Knee osteoarthritis is often difficult to diagnose, especially in people with early or mild symptoms. Improving early diagnosis ideally starts in general practice, the first step for most people with knee pain. The development and introduction of a smartphone-based point-of-care (POC) ultrasound application with artificial intelligence (AI) for early detection of knee osteoarthritis has the potential to address this diagnostic challenge for general practitioners. POC-ultrasound is performed by the general practitioner, so that the diagnosis is immediately known and treatment can start. This affordable AI-driven POC ultrasound device eliminates the observer dependency that characterizes ultrasound and minimizes the training required.

Imaging inside living beings is important to understand how life develops, how healthy bodies work, and how diseases begin and progress. This demands specialized equipment and knowledge. AMICE will develop such techniques and bring them into a nationwide preclinical infrastructure. This will help researchers acquire more information. In addition, AMICE will promote re-use of images to increase efficiency in science. Through this AMICE will help Dutch life scientists revolutionize their research with unique and innovative imaging techniques and to stay at the top of the international science community.

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