Towards better diagnosis of ear infections thanks to artificial intelligence

Better diagnose ear infections in children, thanks to an application using AI. American doctors used a connected otoscope, which sends images of the eardrum to the application. Details from Martin Ducret.

Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily, We is today talking about a smartphone application, using artificial intelligence, which makes it possible to better diagnose ear infections, a condition that mainly affects children.

franceinfo: Before telling us about this application, explain to us what an ear infection is?

Martin Ducret: An ear infection is the generic term for an ear infection, but there are several types. When this infection is located in the external ear canal – the small tunnel into which you can put a cotton swab – it is otitis externa. This painful ear infection is generally treated with antibiotic drops placed directly in the ear hole.

When the infection is deeper, when it affects the eardrum and tympanic cavity, it is called acute otitis media. If the eardrum is just red and inflamed, it is a congestive otitis, of viral origin, which heals spontaneously without antibiotic treatment.

If the eardrum bulges due to an accumulation of pus behind it, the otitis is then purulent, its origin is bacterial, and treatment with oral antibiotics is necessary. There are also chronic ear infections with an accumulation, not of pus, but of a kind of snot behind the eardrum. This is called a serous otitis.

To determine the type of otitis, the doctor uses an otoscope, an instrument that allows you to see the inside of the ear?

Yes, this instrument allows you to visualize the eardrum but it is not always easy in practice to know if the otitis is congestive, purulent or serous. The doctor is not always able to properly analyze the appearance of the eardrum, especially when the sick child cannot stay still, when the canal is too narrow or blocked by earwax.

This is why American doctors have developed a smartphone application to help better diagnose the type of otitis?

Yes, this application works with artificial intelligence trained by analyzing a library of more than 1000 videos of eardrums of children with otitis. Thus, by using a connected otoscope which sends images of the eardrum to the application, it helps the doctor to make the correct diagnosis with an accuracy of more than 90%.

For Professor Natacha Teissier, head of the pediatric ENT department at the Robert Debré hospital in Paris, “CThis application seems very interesting because it would make it possible to better diagnose otitis and thus reduce the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics. But we still need to be able to test it!” Indeed, this application is not yet available in France, so we are impatiently waiting for it.