Global Health & Medicine 2026;8(3):227-232.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based pose estimation detects movements linked to unplanned tube removal in ICU patients

Umeda A, Mizuno S, Ishizaki F, Okamoto T

Abstract

Unplanned removal of life-sustaining tubes in intensive care units (ICUs) poses serious risks, yet existing monitoring methods relying on physical restraints have ethical and clinical drawbacks. Here we applied artificial intelligence (AI)-based pose estimation using MediaPipe to analyze ICU surveillance videos, extracting skeletal coordinates to detect movements associated with tube removal. Using Singular Spectrum Transformation for change-point detection, we identified movement changes corresponding to tube-removal behaviors in three consented cases, achieving average precision values substantially above chance. These preliminary results demonstrate that AI-driven, contactless motion analysis can capture clinically relevant signals from existing ICU infrastructure without additional patient burden. Although limited by sample size and environmental factors, this approach holds promise for real-time, non-invasive monitoring to reduce reliance on physical restraints and enhance patient safety in critical care settings.

KEYWORDS: AI-based monitoring, ICU patient safety, pose estimation technology, unplanned tube removal detection, contactless patient monitoring

DOI: 10.35772/ghm.2026.01061

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