Class-Modeling of Septic Shock With Hyperdimensional Computing

Sepsis arises when a patient's immune system has an extreme reaction to an infection. This is followed by septic shock if damage to organ tissue is so extensive that it causes a total systemic failure. Early detection of septic shock among septic patients could save critical time for preparation and prevention treatment. Due to the high variance in symptoms and patient state before shock, it is challenging to create a protocol that would be effective across patients. However, since septic shock is an acute change in patient state, modeling patient stability could be more effective in detecting a condition that departs from it. In this paper we present a one-class classification approach to septic shock using hyperdimensional computing. We built various models that consider different contexts and can be adapted according to a target priority. Among septic patients, the models can detect septic shock accurately with 90% sensitivity and overall accuracy of 60% of the cases up to three hours before the onset of septic shock, with the ability to adjust predictions according to incoming data. Additionally, the models can be easily adapted to prioritize sensitivity (increase true positives) or specificity (decrease false positives).