intelligence is not at the stage of completely taking over the healthcare system, it could provide more efficiency in certain areas that are currently lacking.
Artificial intelligence could also provide databases of previous anonymous patients and treatment options, quantifying the treatments' efficacy, length of time to improve the IPSS, severity of side effects, and other factors such as prostate size before and after treatment, urinary flow rate, etc.
Although we don't imagine artificial intelligence being integrated into robotics for robots to perform digital rectal exams, there may be robots who can ask and record IPSS for patients and recommend a best course of action alongside the doctor and grab from worldwide treatments, including plant based treatments as add on therapy.
Just as social media makes personalized ads for certain demographics, more men who reach older ages may start to get pushes here and there about BPH so they can have awareness.
How do you foresee artificial intelligence impacting the men's health space, including for BPH patients?
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