Mount Sinai Establishes Center for Ophthalmic AI and Human Health

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has established the Center for Ophthalmic Artificial Intelligence and Human Health, which aims to advance artificial intelligence (AI) in ophthalmology, improve patient care, and enhance clinicians’ understanding of cardiovascular and neurological conditions linked to eye diseases.

The press release notes that the center’s work, undertaken in collaboration with the Windreich Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health at Icahn Mount Sinai, is set to support innovation in AI-based diagnostics and population health.

Mount Sinai will incorporate ophthalmology AI into trainee and clinician education, research efforts, and clinical settings across the health system’s network to support the rapid diagnosis of conditions like glaucoma, macular degeneration, hypertensive neuropathy, diabetic retinopathy, and retinal tumors.

These efforts can prevent vision loss and may also help prevent certain cardiovascular and neurological conditions, such as heart attack and stroke, which have been linked to eye disease.

“Our department is excited to be at the forefront of ophthalmic innovation in AI and Human Health and play a critical role in validating and implementing the most promising technologies,” said James C. Tsai, MD, Delafield-Rogers professor and chair of Ophthalmology at Icahn Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System, president of New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), and inaugural director of the center, in the press release.

“We anticipate that the Center will help revolutionize and transform population-based health, thereby enhancing quality and equitable care,” Tsai continued. “Besides the more timely diagnosis and referral of community-based ocular conditions, we will better predict cardiovascular health in the future since recent research has shown that cardiovascular risk factors can be determined from AI-guided analysis of retinal fundus photographs. No other specialty in medicine allows such an unimpeded view and assessment of the cardiovascular and neurological systems.”

Researchers at the center will investigate and deploy validated AI models across three of Mount Sinai’s programs: the tele-retina program, the ophthalmology tele-consult program, and the eye stroke service.

The tele-retina program allows primary care physicians to capture retinal images during annual patient exams with the help of portable, high-quality digital cameras. These images are then uploaded to a technology platform where NYEE retinal specialists can examine them and provide diagnoses.

The press release indicates that the use of AI in this program could facilitate on-site interpretations of retinal scans, leading to faster patient referrals and risk assessments for stroke and heart disease.

Mount Sinai’s tele-ophthalmology consult pilot program is designed to provide timely diagnosis and triage of patients experiencing eye emergencies. The program currently relies on telemedicine platforms, but AI could expedite diagnosis and treatment further.

The health system’s eye stroke service aims to support rapid diagnosis and treatment for patients presenting with central retinal artery occlusion, also known as an acute eye stroke.

The condition requires emergency treatment, and the program leverages high-resolution optical coherence tomography retinal scans taken in the emergency department (ED) to support timely care. The scans are sent to on-call retinal specialists for a diagnosis, and this information is then passed to the neuroradiology team to alert them that immediate stroke treatment with intra-arterial thrombolysis therapy may be needed.

Data and images collected through these programs, in addition to high-throughput genotyping information, will be used to develop AI algorithms at Mount Sinai to predict eye disease onset, identify ocular biomarkers, improve disease monitoring, inform precision medicine strategies, streamline clinical trials, and shed light on health disparities.

Other institutions are also pursuing AI-driven ophthalmology solutions.

In June, researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) Roski Eye Institute shared that they are investigating how AI technology may help better allocate medical resources, automate certain clinical tasks, and enhance ophthalmology care quality.

The research team posited that AI could help prevent and address issues that may arise in light of projected healthcare workforce shortages in various specialties, including ophthalmology. In particular, the research is focused on differentiating between serious and benign eye conditions using AI analysis of fundus photos and automating glaucoma detection.