Using medical images and records to help spot intimate partner violence
Making the invisible visible: An automated clinical decision support tool for Intimate Partner Violence Risk and Severity Prediction (AIRS)
This project builds a computer tool that looks at past scans and medical records to help health teams recognize signs of intimate partner violence in patients.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-10917366 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you come to the hospital with injuries or other concerns, this work uses your past X-rays, CTs and clinical notes to find patterns that may suggest intimate partner violence. The team trains computer algorithms to recognize locations and patterns on imaging and combines that with information from electronic medical records. The tool would produce a risk and severity score that can be shown to clinicians to prompt questions, safety planning, or referrals to support services. Over time the system could learn from more cases to improve its accuracy and reduce missed cases.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are patients who receive emergency or radiology care at participating hospitals and have past imaging and medical record data available for analysis.
Not a fit: People without prior imaging or accessible medical records, or those whose injuries do not show characteristic imaging patterns, may not benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the tool could help clinicians identify people experiencing intimate partner violence earlier and connect them to safety resources and care.
How similar studies have performed: While imaging-based detection has helped uncover nonaccidental injury in children, using imaging plus electronic records to detect intimate partner violence in adults is largely new and not yet well tested.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Khurana, Bharti — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Khurana, Bharti
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.