Blood poisoning is the third most common cause of death in Germany – particularly affecting intensive care units in hospitals. Telekom Healthcare (healthcare division of T-Systems) and the Hamburg-based start-up Telehealth Competence Center Analytics (TCC Analytics) are reducing the risk of sepsis with an AI solution.
The AI-supported form of prevention starts where particularly vulnerable people are cared for, namely in intensive care units. We are helping to save lives. This relieves the medical profession as well as nursing staff.
TCC Analytics CEO Prof. Dr. med Christian Storm adds: “The algorithm is constantly learning. It helps doctors assess whether patients are at risk. On the long road to digitalization of hospitals, we are contributing a big step with our solution.”
Around 35 percent of patients affected by sepsis die. Especially for people with a weakened immune system, sepsis can be fatal if not treated in time. Medical professionals often only have a very narrow window of opportunity to respond to blood poisoning. The solution from Telekom and TCC Analytics relieves the burden on physicians by alerting them to the threat of sepsis in a patient. The earlier sepsis is treated, the greater the chances of survival (source WHO 2017).
Vital signs of intensive care patients are recorded in the hospital via standard interfaces and analyzed by an AI algorithm in the secure Open Telekom Cloud. TCC Analytics has developed and trained this self-learning algorithm. It can predict the individual risk around ten hours before the onset of sepsis and opens up the possibility of preventing sepsis. Beyond the usual vital data, clinics do not need to record any other parameters. A dashboard developed by Telekom and TCC Analytics shows physicians the sepsis risk at a glance, enabling them to act quickly. Thanks to the dashboard's automated processes and ease of use, physicians can focus on patient care.
The solution is ready for the market and is currently being piloted in two hospitals. TCC Analytics and Telekom are in talks with other hospitals.
