Diagnosis for patients with fibromyalgia is difficult. Not only do patients typically see upwards of 10 specialists before they’re diagnosed, but many within the medical community do not even think the disease is real as it is rooted in the brain, not the body.
Fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder characterized by widespread pain and fatigue in the body, affects about 3-6% of the population and 90% of these patients are women. Artificial intelligence, though, has the potential to make a diagnosis in minutes. Last year, researchers used machine learning to distinguish the brain scans of those with fibromyalgia from those without—with 93 percent accuracy. The implications of this are, of course, immense as it not only reduces the diagnosis period from years to minutes, but it also demonstrates that the disease is detectible and legitimate.
It will likely be years before the technology can be used in a clinical setting, but researchers such as Marina López-Solà, who co-authored the study, says this is a significant first step in finding biomarkers that cause fibromyalgia and treating those who suffer from it.
