Samsung and Intel tie-up produces AI nerve tracking ultrasound feature

Samsung Medison and Intel are collaborating on NerveTrack, a real-time nerve tracking ultrasound feature that helps anaesthesiologists identify nerves in a patient’s arm to help administer anaesthaesia quickly and accurately. 

Leveraging the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit for computer vision and annotation, Samsung Medison’s NerveTrack can potentially reduce scanning time by up to 30%.

Professor Jee Youn Moon, from Seoul National University Hospital, said: “NerveTrack can detect the median and ulnar nerve with reasonable accuracy over almost the entire range of the forearm. It can shorten inspection time, finding the nerves in real time—even if the doctor does not trace from the wrist to the proximal direction. In particular, it can detect the ulnar nerve even at a level where landmarks such as the ulnar artery are not adjacent. This kind of features could help safe needle procedure by allowing the nerves to be separated from the surrounding tissues and vessels.”

Ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia (UGRA) is becoming standard practice for needle-based interventions, including vascular access and peripheral nerve block. However, even with UGRA, it can be difficult for anaesthesiologists to correctly identify nerves, which can be as small as 2 millimeters in diameter, or to see the needle tip properly. NerveTrack, can automatically identify nerves in real time for anaesthesiologists -- reducing the possibility of complications while improving workflows.

Dr. Won-Chul Bang, VP, responsible for product strategy in Samsung Medison, said: “To keep up with the changing world of healthcare, you need trusted partners and flexible technologies. That’s why we teamed up with Intel to create our NerveTrack solution. With our combined industry expertise and cutting-edge solutions, we’re using innovative technologies to help practitioners identify nerves faster and more accurately. The result is potentially less risk, better patient outcomes and more efficient workflows.”

NerveTrack was developed based on Intel’s OpenVINO toolkit. It uses inference to detect and identify the location of a nerve area in real time during an ultrasound scan, improving the treatment workflow for anaesthesiologists. To train Samsung’s real-time algorithm that automatically detects nerves in ultrasound images, a significant amount of clinical ultrasound data was required. And with Intel’s OpenVINO CVAT (Computer Vision Annotation Tool), the total volume of training data increased up to 7x, leading to improved accuracy of more than 20%. 

Alex Flores, medical imaging director, health and life sciences at Intel, said: “NerveTrack can help physicians automate mundane and time-consuming tasks and free them to spend more time with their patients. We are working closely with Samsung Medison to help improve patient experiences and reduce physician workloads.”