Watson Health Medical Imaging Collaborative Attracts Sixteen Leading Health Systems, Academic Medical Centers, Radiology
Providers and Imaging Technology Companies
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE:
IBM) today announced it has formed a Watson Health medical imaging collaborative, a global initiative comprised
of more than fifteen leading health systems, academic medical centers, ambulatory radiology providers and imaging technology
companies. The collaborative aims to bring cognitive imaging into daily practice to help doctors address breast, lung, and other
cancers; diabetes; eye health; brain disease; and heart disease and related conditions, such as stroke.
Members of the collaborative plan to put Watson to work to extract insights from previously 'invisible' unstructured imaging
data and combine that with a broad variety of data from other sources. In doing so, the efforts may help physicians make
personalized care decisions relevant to a specific patient while building a body of knowledge to benefit broader patient
populations. This information may include data from electronic health records, radiology and pathology reports, lab results,
doctors' progress notes, medical journals, clinical care guidelines and published outcomes studies.
Foundational members for the collaborative include Agfa HealthCare, Anne Arundel Medical Center, Baptist Health South Florida,
Eastern Virginia Medical School, Hologic, Inc., ifa systems AG, inoveon, Radiology Associates of
South Florida, Sentara Healthcare, Sheridan Healthcare, Topcon, UC San Diego Health,
University of Miami Health System, University of Vermont Health Network
and vRad, a MEDNAX (NYSE: MD) company as well as Merge Healthcare, an IBM company. As the work of the collaborative evolves
Watson's rationale and insights will evolve, informed by the latest combined wisdom of these organizations.
Initial plans include training Watson and evaluating potential new offerings in a variety of patient care environments ranging
from stand-alone ambulatory settings to integrated health delivery networks. The aim in doing so is to gather data based on
diverse real-world experience and to share findings to inform how the medical community might reduce operational and financial
inefficiencies, improve physician workflows, and adopt a patient-focused approach to improving patient care and outcomes.
Further, medical experts could determine how to integrate Watson into the existing health IT systems of the imaging technology
companies in the collaborative. For example, integrating with electronic health records and PACS (Picture Archiving and
Communication Systems) to deliver cognitive insights to providers within existing clinical workflows.
"There is strong potential for systems like Watson to help to make radiologists more productive, diagnoses more accurate,
decisions more sound, and costs more manageable," said Nadim Michel Daher, a medical imaging and
informatics analyst for Frost & Sullivan. "This is the type of collaborative initiative needed to produce the real-world
evidence and examples to advance the field of medical imaging and address patient care needs across large and growing disease
states."
Recent studies reveal that inadequate, unnecessary, uncoordinated, and inefficient care and suboptimal business processes eat
up at least 35%—and maybe over 50%—of the more than $3 trillion the
United States spends annually on healthcare. That suggests more than $1 trillion is being
squandered.1 Watson Health aims to help healthcare professionals improve care and reduce waste by enabling enhanced
utilization of medical imaging data and providing cognitive offerings and services that support a doctor's ability to make
tailored medical recommendations personalized to each patient's unique needs.
"With the ability to draw insights from massive volumes of integrated structured and unstructured data sources, cognitive
computing could transform how clinicians diagnose, treat and monitor patients," said Anne Le
Grand, who recently joined IBM as vice president of Imaging for Watson Health. Ms. Le Grand
brings more than 30 years' experience building global businesses that operate at the intersection of imaging, informatics,
diagnostics and professional services. "Through IBM's medical imaging collaborative, Watson may create opportunities for
clinicians to extract greater insights and value from imaging data while better managing costs."
How Watson's Ability to Analyze Image Data Could Transform Care
Members of the collaborative are expected to team with Watson Health cognitive computing experts to train Watson on
cardiovascular disease, eye health and other conditions using data provided by the members of the collaborative or from
population-based disease registries, which house millions of de-identified cases from around the world. To help create new
solutions powered by Watson, the industry members of the collaborative could integrate Watson into their workflow systems or
image management software.
For example, members of the collaborative could train Watson to detect cardiovascular disease early and identify commonly
overlooked heart health conditions such as congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction (heart attack). For early disease
detection, Watson could be trained to analyze and 'score' a coronary angiogram (a video image of a beating heart) for physician
review. This score, commonly known as a SYNTAX score, is one factor used by physicians to decide to refer a patient with coronary
artery disease to a minimally invasive stent procedure or a coronary artery bypass graft procedure. In regard to commonly
overlooked heart conditions, Watson could be trained to identify congestive heart failure early by 'learning' how patients'
hearts are likely to start failing and then monitoring disease progression. Further, Watson could aid physicians in discerning
chest pain likely to indicate a future heart attack from chest pain related to a different health condition. Chest pain is a
leading reason people visit a hospital emergency room each year, yet of the estimated 7 million people with chest pain who make
it to an ER2 as much as 2% may suffer a heart attack at home after a hospital discharge because signs of imminent
heart attack were missed3.
Eye health is another area of focus for the collaborative. Members involved in this work may undertake projects to develop an
evidence-based clinical decision support system for ophthalmologists and optometrists. For example, offerings could take the form
of an online tool for eye clinics and ophthalmic practices that enables early detection and monitoring of common eye diseases
among high-risk patient populations, such as detecting diabetic retinopathy among people with pre-diabetes or diabetes and people
with obesity or heart disease.
The Watson Health medical imaging collaborative furthers IBM's commitment to work in close concert with healthcare
professionals to develop offerings for the medical community. Watson for Oncology and Watson Clinic Trial Matching are examples
of this approach, as are relationships with the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association and American Heart
Association. IBM will open the first Watson Health European Center of Excellence in Milan near
the Human Technopole Italy 2040 research campus, supporting the government of Italy's initiative
to establish an international hub for the advancement of genomics, big data, aging, and nutrition.
About IBM Watson Health
Watson is the first commercially available cognitive computing capability representing a new era in computing. The system,
delivered through the cloud, analyzes high volumes of data, understands complex questions posed in natural language, and proposes
evidence-based answers. Watson continuously learns, gaining in value and knowledge over time, from previous interactions. In
April 2015, the company launched IBM Watson Health and the Watson Health Cloud platform. The new
unit will help improve the ability of doctors, researchers and insurers to innovate by surfacing insights from the massive amount
of personal health data being created and shared daily. The Watson Health Cloud will allow this information to be de-identified,
shared and combined with a dynamic and constantly growing aggregated view of clinical, research and social health data. For more
information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/watson. For more information on IBM Watson Health, visit: ibm.com/watsonhealth.
Check out the IBM Watson press kit at: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/presskit/27297.wss. Join the conversation at #ibmwatson and #watsonhealth.
Follow Watson on Facebook and see Watson on YouTube and Flickr.
Media Contact
Lorie Fiber
IBM Communications
Phone: 646-318-0575
E-mail: lfiber@us.ibm.com
1 https://hbr.org/2016/07/the-case-for-capitation (July/August 2016 issue)
2 Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. "Many people in emergency department for
chest pain don't need admitted." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 May 2015. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150518121155.htm.
3 Pope J.H., Aufderheide T.P., Ruthazer R., et al; Missed diagnoses of acute cardiac ischemia
in the emergency department. N Engl J Med. 2000;342:1163-1170.
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