
Bringing deep learning' to the clinic: scientists overcome key barrier to widespread adoption By providing a new level of clarity into how deep learning systems reach their medical diagnoses, scientists hope this AI approach will fuel a new era of preventative medicine.
March 01, 2021
LA JOLLA, CA A team led by scientists at Scripps Research has demonstrated a method for opening the black box of a powerful artificial intelligence technique called deep learning, which holds vast potential for identifying disease earlier than is currently possible. The new method could help unleash deep learning for medical applications such as predicting heart attacks and diagnosing cancers.
The framework we've created enables an in-depth exploration of the deep learning decision-making process, making it more transparent and useful for clinicians, says the studys senior author Giorgio Quer, PhD, senior staff scientist at Scripps Research and director of artificial intelligence at the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
Deep learning networks are software-based, brain-like systems neural networks that can process a large amount of data to recognize patterns, make predictions or otherwise make brain-like decisions. They are considered black boxes because the ways in which they turn their inputs into outputs are often unknown they don't reveal interpretable relationships. That makes deep learning hard to use in real-world settings where, for example, a doctor might need to know why a deep learning system reached an important conclusion such as a disease diagnosis.
In the study, published in the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, the Scripps Research scientists developed a framework for explaining how deep learning works, and demonstrated this through a deep learning system's identification of a common heart condition called atrial fibrillation.
A case study in heart disease
Atrial fibrillation, often called AFib, is a condition in which the heart sometimes slips into a rapid and dysfunctional rhythm, causing lightheadedness and other symptoms. Four out of every 10 adults over age 55 will develop AFib in their lifetime. Most critically, AFib promotes the formation of blood clots in the heart, which can break off and cause strokes; people with this condition have five times the normal risk of stroke.
Yet, for many patients AFib flares up only occasionally, making it hard to detect in routine medical checkups that gather only a brief snapshot of a patient's heartbeat. Quer and colleagues in recent years have shown how wearable medical devices can gather heart-rhythm data for extended periods, and that deep learning can then process the vast datasets to detect AFib (read the 2019 study).
This proposed method would offer improved diagnostic accuracy over traditional models and could save lives by spotting disease earlier. But the opacity of deep learning has remained a hurdle to clinical adoption of this approach.
Evoking transparency
In the new study, Quer and colleagues created a way to analyze how deep learning makes its decisions in a medical diagnostic context. Then, they applied this framework to the deep learning system they developed for AFib. Their method included subtracting or otherwise varying the input data to see how those changes altered the deep learning network's decision. The result was a comprehensive picture of how deep learning works in this instance, showing how its recognition of AFib depends on key clinical variables.
Interestingly, we found that the ECG features that most heavily contributed to the final deep learning decision are features that cardiologists also routinely look for in diagnosing AFib, says study co-author Steven Steinhubl, MD, a cardiologist and director of Digital Medicine at the Scripps Research Translational Institute.
Quer, Steinhubl and their colleagues hope that the availability of this explanatory framework will encourage cardiologists and hospitals to start using deep learning and wearable technology for better AFib screening and monitoring.
The approach could eventually be applied to other medical conditions that can be identified through data collected with wearable devices. Currently, the Scripps Research team is working on a machine learning method to detect COVID-19 from wearable sensor data, aiming to improve upon the accuracy they reported in their recent paper in Nature Medicine. Here, it will be necessary to explain the machine learning results and highlight the most important features used to identify people with COVID-19 infection.
With this new explanatory approach, we hope to better understand the deep learning network and make it more useful to clinicians, Quer says.
The study was a collaboration between Scripps Research and the University of California, San Diego. A Comprehensive Explanation Framework for Biomedical Time Series Classification was co-authored by Praharsh Ivaturi, Matteo Gadaleta, Amitabh Pandey, Michael Pazzani, Steven Steinhubl and Giorgio Quer.
Funding was provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
Heart Disease Quer, Giorgio
North America Stories
23/03/2026
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) has renewed its multi-year partnership wi...
23/03/2026
The Snow League has named Google Cloud as its Official Cloud and AI Partner. The...
23/03/2026
Chyron has appointed Eric Wolff as Director of Venues Sales, North America. Wolff previously served as Director of Broadcast Operations & Media Production for T...
23/03/2026
Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) and Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU (The U, ch. 26.1) will simulcast 10 Chicago White Sox games during the 2026 season, the compani...
23/03/2026
Cosm has appointed Jon Werbeck as Vice President, Head of Sponsorships. He will report to Corey Breton, Head of Venues, and will focus on corporate sponsorship ...
23/03/2026
CP Communications has announced a partnership with Mark Roberts Motion Control (...
23/03/2026
NAB Show 2026, taking place April 18-22 (exhibits April 19-22) at the Las Vegas ...
23/03/2026
Bay FC and free streaming platform Victory have announced a partnership through...
23/03/2026
Gemini AI models will surface hidden context around pitches, matchups, rare stat...
23/03/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
23/03/2026
Growing from broadcast engineer to strategic planner, this Ithaca College grad h...
23/03/2026
16 Science-Focused Nonfiction Projects Selected for Funding
LOS ANGELES, CA, March 23, 2026 - The nonprofit Sundance Institute and Sandbox Films announced toda...
23/03/2026
An auxiliary target has been affixed to the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage f...
23/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/03/2026
Pro8mm, the Super 8 experts, provided cameras, Super 8 movie film, and scanning services for Bruno Mars' Risk It All music video. The debut single from Br...
23/03/2026
Matthews, introduces their first aluminum grid clamp collection, engineered for the rigging needs of film, television and live production. Combining light weigh...
23/03/2026
Back to All News
Too Hot to Handle: Italy Reignites for a Second Season With th...
23/03/2026
Autonomous agents mark a new inflection point in AI. Systems are no longer limited to generating responses or reasoning through tasks. They can take action: Age...
22/03/2026
Back to All News
Live-Action Sins of Kujo' Premieres April 2: Main Trailer and Key Art Debut
Entertainment
22 March 2026
GlobalJapan
Link copied to cl...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
21/03/2026
Cine Gear Connect NY, presented by Universal Production Services, is filling in the slate for a full day of panels, peers, learning the latest, and mixing it up...
21/03/2026
Studio Technologies Debuts New StudioComm System at NAB 2026
Brie Clayton March 20, 2026
0 Comments
StudioComm Model 794 Central Controller and Model ...
21/03/2026
Restoration Christian Fellowship Captures Worship Music Videos with PYXIS 12K
Brie Clayton March 20, 2026
0 Comments
PYXIS' open gate provides cre...
20/03/2026
Net Insight will introduce a JPEG XS solution for full IP environments at NAB Sh...
20/03/2026
LTN has expanded its technology partnership with Harmonic ahead of the FCC's...
20/03/2026
Solid State Logic will preview SSL Live V6.2 at NAB Show, booth C6907. The softw...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
FUJIFILM North America Corporation's Optical Devices Division has announced ...
20/03/2026
TrueVisions NOW, a streaming platform in Thailand and part of the TrueVisions Group, has selected Bitmovin's Observability product for real-time video analy...
20/03/2026
Marquee Sports Network has announced distribution agreements with Hulu + Live TV and Prime Video ahead of the 2026 MLB season.
Marquee Sports Network is now av...
20/03/2026
FOR-A will exhibit software-defined and AI-driven solutions at NAB Show 2026, bo...
20/03/2026
TNA Wrestling and Eurosport India have entered into a multi-year exclusive progr...
20/03/2026
When Athletes Unlimited brought its professional women's basketball season t...
20/03/2026
In this craft interview, Rick Bernier reflects on a career that has taken him to...
20/03/2026
Lawo will announce a new product ahead of NAB Show 2026 in Las Vegas, where it w...
20/03/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
20/03/2026
Major League Baseball (MLB) has named Polymarket as its Official Prediction Mark...
20/03/2026
With AI now the industry-wide priority, Big Tech companies are uniquely position...
20/03/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
20/03/2026
Abundant player mics and RF and other ground-level cameras will be used to captu...
20/03/2026
Regional sites also will receive big boost in production resources, including on...
20/03/2026
By Jessica Herndon
One of the most exciting things about the Sundance Film Fest...
20/03/2026
After a series of increases, February brought the first slowdown in time spent in front of TV sets in a long time. While traditional television was losing viewi...
20/03/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...