Machine Learning in Medical Applications

Abstract

Machine Learning (ML) provides methods, techniques, and tools that can help solving diagnostic and prognostic problems in a variety of medical domains. ML is being used for the analysis of the importance of clinical parameters and their combinations for prognosis, e.g. prediction of disease progression, extraction of medical knowledge for outcome research, therapy planning and support, and for the overall patient management. ML is also being used for data analysis, such as detection of regularities in the data by appropriately dealing with imperfect data, interpretation of continuous data used in the Intensive Care Unit, and intelligent alarming resulting in effective and efficient monitoring. It is argued that the successful implementation of ML methods can help the integration of computer-based systems in the healthcare environment providing opportunities to facilitate and enhance the work of medical experts and ultimately to improve the efficiency and quality of medical care. Below, we summarize some major ML applications in medicine.