A British doctor turned to AI to find a potential vitamin B6 deficiency in his mother, which was associated with her Parkinson’s drug after hospital staff told him she had only hours to live and assisted doctors in treating her seizures that had left her brain damaged.
When doctors failed to diagnose the cause of her ongoing seizures, Edward Patrick, an NHS anaesthetist from Oxfordshire, turned to an AI programme to check what was wrong with his mother Ann, The Sunday Times reported.
The tool suggested that a vitamin B6 deficiency could be responsible. After Patrick shared the findings with her medical team at Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, doctors administered vitamin B6 intravenously and her seizures stopped almost immediately.
“Every time I tell the story I’m thinking, am I making this up? To come from the jaws of death. She only had hours [left to live],” Patrick told The Sunday Times.
Ann, who is in her late 70s, has recovered a lot and has not needed to be admitted to hospital again, her son said.
The doctors are working on a case report for the medical journal Neurology on the incident. It appears only a handful of such cases had been reported in the medical literature, said neurologist Bruno Gran.
Scientists, however, warned that more research is needed and advised the public not to alter their medication or take vitamin supplements without consulting a doctor.
