Musk's Neuralink says 12 people have received its implants
Sept 9 - Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink said on Tuesday that 12 people worldwide have received its chips.
For five months, nine-year-old Manoj (name changed) would faint every day. Every single day, without so much as a warning, the boy would press his ears, complain of a strange sensation, pain and then collapse. His father, a carpenter in Gurugram, skipped work on most days to monitor his son’s sudden attacks. “Every time he touched his ears, my heart would stop. I knew what was coming next,” he says. Doctor after doctor would attempt a diagnosis but the fainting spells would not stop. Till they used AI to zero in on a rare neurological condition that troubled the boy.
A recent case highlighted describes how an AI tool aided in the diagnosis of a rare condition in a nine-year-old boy experiencing daily blackouts for five months.
The boy's case presented a diagnostic challenge because he was experiencing complex visual hallucinations ("seeing the face of a dog" instead of the doctor's face) along with headaches and brief blackouts.
The doctors, faced with these unusual symptoms, used an AI tool, which helped identify a rare form of migraine affecting the brainstem, known as Basilar-type migraine. The AI's ability to analyze subtle clues in the symptoms, like ear sensations and the specific type of headache, was crucial in recognizing this rare condition.
The child was then started on targeted migraine therapy, and his symptoms reportedly resolved within a week.
This case demonstrates the potential of AI in medical diagnosis, particularly for rare and complex conditions that might otherwise be missed or take a long time to diagnose through traditional methods. It suggests a future where AI could streamline the diagnostic process, enabling quicker and more accurate identification of illnesses, potentially leading to earlier and more effective treatments.
