Artificial Intelligence and its contribution in the field of Health.

Every day technology provides important contributions in all areas that are developed around our lives, that is why scientists at Northwestern University in their eagerness to generate important contributions in the field of health developed through Artificial Intelligence (AI), a portable device capable of measuring the discomfort felt by children with skin-related diseases, such as atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis is a skin disease that awakens the need to scratch because of the high degree of itching it produces, this can generate that this itching can be perceived as a burning or pain in the skin, along with this pathology can also present skin rashes as rashes. The degree of itching sensation of this disease is difficult to measure both in children and adults and even more so if these people have kidney disease, liver disease and certain cancers that reflect these symptoms. That is why it is difficult to know exactly if the treatment being administered is having the expected effect.

With the development of this portable sensor that quantifies the degree of itching by measuring the intensity of scratching by placing it in the hand, it is intended to diagnose the degree of progress of the disease, although so far it has only been tested in patients with atopic dermatitis, it has been proven that the device can be used in any disease that causes itching. In the same way, with this device, clinical trials can be carried out for the implementation of new treatments and a more detailed monitoring of the improvement or worsening of the disease, all this without leaving home.

This is the first sensor developed that is capable of capturing all forms of scratching, through the movement of the fingers, wrist and elbow, and it is also the first device with these characteristics that is validated by the pediatric population, since atopic dermatitis is more common in children. This sensor combines advances in soft electronics that wrap around the hand with automatic learning algorithms capable of specifically identifying scratching without the likelihood of being fooled by similar movements.

For all of the above we can conclude that this device, which was developed under Artificial Intelligence (AI), provides an immediate solution to all skin-related diseases, as it will allow to know exactly the degree of advancement of the disease and what medication should be used to counteract it more effectively, it only remains to be determined whether this sensor will be available to people of limited economic resources, which are more vulnerable to this type of disease.