Despite the high quality of equipment and medical research, 50% of anomalies are not detected during ultrasound scans. Faced with this sad reality, the digital health company Sonio, established in 2020, developed two Artificial Intelligence software programs, “Sonio Screening” and “Sonio Diagnostics”. One to help achieve the best possible detection of abnormalities during ultrasound scans and the second to provide the best possible diagnosis.
“We called upon the minds of the best experts in foetal medicine and Data Science to create a help and support tool for practitioners. It’s as if we had taken a colleague or a geneticist into the ultrasound room to provide a second opinion,” said Cécile Brosset, CEO and co-founder of Sonio.
In concrete terms, these brilliant minds, from the Necker Hospital and Polytechnique, among others, plus those from the Sonio team, have led to the creation of the first algorithms based on more than 1,300 data elements – anomalies, risk factors and syndromes. During the scan, the “Sonio Screening” software guides the practitioner to ask more precise questions, to forget nothing, relying upon the patient’s medical, gynaecological and family history, and the biological data from the ultrasound. “This allows the examination to be carried out successfully and to improve the interpretation of any risks and anomalies detected,” Cécile Brosset went on to say. Effectively, once an anomaly has been detected, “Sonio Diagnostics” takes over and helps the expert physician to analyse and make a diagnosis. By hosting the software programs in the Cloud, the team has also succeeded in adapting them to any machine and making them accessible at all times on a tablet or computer. All the data are secured, safeguarded and “stored”. A windfall for practitioners who thus share structured information that are updated in real-time, which saves them an enormous amount of time.
“In addition to supporting them on a day-to-day basis during the ultrasounds, Sonio allows professionals to undergo continuous training, in order to make their practice safer and improve their skills, including in the most remote areas
We are permanently adding R&D to provide quality information as quickly as possible, throughout the pregnancy. Providing a precise diagnosis earlier means that healthcare professionals can offer parents better support,” Cécile Brosset concluded. Currently, Sonio is helping practitioners in France, the UK, Germany and Luxembourg to improve the health of women and children.
