Medical diagnosis used to be simpler, or so it seemed. We thought there were fewer diseases and fewer treatment options. Greater mortality was just a fact of life. Today, there are nearly 70,000¹ known diseases, a few thousand drugs to treat them, and literally millions of possible combinations.
While physicians do a great job of diagnosing illness and prescribing the right treatment, they are not perfect. Statistically speaking, every person will experience a diagnostic error at least once,² sometimes with grave consequences for both the patient and the physician³.
Doctors are now using the power of AI, 3D modeling, predictive analytics, and remote reading in concert with patients to help them become better, more empowered healthcare allies. Smarter technology can help ensure fewer errors, more pinpoint therapies, better diagnosis, and improved outcomes from procedures.
While AI in medicine conjures images of a science fiction future, it is already helping doctors make better diagnostic decisions for cancer patients. Leading research universities are working with Lenovo AI Innovation Centers on diagnostic models for various types of cancers. Deep learning methodologies match MRIs or CT scans of new suspected cases with a huge database of cases previously diagnosed by thousands of doctors. Radiologists can thus tap into the collective wisdom of their community to drive towards better patient outcomes.
Lenovo’s E-Health is extending the frontiers of diagnosis even further. It incorporates physicians’ expertise with machine learning algorithms, 3D modeling, and augmented reality. Currently focused on liver tumor analysis, E-Health can extend the diagnostic strength of major hospitals to front line health centers, helping doctors better understand tumor parameters, more easily interpret CT images, and even get an auto-diagnosis report that they can use to form their own clinical judgement. E-Health helps doctors communicate with patients, bringing more humanity, compassion, and trust to a difficult moment.
Tighter bonds between Lenovo technology and physicians are also opening new frontiers of what’s possible. Thermal tumor ablation is a little-known, yet promising cancer treatment, but it presents one main drawback preventing it from becoming a first-line treatment: physicians lack the ability to visualize and control the damage to tissue in real-time. TechsoMed relied on Lenovo’s smarter technology to better control this revolutionary therapy. Like a medical time machine, this breakthrough relies on advanced algorithms and predictive analytics—developed on Lenovo hardware—to let doctors see in real time the future effects of thermal ablation. This cutting-edge approach takes just a few minutes, dramatically reduces suffering, and costs up to ten times less than radiation or chemotherapy.
One of Taiwan’s foremost research universities partnered with Lenovo’s AI Innovation Center to help anesthesiologists reduce error by measuring the effectiveness of sedation more accurately during surgery.⁴ Researchers at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center teamed up with Lenovo to build and train an AI model that can accurately detect retinal pathology in under ten minutes – improving the outcome for patients and potentially saving the sight of millions. The collaboration is continuing to bring transfer learning capabilities to Lenovo intelligent Computing Orchestration (LiCO), a software tool powering AI efforts in research and enterprises.
Lenovo’s AI fosters human connection in less high-tech circles as well. Machine-learning advancements hold the promise for individuals to diagnose their own medical problems in the future.⁵ But the advanced algorithms needed to build a new kind of collaboration between physicians and patients are already here. Rosie, the AI health assistant that’s part of Lenovo’s Virtual Care solution, engages patients in actively caring for their own health every day.
Smarter technology can save lives, but only in partnership with researchers, physicians and patients. By building new links between AI, predictive analytics, AR and medicine, Lenovo is advancing diagnostic accuracy, empowering personalized treatment, supporting a revolution in medical research and making patients active participants in their own care.
[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/icd/icd10cm_pcs_background.htm
[2] https://www.nap.edu/catalog/21794/improving-diagnosis-in-health-care
[3] https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/252410/9789241511636-eng.pdf
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26568957/
[5] https://robertpearlmd.com/march-survey/
