Technology is paving the way to increase access to high-quality ultrasounds for expectant mothers.
By Andrea L. Ramsay
In 1958, an article was published in The Lancet, a medical journal, describing how doctors used ultrasound technology to take images of a fetus in utero – the first recorded sonogram. At the time, ultrasound machines were eight feet tall and produced spotty black-and-white images. Today, ultrasounds produce 3D and 4D images, can detect fetal abnormalities and placental defects and can, even, predict preeclampsia and preterm birth.
What was once breakthrough technology is now considered standard care for pregnant patients, but only for patients with access to prenatal care; which is not a guarantee for Texas women.
Artificial intelligence could soon change this, advancing ultrasound technology while expanding who has access to it.
The Future of Ultrasound
Blanca Lesmes, President and Chairperson of Austin-based BB Imaging – a leading sonography services company – and Co-founder and CEO of TeleScan, the AI arm of the company, believes this transition will happen sooner than later.
“What we are all working on right now is creating the data set to train the models to be able to be predictive,” says Lesmes. “This isn’t years out. This is months.”
Once the AI models have been trained, the models will be able to produce accurate readings of an ultrasound. A study from Mt. Sinai West Hospital in New York found that using AI with prenatal ultrasound exams improved the confidence and performance of OB-GYNs and maternal-fetal medicine (MFM) doctors when scanning for congenital heart defects.
As of now, AI in ultrasound requires human confirmation to make a diagnosis, but Lesmes hopes that soon the models will be trained enough to do basic scans while sonographers focus on rare pathology cases. Ultimately, Lesmes imagines that with AI, mothers could self-scan at home using an ultrasound kit and receive real-time, accurate results without setting foot in a doctor’s office.
Improving Access to Healthcare
TeleScan is already working to make this a reality. The technology allows any healthcare worker to capture ultrasound images while TeleScan’s professional sonographers read the images remotely and create a report within minutes. It’s the first remote ultrasound technology, a breakthrough for pregnant patients living in maternal care deserts – areas that lack birthing and prenatal care centers.
The maternal mortality and morbidity rate in Texas has risen drastically in recent years, disproportionately affecting Black and Latina women. Lesmes says many factors contribute to these rising rates, but one contributor could be the prevalence of maternal care deserts in the state, a number above the national average.
For Lesmes, the gold standard of prenatal care is “a mom who can have an MFM, a specialist at her side, and an MFM-trained sonographer and a very good piece of equipment.” In maternal care deserts, you’re lucky to have a local OB-GYN, much less an MFM, sonographer or ultrasound machine.
“When you look at lower access locations, often those niceties that we assume come with a visit actually don’t,” says Lesmes. “They don’t get timeliness on their reports. They may not get pictures.”
TeleScan is closing the gap for underserved communities and their access to maternal healthcare. Once AI models have been proficiently trained, moms could have access to quality ultrasounds and accurate diagnostics, no matter where they’re located.
Improving Health Outcomes
Ultrasounds aren’t simply photos of your baby in utero. Ultrasounds can be life-saving for the parent and child. OB-GYNs and MFMs use ultrasounds to detect conditions in a child that would require treatment post-birth, like congenital heart defects and hydronephrosis. For the pregnant patient, ultrasounds can detect placental abnormalities and other conditions that may lead to preterm birth.
It's these early detections that make ultrasounds so critical to a mother’s care and why Lesmes is dedicated to bringing this technology to every pregnant patient.
“If we can give [you] the information that there is something up, would you make a different decision about your care? You probably would,” says Lesmes. “Would you be more likely to show up to your next appointment if you knew something was wrong? You would, and moms do. That’s the behavioral change….That is 100% why we do this. Because if you can screen and give a thumbs up or a thumb sideways, that is the point of ultrasound.”
While the sudden presence of AI can feel overwhelming, this breakthrough technology is reason to hope for broader healthcare access and, as a result, healthier outcomes for parent and child.
