A new AI-driven tool is transforming how placentas are examined after birth, making it faster and more accessible for doctors. The placenta is a temporary organ that supports the baby during pregnancy and holds important health information about both the baby and the mother. However, it is often not examined thoroughly, especially in areas with fewer medical resources, which can lead to missed opportunities for detecting serious conditions like neonatal sepsis—a life-threatening infection in newborns.
Researchers from Penn State and other institutions developed PlacentaCLIP+, a tool that uses AI to analyze placenta photos taken with a smartphone. This tool helps doctors detect abnormalities and risks such as infections early. By identifying these risks, doctors can take quick actions, like giving antibiotics or monitoring the baby for infections.
The team created a large dataset of over 31,700 placenta images and related health reports from the U.S. and Uganda to train the AI model. The tool uses advanced AI methods to study how visual images connect to health outcomes. It works efficiently even with low-quality photos, making it suitable for hospitals with limited resources or without specialized labs.
The researchers also developed a mobile app, PlacentaVision, to make the tool easy to use. Doctors and nurses can take a photo of the placenta and receive instant feedback, improving care in both low- and high-resource hospitals.
With further improvements, this innovation could save lives by enabling early interventions and better health outcomes for mothers and babies worldwide. It also holds promise for advancing research and care in future pregnancies.
This project was supported by the National Institutes of Health and involved contributions from Penn State, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and others.
Source: news-medical
