Abstract

Machine learning can potentially improve the medical industry by providing different healthcare opportunities. Medical records that previously required human intervention can now be processed using a machine-learning algorithm in seconds. It can learn like humans and adjust to new inputs in a very efficient way. The quality of treatment has also improved. The correct diagnosis of disease and analysis of additional data on a patient’s condition using machine learning is helping doctors to make the process simple and efficient. Doctors can simplify and expedite the process with the aid of machine learning, which facilitates accurate disease diagnosis and extra data analysis regarding a patient's condition. Machine learning algorithms also help in discovering unexpected patterns in clinical trials. But things are not as simple as they seem to be. Opportunities are always paired with challenges. The results we get from machine learning algorithms depend on the quality of data we feed into it and there is no guarantee of the fact that medical data is always precise and accurate. There may be gaps in records and it may be inaccurate. Lack of quality data to build precise algorithms can be a major challenge. In this chapter, we will be presenting the opportunities provided by machine learning in healthcare and also the challenges that are making things difficult.