Figure 1.

A simplified schematic representation of one of the several machine learning (ML) technologies that can be utilized for diagnosis and management of endocrine disorders. The example demonstrated in the above diagram deals with early recognition of acromegaly based on facial features. Photographs of several individuals with normal facial features are utilized to obtain data on facial patterns through processes such as facial feature extraction (represented by blue dotted lines), facial detection, normalization, and frontalization (also displayed in the figure). This data is then fed into ML algorithms for recognizing normal facial features. These ML tools then perform complex analyses and generate output data that is used to determine whether the face presented in the test photograph is consistent with features of acromegaly (Image courtesy: Sriram Gubbi, NIDDK, NIH).