IBM Watson Helps Chinese Oncologists Treat Their Patients



    The IBM Watson cognitive system has long been helping physicians. One of Watson's goals is to help doctors around the world research and treat cancer. Now our company has concluded an agreement with Hangzhou Cognitive Care from Beijing. The essence of the contract is the introduction of the Watson for Oncology program in 21 hospitals in China.

    In this country, the level of cancer of the population is quite high. Every day, 12,000 patients are diagnosed with cancer here. In addition, 2.8 million people with this diagnosis die every year in China . IBM Watson will now study the problem. “The number of oncological diseases continues to increase. Cancer is killing more people in China than any other disease, ”said IBM Watson team spokesman. "We are going to share knowledge with Chinese doctors."

    21 hospitals in China will use the resources of IBM Watson to develop individualized treatment for each patient. An individual approach always gives the best results. But in ordinary hospitals, doctors simply do not have time to search for an individual method of treating patients, so the methods generally accepted in medical practice are used. By analyzing the genetic material of patients, IBM Watson can quickly find a course for any person. For this, a database containing about 15 million pages of medical text is used.

    “Hangzhou Cognitive Care is ready to offer the IBM Watson for oncology service to every oncologist in China,” said Zhen Tu, CEO.

    A number of medical centers and hospitals are now participating in the Watson for Oncology project. This, for example, Bumrungrad International Hospital (Thailand), the New York Center for the Study of the Human Genome and other organizations.

    The active block of the IBM Watson system no longer occupies an entire room; the block size is now approximately three pizza boxes stacked on top of each other. Watson asks questions and makes assumptions using the latest medical research in oncology, plus information from the patient’s medical card and current symptoms. As a result, each patient receives an individual approach - after all, the same disease, even the most simple and harmless, proceeds differently in different people. What to speak of such a complex problem as cancer.



    IBM Watson can structure massive amounts of data in seconds, while simultaneously exploring research on a specific topic over the past couple of years. At the same time, Watson studies the latest data on a specific disease or group of diseases. An ordinary doctor simply cannot examine all the necessary information. In the best case, we are talking about several thematic articles based on research results.

    Each patient, IBM Watson offers a personalized course of treatment that focuses on those factors that led to the development of a cancerous tumor in a particular person, taking into account his genome. This allows you to increase the chances of a successful recovery, and each new case further increases this probability. Experts believe that in the near future, cognitive systems will help humanity more effectively deal with various diseases (not only cancer).

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