Sarwar Shihab, Dent Anglin, Faust Kevin, Richer Maxime, Djuric Ugljesa, Van Ommeren Randy, Diamandis Phedias
1Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8 Canada.
2Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto, 40 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 2E4 Canada.
NPJ Digit Med. 2019 Apr 26;2:28. doi: 10.1038/s41746-019-0106-0. eCollection 2019.
Advancements in computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) carry the potential to make significant contributions to health care, particularly in diagnostic specialties such as radiology and pathology. The impact of these technologies on physician stakeholders is the subject of significant speculation. There is however a dearth of information regarding the opinions, enthusiasm, and concerns of the pathology community at large. Here, we report results from a survey of 487 pathologist-respondents practicing in 54 countries, conducted to examine perspectives on AI implementation in clinical practice. Despite limitations, including difficulty with quantifying response bias and verifying identity of respondents to this anonymous and voluntary survey, several interesting findings were uncovered. Overall, respondents carried generally positive attitudes towards AI, with nearly 75% reporting interest or excitement in AI as a diagnostic tool to facilitate improvements in workflow efficiency and quality assurance in pathology. Importantly, even within the more optimistic cohort, a significant number of respondents endorsed concerns about AI, including the potential for job displacement and replacement. Overall, around 80% of respondents predicted the introduction of AI technology in the pathology laboratory within the coming decade. Attempts to identify statistically significant demographic characteristics (e.g., age, sex, type/place of practice) predictive of attitudes towards AI using Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) testing revealed several associations. Important themes which were commented on by respondents included the need for increasing efforts towards physician training and resolving medical-legal implications prior to the generalized implementation of AI in pathology.
计算机视觉和人工智能（AI）的进步有可能为医疗保健做出重大贡献，尤其是在放射学和病理学等诊断专业领域。这些技术对医生利益相关者的影响引发了大量猜测。然而，关于整个病理学领域的意见、热情和担忧的信息却很匮乏。在此，我们报告了一项对54个国家的487名病理学家受访者进行的调查结果，该调查旨在研究临床实践中人工智能实施的相关观点。尽管存在局限性，包括难以量化回应偏差以及核实这项匿名自愿调查中受访者的身份，但仍发现了一些有趣的结果。总体而言，受访者对人工智能普遍持积极态度，近75%的人表示对人工智能作为一种诊断工具感兴趣或感到兴奋，认为它有助于提高病理学工作流程的效率和质量保证。重要的是，即使在较为乐观的群体中，也有相当数量的受访者认可对人工智能的担忧，包括工作岗位被取代的可能性。总体而言，约80%的受访者预计未来十年内人工智能技术将引入病理实验室。使用柯尔莫哥洛夫 - 斯米尔诺夫（KS）检验来确定预测对人工智能态度的具有统计学意义的人口统计学特征（如年龄、性别、执业类型/地点），结果发现了一些关联。受访者提到的重要主题包括，在病理学中广泛实施人工智能之前，需要加大对医生培训的力度，并解决医疗法律问题。
