German Society for Internal Medicine: "Treating people, not data"

At the 132nd Congress of the German Society for Internal Medicine, physicians discussed the use of artificial intelligence, which goes far beyond pure pattern recognition. AI agents are intended to actively relieve doctors and nursing staff of routine tasks, thus counteracting staff shortages and increasing bureaucracy. At the same time, modern technology enables more differentiated diagnostics, the experts emphasized.

Artificial intelligence in everyday hospital life is evolving from a consulting to an actively acting system. “We are moving from 'not just advice, but also action',” explained Prof. Jens Kleesiek, Director of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine at Essen University Hospital, at a press conference for the congress.

Given staff shortages and administrative overload, the use of such technologies is unavoidable: “We can no longer guarantee the quality of care, the security of supply, if we do not use further tools.”

As a concrete example, Kleesiek cited “agentic AI,” which autonomously coordinates complex processes such as patient discharge or warns staff if an allergy has not been correctly noted in the record. At the same time, he cautioned that with all the technological support, “common sense should not be switched off.” The danger is to blindly trust technology, similar to a navigation system that drivers follow and “drive into the river or into a field somewhere.” The guiding principle must therefore be clear, according to Kleesiek: “We treat patients, not data.”

Re-evaluation through data: The BMI under scrutiny

The advancing digitalization also leads to a re-evaluation of established medical parameters. The complexity of metabolic research reaches far back into evolutionary history, as explained by Prof. Michael Stumvoll from Leipzig University Hospital. Stumvoll recalled that adipose tissue was a crucial development for surviving periods of hunger and supplying the energy-intensive human brain. “No other animal can afford to put a quarter of its basal metabolic rate [...] into the brain,” said Stumvoll. This evolutionary advantage becomes a challenge in today's era of abundance.

He described the Body Mass Index (BMI) in particular as a “very crude measure” that “does not do justice to the biology of individual fat distribution, nor to the composition of fat at all.” To illustrate this, he drew a comparison to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in his prime as a bodybuilder “also had a BMI of 30,” but this was due to muscle mass. With modern algorithms, patterns “truly beyond BMI” can now be recognized. The benefit is enormous: “Then we know exactly, this person will get sick, and at that time, and soon, and badly sick.”

For congress president Prof. Dagmar Führer-Sakel, it is clear that “old concepts are no longer sufficient.” The digital transformation is an opportunity to shift the focus from “repair medicine” to prevention. The goal is medicine that is designed to be “participatory, [...] individual, and clearly networked,” and in which the growing flood of data serves as a resource for more precise and personalized treatment.

(mack)