Episode 77: AI for Osteoporosis Risk

Technology Today

Southwest Research Institute

Technology

4.8 • 19 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do you know about your bones? SwRI is developing artificial intelligence (AI) for enhanced bone imaging to give patients a clearer picture of bone health. Current imaging methods, such as CT scans, protect patients from excess radiation but don’t provide detailed information on bone structure. SwRI technology runs these existing images through AI to fill in the blanks on bone health. The AI produces higher-resolution bone images with no additional radiation. Healthcare providers get a better picture of fracture and osteoporosis risk. Patients get faster intervention. Listen now as Dr. Lance Frazer, SwRI biomechanical engineer, discusses the benefits of artificial intelligence for bone imaging and shares his top research-backed tip to strengthen our adaptable, living, smart bones.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing health care.
0:04.6	And now SWRI researchers are using AI to combat osteoporosis, characterized by weak, brittle bones.
0:14.0	How a cutting-edge AI image of your bones could more accurately assess if you are at risk for osteoporosis and bone fracture.
0:23.0	That's next on this episode of Technology Today.
0:29.4	We live with technology, science, engineering, and the results of innovative research every day.
0:35.3	Now, let's understand it better.
0:37.1	You're listening to the Technology Today podcast, presented by Southwest Research Institute.
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0:47.3	Transcript and photos for this episode and all episodes are available at podcast.swri.org.
0:53.7	Share the podcast and hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform.
0:58.0	Hello and welcome to technology today. I'm Lisa Benia.
1:02.0	Osteoporosis weakens bones, making them prone to breaks. Many people don't know they have osteoporosis until they experience a fracture.
1:11.9	In some cases, the break can be life-threatening.
1:15.4	Current methods of assessing fracture risk lack clarity and accuracy.
1:20.7	That's where artificial intelligence can intervene for a better picture of bone health.
1:26.2	Our guest today is SWRI Biomechanical engineer Dr. Lance
1:31.5	Frazier. His team is developing AI to assess osteoporosis and fracture risk. Thank you for joining
1:38.7	us, Lance. Thank you for having me. So bone loss and bone fracture caused by osteoporosis can have devastating consequences.
1:48.2	And your team is looking for a more accurate way to answer the question, if you fall, will you break your hip or another bone?
1:57.1	So we'll get into that in just a moment. But I want to start with understanding osteoporosis. We know it is a disease characterized by bone loss. But how does that happen? What are some common symptoms and who is most at risk?
2:12.6	Okay. We'll try to cover all of that. So many people do know this, but bones are living tissues,
2:22.2	and they are constantly adapting. We call that process remodeling. So bones are always getting stronger
	...

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