Using AI to Improve Diagnosis of Disease

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The power of artificial intelligence and machine learning looms over medtech as a growing force that will bring change, good or bad.

While tech giants like Google, Apple, and IBM circle high above, start-ups such as IDx are close to bringing AI into the physician’s office with AI-supported diagnostic tools.

In this OIS Podcast, Michael Abramoff, MD, PhD, president, director and co-founder of IDx, tells how the start-up is using AI to better diagnose diabetic retinopathy. The company hopes to secure FDA approval for its IDx-DR system following the completion of clinical trials this summer.

If approved, IDx will be positioned to diagnose patients with the dangerous disease much earlier, giving them a chance to see an ophthalmologist and start treatment earlier to save their sight, Dr. Abramoff says.

The company also sees its system as a way to diagnose other diseases, including glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration. “The opportunity for dragging down costs is enormous,” he states.

Dr. Abramoff founded the company over a decade ago, long before tech companies showed a strong interest in AI’s role in healthcare. Now, IDx is working with one – IBM Watson Health – to facilitate the marriage of both.