IBM’s Watson-ai arrives at cancer diagnosis while doctors were unsure

In Japan, IBM’s Watson-ai has diagnosed a very rare form of leukemia in a 60-year-old woman. Doctors had previously diagnosed the wrong form of cancer in the lady and the treatment for that did not work.

This is reported by, among others, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. The woman is being treated at the medical institute of the University of Tokyo. It would be the first Japanese case of an artificial intelligence that gives the breakthrough in such a situation.

Watson was able to compare the genetic make-up of the healthy and cancer cells and determined that 1500 points of change had occurred. Subsequently, the AI ​​was able to consult its database of 20 million research reports to find similarities with other cases. The woman turned out to have acute myeloid leukemia, a rare form of cancer. It would have taken Watson ten minutes to arrive at the diagnosis. The recommended treatment was successful.

The doctors say Watson has been able to help 41 different patients so far. It has identified rare forms of leukemia in a total of two of them. Watson has been involved in cancer diagnosis training for some time. In 2011, for example, the AI ​​would already know as much as a second-year medical student. In 2013, IBM’s artificial intelligence actually began to be used for medical purposes. It is unclear how many hospitals worldwide use the AI. The database Watson works with is fed by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Watson’s most famous achievement is possibly winning the American game show Jeopardy in 2011.