Stroke Rehab Times spoke to Bloom Diagnostics’ co-founder Angelica Kohlmann about the potential of the firm’s innovative work in influencing stroke outcomes.
Rapid disease diagnosis from a few drops of blood is a compelling prospect for clinicians and, as the US$700m of funding at the heart of the Theranos scandal showed, investors too.
Imagine a future where a drop of blood could provide data that prevents heart attacks, strokes and chronic conditions; all driven by AI and accessed easily via an app.
One of the leading lights in the push to make this a reality is Bloom Diagnostics, a diagnostic platform which has already developed an app-based platform that supports the detection of certain health issues through blood exams.
Dr. Angelica Kohlmann
Bloom Diagnostics has just recently released a CRP test.
“The CRP test is an inflammation test which is very unspecific because there are many types of inflammation,” Angelica Kohlmann, co-founder of Bloom Diagnostics, tells SR Times.
“When it comes to heart diseases, heart attacks or strokes, CRP can measure low levels in the blood.
“These low levels can reflect the chronic inflammation of the vessels. If the vessels are damaged you can get cloths and this can lead to a heart attack or a stroke. So this is a preventive measure.
“This is an intelligent app that collects the blood values and it combines them with other information the user provides. The app will ask questions related to the test you’re taking and, being a smart test, the app will know what test it is. Then, you’ll have to answer 10-15 questions about why you’re taking the test, what your symptoms are, what medications you take, what medical history you have etc. After collecting the personal data of the user, all of this is combined and a personal feedback is given, which is highly accurate.
“The smartness of the system is that the value has a different meaning for anyone, if it’s female, male or if it’s an older or younger person, if it’s a person with other conditions etc. It’s like a consultation with a doctor.
“If someone has a health event and he’s rehabilitating, in the beginning there is a lot of medical support but over time there is less. If you have an app through which you can take regular tests, you’ll know about any condition even before you may show any symptoms.
“Adding artificial intelligence, data science and machine learning to that, we can predict and prevent and over time we might even, for many conditions, not even need a drop of blood. The intelligence will go that far that we will be able to predict blood levels without even measuring.
“So, there is a huge new universe coming, enabling people to check their own health like they check their online banking. This will give an exponential improvement of lives, we will live better and even longer and we will be able to better predict and prevent.
“If you screen regularly and if you see changes in your blood values, that is a sign of alarm. We prefer going in the direction of prevention more than going in the direction of diagnosing a heart attack.”
In terms of healthcare tech’s future she added: “Everyone will eventually perform a blood test to regularly being informed and warned about their health conditions. It will be a constant companion like a GP, who you will no longer need. I’m not saying that doctors will vanish because there are many factors about them we need, but they will play a different role and they will have more time for serious conditions.
“Not everybody will need to see a doctor when they can solve the problem with the app.”
