Digital Health Technologies and Artificial Intelligence in the Islamic World: Embracing the Evolution in Healthcare

Muhammad Salman Khan and Hinna Nayab

https://doi.org/10.53105/jig.6-1

Abstract

Health and Healthcare have been highly impacted by the global technological revolution resulting in more intelligent systems, optimised hospital workflows, disease prediction and analytics, precision medicine and personalised patient experience. Digital health offers a wide spectrum with artificial intelligence at the far-end having a significant influence on the healthcare systems and medical practice. Artificial intelligence makes sense of the large volumes of medical data through efficient algorithms, thus transforming healthcare systems. But, has the Muslim world been up to date with the advancements in healthcare? This detailed study presents the importance of adopting and adapting to the new technologies in the field of medicine, taking into consideration that Muslim scientists were, in fact, pioneers in the field, carving new medical techniques. The significance of digital health technologies and artificial intelligence in healthcare is also supported by various issues in Muslim societies related to cross-gender patient-doctor interactions, lack of resources, inefficient healthcare systems, and poor socio-economic status. This study concludes with examples of research studies being carried out in the fields of cardiology, haematology, and radiology where algorithms and systems are developed that enable physicians to perform their job with more ease and higher precision.

Keywords: Digital health, artificial intelligence, digital technologies, medicine, healthcare, Islamic governance

References

“COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic,” Worldometers. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 “Early Rise of Islam,” (632-700), 2009, https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/Islam/history/earlyrise_1.shtml

 “Islam And Science – Concordance or Conflict? The Review of Religions,” https://www.reviewofreligions.org/9422/from-the-archives-islamand-science-concordance-or-conflict/

“Neurosurgeons” in the Fifteenth Century by Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu,” Neurocirugía 17, 2 (2006): 162–165, doi:10.4321/s1130-14732006000200012

“The Rise of Islamic Empires and States,” https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/medieval-times/spread-of-Islam/a/therise-of-Islamic-empires-and-states

Aasim I. Padela and Danish Zaidi, “The Islamic Tradition and Health Inequities: A Preliminary Conceptual Model Based On A Systematic Literature Review Of Muslim Health-Care Disparities, Avicenna,” Journal of Medicine, NCBI 8, 1, (2018): doi: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_134_17

Abdelghani Tbakhi and Samir S Amr. “Ibn Rushd (Averroës): Prince of Science,” Annals of Saudi Medicine 28,2 (2008): 145-7. doi:10.5144/0256- 4947.2008.145

Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī, The Comprehensive Book on Medicine, World Digital Library, https://www.wdl.org/en/item/9715/ 

Alibaba Cloud, 2017, “5 AI Trends We Can Expect to See in 2017 And Beyond,” https://www.alibabacloud.com/blog/5-ai-trends-we-canexpect-to-see-in-2017-and-beyond_68685

Anthony Brinton Wolbarst, Looking Within: How X-Ray, CT, MRI, Ultrasound, and Other Medical Images Are Created, and How They Help Physicians Save Lives, First Edition (University of California Press, 16 November 1999)

Antonio de Marvao , Timothy JW Dawes, James Philip Howard and Declan P O’Regan, “Artificial Intelligence And The Cardiologist: What You Need To Know For 2020,” in Cardiology in Focus, Heart Journal 106, (March 2020): 399-400

Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare, Intelligent Information Processing Lab, National Centre of Artificial Intelligence, University of Engineering and Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan

Bahattin Karagözoğlu, Science and Technology from Global and Historical Perspectives, (Springer International Publishing, 2017), 142

Cancer.org, “Key Statistics About Liver Cancer,” American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org/cancer/liver-cancer/about/what-is-keystatistics

Carlos Martin Isla, Victor M. Campello, Cristian Izguierdo, Zahra Raisi-Estabragh, Bettina Baebler, Steffen E. Petersen and Karim Lekadir, “Image-Based Cardiac Diagnosis with Machine Learning: A Review,” Cardiovascular Imaging, Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, (24 January 2020)

Chih-Yang Lin, Yu-Tai Ching and Yun-Liang Yang, “Automatic Method to Compare the Lanes in Gel Electrophoresis Images,” IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine 11, (March 2007)

1. Helen Sulochana and S. A. Praylin Selva Blessy, “Intensity Inhomogeneity Correction in Brain MR Images Based on Filtering Method. In Handbook of Research on Applications and Implementations of Machine Learning Techniques,” IGI Global, (2020): 96-110
2. Jaspin Jeba Sheela, G. Suganthi, “An Efficient Denoising of Impulse Noise from MRI Using Adaptive Switching Modified Decision Based Unsymmetric Trimmed Median Filter,” Biomedical Signal Processing and Control 55, (2020): 101657

Chan Woo Park et al., “Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Current Applications and Issues,” Journal of Korean Medical Science 35,42 (2 Nov. 2020): doi:10.3346/jkms.2020.35e379

Columbia Surgery, History of Medicine: Dr. Roentgen’s Accidental X-Rays (Roentgen)

Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal, “Al-Zahrawi: A Light in the Dark Middle Ages in Europe,” Journal of the International Society for The History of Islamic Medicine, http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/3/08.pdf

Elalfi A, Eisa M, Ahmed H., “Artificial Neural Networks in Medical Images for Diagnosis Heart Valve Diseases,” Int J Comput Sci Issues.10, 83 (2013), https://www.ijcsi.org

Faiq Ahmad Khan, Anam Abid and Muhammad Salman Khan, “Automatic Heart Sound Classification from Segmented/Unsegmented Phonocardiogram Signals Using Time and Frequency Features,” Journal of Physiological Measurement 41, 5 (3 June 2020):055006. doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab8770. PMID: 32259811  

Faizad Ullah, Shahabuddin Ansari, Anam Abid and Muhammad Salman Khan, “MRI Brain Image Enhancement for Tumor Segmentation using 3D U-Net,” Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. (In review)

Feng Shi, Jun Wang, Jun Shi, Ziyan Wu, Qian Wang, Zhenyu Tang, Kelei He, Yinghuan Shi and Dinggang Shen, “Review of Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Imaging Data Acquisition, Segmentation and Diagnosis for COVID-19,” IEEE Reviews in Biomedical Engineering, (6 April 2020)

Frederic Shepard Dennis, System of Surgery, 1895, 56–57

Fuat Sezgin, Medizin– Pharmazie – Zoologie – Tierheilkunde (Geschichte des arabischen SchrifttumsMedizin): History of the Arabic literature Vol. III: Medicine – Pharmacology – Veterinary Medicine, (Germany: Brill, 1 August 1997), 8–9

10. Bademci,“First Illustrations ofFemale “Neurosurgeons” in the Fifteenth Centuryby Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu,” Neurocirugía, 17, 2 (2006):162–165,doi:10.4321/s1130-14732006000200012
11. Gaál, B. Maga, and A. Lukács, “Attention U-Net Based Adversarial Architectures for Chest X-ray Lung Segmentation,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2003.10304 (2020)

GDB 2016 Brain and other CNS Cancer Collaborators, Global, Regional, and National Burden of Brain and Other CNS Cancer, 1990–2016: a Systematic Analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016, The Lancet Neurology, 18, 4 (20 February 2019): 376-393

Gina Zini, “Artificial Intelligence in Haematology,” Hematology 10, 5 (2005): 393-400, DOI: 10.1080/10245330410001727055

10. Chamsi-Pasha, and M. A. Albar, “Doctor-Patient Relationship. Islamic Perspective,” Saudi Medical Journal 37, 2 (2016): 121–126, https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.2.13602

Haji Hasbullah Haji Abdul Rahman, “The Development of the Health Sciences and Related Institutions During the First Six Centuries of Islam,” International Seminar on Islamic Thought (2004): 973–984

Hussein G. Rassool, Cultural Competence in Caring for Muslim Patients, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014): 90–91. ISBN 978-1-137-35841-7

Internet Archive (Wayback Machine), “Timeline: History of Medicine,” https://web.archive.org/web/20080222012900/http:/www.abpischools.org.uk/res/coResourceImport/resources04/history/history2.cfm

Isaac Holeman, Tara Patricia Cookson and Claudia Plagiari, “Digital Technology for Health Sector Governance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review,” Journal of Global Health 6, 2 (2016): https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.06.020408

Ivan Bajla, Igor Holländer, and Kornel Burg, “Improvement of Electrophoretic Gel Image Analysis,” Meas Sci Rev 1, 1 (2001):5–10

Izet Masic, Armin Skrbo, Nabil Naser, Salih Tandir, Lejla Zunic, Senad Medjedovic, and Aziz Sukalo, “Contribution of Arabic Medicine and Pharmacy to the Development of Health Care Protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina – the First Part,” Medical Archives (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 71, 5 (2017): 364–372, https://doi.org/10.5455/medarh.2017.71.364-372

Izet Masic, “On Occasion of 800th Anniversary of Birth of Ibn Al-Nafis – Discoverer of Cardiac and Pulmonary Circulation,” Med Arh 64, 5 (2010): 309–13

Izet Masic, Mirza Dilic, Emir Solakovic, Nedzad Rustempasic, Zoran Ridjanovic, “Why Historians of Medicine Called Ibn Al-Nafis Second Avicenna?” Med Arh 62, 4 (2007): 244–9

Jim Al-Khalili, The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance, (Penguin Publishing Group, 27 March 2012)

Jehan Dastagir, Faiq Ahmad Khan, Kaleem Nawaz Khan and Muhammad Salman Khan, “Computer-aided Phonocardiogram Classification using Multidomain Time and Frequency Features,” Accepted in Proceeding, IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, (5-7 April 2021)

Jerome Van Zaen, Olivier Chetelat, Mathieu Lemay, Enric M. Calvo, and Ricard Delgado-Gonzalo, “Classification of Cardiac Arrhythmias from Single Lead ECG with a Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network,” Electrical Engineering and Systems Science (25 June 2019), https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.01513

José Bernal, Kaisar Kushibar, D. Asfaw, S. Valverde, A. Oliver, R. Martí and X. Lladó, “Deep Convolutional Neural Networks for Brain Image Analysis on Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Review,” Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 95, (2019): 64-81

2003. Zhang, Y. Xie, Y. Li, C. Shen, and Y. Xia, “COVID-19 Screening on Chest X-ray Images using Deep Learning-Based Anomaly Detection,” arXiv:2003.12338, 2020

Kaleem Nawaz Khan, Faiq Ahmad Khan, Anam Abid, Tamer Olmez, Zumray Dokur, Muhammad E.H. Chowdhury, and Muhammad Salman Khan, “Deep Learning-Based Classification of Unsegmented Phonocardiogram Sonograms Leveraging Transfer Learning, Revision in Review,” Computers in Biology and Medicine, (2021)

Kathrin Ungru, Daniel Tenbrinck, Xiaoyi Jiang and Jörg Stypmann, “Automatic Classification of Left Ventricular Wall Segments in Small Animal Ultrasound Imaging,” Computing Methods Program Biomed 117, 1 (October 2014): 2-12, doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2014.06.015

Khalil G. Wakim, “Arabic Medicine in Literature,” Bulletin of the Medical Library Association. 32 (1), (1 January 1944), 96–104. ISSN 0025-7338. PMC 194301. PMID 16016635.

Kipp W. Johnson, Jessica Torres Soto, Benjamin S. Glicksberg, Khader Shameer, Riccardo Miotto, Mohsin Ali, Euan Ashley and Joel T. Dudley, “Artificial Intelligence in Cardiology,” Journal of the American College of Cardiology 71, (2018)

Kukar M, Kononenko I, Grošelj C, Kralj K and Fettich J, “Analysing and Improving the Diagnosis of Ischaemic Heart Disease with Machine Learning,” Artif Intell Med 16, (1999):25–50, doi: 10.1016/S0933-3657(98)00063-3

Lingling Fang, Xin Wang and Lujie Wang, “Multi-Modal Medical Image Segmentation Based on Vector-Valued Active Contour Model,” Information Sciences, (November 2019): 504-518

M.D. Leo M. Zimmerman, Ilza Veith, Great Ideas in the History of Surgery, (Norman Publishing, 1 August 1993)

Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, accessed 10 Sep. 2020, “Artificial Intelligence,” https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/artificial%20intelligence

Michael Angastiniotis, Androulla Eleftheriou, Renzo Galanello, Cornelis L Harteveld, Mary Petrou, Joanne Traeger-Synodinos, Piero Giordano, Eric Jauniaux, Bernadette Modell, Gamel Serour and John Old, Prevention of Thalassemias and other haemoglobin disorders. Second Edition, (Thalassemia International Federation TIF Publication, 2013)

Muhammad E.H. Chowdhury, Tawsifur Rahman, Amith Khandakar, Rashid Mazhar, Muhammad A. Kadir, Zaid bin Mahbub, Khandakar R. Islam, Muhammad S. Khan, Atif Iqbal, N. Al-Emadi, Mamun B.I. Reaz and Mohammad T. Islam, “Can AI help in Screening Viral and COVID-19 Pneumonia?” IEEE Access 8, (2020):132665 – 132676

Muhammad Islam, Kaleem Nawaz Khan and Muhammad Salman Khan, “Evaluation of Preprocessing Techniques for U-Net Based Automated Liver Segmentation,” Accepted in Proceeding, IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, (5-7 April 2021)

Mohammad M. Sajadi, Davood Mansouri and Mohamad-Reza M. Sajadi, “Ibn Sina and the Clinical Trial,” Annals of Internal Medicine 150, 9, (5 May 2009): 640–643, 10.1.1.690.8376

Muhammad Salman Khan, Azmat Ullah, Kaleem Nawaz Khan, Huma Riaz, Yasar Mehmood Yousafzai, Tawsifur Rahman and Muhammad E.H. Chowdhury, “Automated Assessment of Thalassaemia from Haemoglobin Electrophoresis Images using Convolutional Neural Network,” IEEE Access (2021)

Muhammad Salman Khan, Miao Yu, Pengming Feng, Liang Wang and Jonathon Chambers, “An unsupervised acoustic fall detection system using source separation for sound interference suppression,” Signal Processing 110, (May 2015): 199-210

Nuria Caballé, Jose Castillo-Sequera, Juan A. Gomez-Pulido, José Gómez and Maria Polo-Luque, “Machine Learning Applied to Diagnosis of Human Diseases: A Systematic Review,” Applied Sciences 10, 15 (2020): 5135. 10.3390/app10155135

Nyúl LG, Udupa JK and Zhang X, “New Variants of a Method of MRI Scale Standardisation,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 19, 2 (2000): 143-150

Pereira S, Pinto A, Alves V and Silva C A, “Brain Tumor Segmentation Using Convolutional Neural Networks in MRI Images,” IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 35, 5 (2016): 1240-1251

Panda S. C, “Medicine: Science or Art?” Mens sana monographs 4, 1 (2006): 127–138. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1229.27610Rabia Hasib, Kaleem Nawaz Khan and Muhammad Salman Khan, “Vision-based Human Posture Classification and Fall Detection using Convolutional Neural Network,” Accepted in Proceeding, IEEE International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, (5-7 April 2021)

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823), https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/art/jenner-edward-1749-1823

Sang Cheol Park, In Seop Na, Tae Ho Han, Soo Hyung Kim, and Guee Sang Lee, “Lane Detection and Tracking in PCR Gel Electrophoresis Images,” Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 83, (2012): 85–91

Selma Tibi, ”Al-Razi and Islamic Medicine in the 9th century,” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 99, 4, (April 2006): 206–208, doi:10.1258/jrsm.99.4.206

Shibutani T, Nakajima K, Wakabayashi H, Mori H, Matsuo S, Yoneyama H, et al, “Accuracy of an Artificial Neural Network for Detecting a Regional Abnormality in Myocardial Perfusion SPECT,” Ann Nucl Med 33, (2019):86–92, doi: 10.1007/s12149-018-1306-4

1. Jin, B. Wang, H. Xu, C. Luo, L. Wei, W. Zhao, et al., “AI-Assisted CT Imaging Analysis for COVID-19 Screening: Building and Deploying a Medical AI System in Four Weeks,” MedRxiv, (2020)

Steven E Dilsizian and Eliot L Siegel, “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Cardiac Imaging: Harnessing Big Data and Advanced Computing to Provide Personalised Medical Diagnosis and Treatment,” Current Cardiology Reports (2014): doi:10.1007/s11886-013-0441-8

Suhaib Ahmed, Zohra Jabeen Wazir and Ishrat Abdul Qayyum, “Clinical and Haematological Picture of Multi-Transfused Thalassemia Major Patients at a Center in Pakistan,” JIIMC, Journal of Islamic International Medical college 13, (2018)

Sun X, Shi L, Luo Y, Yang W, Li H, Liang P and Wang D, “Histogram-Based Normalisation Technique on Human Brain Magnetic Resonance Images from Different Acquisition,” Biomedical Engineering Online 14, 1 (2015): 73

Tawsifur Rahman, Amith Khandakar, Yazan Qiblawey, Anas Tahir, Serkan Kiranyaz, Saad Bin Abul Kashem, Mohammad Tariqul Islam, Somaya Al Maadeed, Susu M. Zughaier, Muhammad Salman Khan and Muhammad E.H. Chowdhury, “Exploring the Effect of Image Enhancement Techniques on COVID-19 Detection using Chest X-rays Images.”, Computers in Biology and Medicine, (4 March 2021)

The Nobel Prize, William Einthoven (Biographical), https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1924/einthoven/biographical

Udugama, B., Kadhiresan, P., Kozlowski, H. N., Malekjahani, A., Osborne, M., Li, V., Chen, H., Mubareka, S., Gubbay, J. B., and Chan, W, “Diagnosing COVID-19: The Disease and Tools for Detection,” ACS Nano 14, 4 (2020): 3822–3835. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c02624

Umar Saeed and Zahra Zahid Piracha, “Thalassemia: Impact of Consanguineous Marriages on Most Prevalent Monogenic Disorders of Humans,” Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease 6, (10 October 2016): 837-840

Vimla L. Patel, Edward H. Shortliffe, et al., “The Coming Of Age Of Artificial Intelligence In Medicine,” Artificial Intelligence in Medicine 46, 1 (2009): 5-17, doi:10.1016/j.artmed.2008.07.017

10. K. Mehta, P.S. Deb and D. S. Rao, “Application of Computer Techniques in Medicine,” Medical journal, Armed Forces India 50, 3 (July 1994): 215–218, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-1237(17)31065-1

Wasim Maziak, “Science, Modernity, and the Muslim world: To Improve Scientific Research in Muslim Countries Requires Profound Social and Economic Liberalisation of their Societies,” EMBO reports 18, 2 (2017):194–197. https://doi.org/10.15252/embr.201643517

William Hamilton, The History of Medicine, Surgery, and Anatomy (1831), 17-23

World Health Organization, “Cardiovascular Diseases,” https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)

World Economic Forum, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What It Means, How To Respond,” https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/

World Health Organization, “Global Strategy on Digital Health (2020-2025),” World Health Organization, https://www.who.int/docs/defaultsource/documents/gs4dhdaa2a9f352b0445bafbc79ca799dce4d.pdf

World Health Organization, “Weekly Epidemiological Update-COVID-19,” https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weeklyepidemiological-update—29-december-2020

World Health Organization, Handbook of Digital Health Platform: Building a Digital Information Infrastructure (Infostructure) for Health, (2020), https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/337449/9789240013728-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y 

World Economic Forum, Health and Healthcare in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Global Future Council on the Future of Health and Healthcare, WEF, 2016-2018

Xiaotian Wang, Guangming Shi, Peiyu Zhang, Jinjian Wu, Fu Li, Yantao Wang and He Jiang, “High Quality Impulse Noise Removal Via NonUniform Sampling and Autoregressive Modelling Based Super-Resolution,” IET Image Processing, (2016): 304-313

232. Ahsan, The Qur’an, Basic Scientific Research and Technology (perspective), Revelation and Science 3, 1 (2013): 225 – 232.