CMUH has implemented ISEPS in all health information system to assist physicians in the early identification of patients at higher bacteremia risk and timely management to prevent it from progressing to sepsis.

It is the world's first AI-Powered sepsis alert system to save more lives

      In conventional practice, a blood culture report wouldn’t be available until 18 to 72 hours later, rendering it non-feasible to facilitate rapid response. Led by Superintendent Der-Yang Cho, CMUH’s team developed “Intelligent Sepsis Early Prediction System (ISEPS)”, the world’s first AI-powered sepsis alarm system. The AI model of ISEPS takes only one minute for the early detection of sepsis and bacteremia to help clinicians identify patients at higher risk and provide early intervention with antibiotics to improve patient outcome and prevent it from progressing to sepsis. When compared to conventional blood cultures, it doesn’t require additional blood collection or device operation, reducing the demands on healthcare labor while keeping the timeliness and quality of management.

      Mrs. Qu, 60, experienced serious vomiting and chills. Her vital signs showed a heart rate of 158bpm, ECG analysis suggested suspected acute myocardial infarction, and Troponin-I value was 13.91 (normal range: <0.0875). Dr. Hong-Mo Shih, Deputy Director of CMUH Emergency Department, immediately activated cardiac catheterization team and ordered a routine complete blood count test. The ISEPS alerted that Mrs. Qu was at high risk of bacteremia.  Therefore, Dr. Shih initiated infection evaluation immediately, including two sets of blood bacterial cultures, and concurrent treatment of antibiotics. During the cardiac catheterization procedure, vascular obstruction wasn’t found and hence ruled out acute myocardial infarction. The blood culture report then showed the presence of Gram-negative bacteria in circulation. She was then confirmed to be a case of E. coli infection. Dr. Shih stated that Mrs. Qu’s bacteremia was secondary to urinary tract infection (UTI), and she was also one of the much rarer cases of bacteremia-induced cardiac reaction resembling myocardial infarction. Through physician’s clinical judgment with ISEPS support, Mrs. Qu received immediate and proper treatment and was discharged healthy a week later.

      Dr. Shih notes that bacteremia is a relatively common acute condition, occurring in about 30% of UTI patients. Without prompt intervention, bacteremia can escalate to septic shock, resulting in a mortality rate exceeding 40%. For each hour delayed for antibiotic administration, the mortality risk increases linearly by 7-9%. With the ability to provide immediate bacteremia risk prediction, ISEPS provides the physicians timely and precisely assistance against infectious disease. It is currently regular used in CMUH and is expected to be a topic of future collaborations with more medical institutions to enhance the timeliness and quality of infection management.

Related news from AP News: https://apnews.com/press-release/pr-newswire/china-5b909858c4f7c2b67e02370b3a8ea5e8