Last month, a team led by physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School showed that an AI-based computer-vision algorithm can improve the accuracy of screenings.
This is real-time use of AI, which also is somewhat unique. What we see on the monitor is our live colonoscopy procedure, but with blue or green alert boxes pointing out where suspected polyps may be located. It basically guides the physician's eyes to an area where these subtle polyps are. So this is the perfect example of AI not replacing the physician, but augmenting physician performance.
The study showed that physicians were about 30 percent less likely to miss a polyp if they were using AI assistance. The FDA just approved the first AI system for polyp detection, and this is beginning to be rolled out to a handful of centers across the country. However, in the field of medicine it's common that exciting new technology gets rolled out, and sometimes even gains wide adoption, before high-quality research trials determine whether or not the clinical benefit is clear, and whether the cost is warranted.
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