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How IBM And Microsoft Are Disrupting The Healthcare Industry With Cognitive Computing

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Cognitive computing is the ability to simulate human thought process in a computerized model. Thanks to cloud computing and Big Data, cognitive computing has become affordable and accessible to businesses. The availability of abundant compute and storage resources combined with the evolution of analytics is accelerating the adoption of cognitive computing.

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Cognitive computing systems depend on various aspects of artificial intelligence (AI) such as machine learning, reasoning, natural language processing, speech and vision, human-computer interaction, dialog and narrative generation, and more. The machine learning algorithms learn and acquire knowledge from the massive amount of data fed into to them.

These systems get better with time as they keep refining the way they look for patterns and the inferences they can make from the datasets. Over a period, they become intelligent enough that can anticipate new problems and modeling possible solutions.

IBM Watson and Microsoft Cognitive Services are popular cognitive computing platforms that expose powerful capabilities through simple APIs. Though they were initially meant for developers, both the companies are building additional layers that are aligned with enterprise needs. Microsoft Cortana Intelligence Suite is an example of an enterprise artificial intelligence platform. IBM is expanding Watson to deliver solutions to industry verticals such as healthcare, manufacturing, and education.

Through the application of natural language processing (NLP), data mining, and advanced text analytics, cognitive systems can assist doctors in diagnosing and faster decision making. They optimize patient selection for clinical trials through intelligent matching. In the oncology division, these systems assist in the creation of individualized treatment plans that enhance patient and experience.

Since the late 90s, the research teams at IBM have been working on Watson technologies for healthcare. They are now able to deliver a unified platform meant to assist doctors and healthcare professionals in various aspects of treatment. IBM Watson for Oncology is specifically designed for helping oncologists involved in cancer treatment. Designed in partnership with the New York-based Memorial Sloan-Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center, it can analyze the meaning and context of structured and unstructured data coming from a variety of inputs including the handwriting documents. Watson for Oncology derives data from various sources including MSK curated literature and rationales, as well as over 290 medical journals, over 200 textbooks, and 12 million pages of text.

In India, IBM has partnered with Manipal Hospitals to provide diagnosis and treatment to cancer patients. Watson for Oncology is used across 16 facilities and academic centers of the hospital where more than 200,00 patients are treated each year. Given the acute shortage of oncology specialists, this partnership will enable faster and better care for patients.

The American Cancer Society is utilizing IBM Watson to mine data from websites and relevant sources to offer personalized treatments for oncology patients. According to IBM, over 16 oncology practices are depending on Watson to enable doctors in translating DNA insights into personalized treatment for patients.

Dartmouth-Hitchcock, a US-based health system based in New Hampshire has adopted Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite to predict medical emergencies for patients. Branded as ImagineCare, this solution is available to more than 6000 patients of Dartmouth. The deployed system acquires data from sensors, devices and even phone calls between the patients and the nurses. When it finds that a metric exceeds a pre-defined threshold, an alert is immediately sent to a nurse, who can then reach the patient through the phone call, video chat, or secure text.

Microsoft India has partnered with L V Prasad Eye Institute to launch a consortium called Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE). The partner organizations of this consortium include Bascom Palmer – University of Miami, Flaum Eye Institute – University of Rochester (USA), Federal University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and Brien Holden Vision Institute (Australia).  These organizations will collaborate on the diverse patient dataset to evolve machine learning predictive models for vision impairment and eye disease. The outcome of this study will help the hospitals in preventing avoidable blindness and in increasing the overall efficiency delivering improved eye care to the patients.

Analysts estimate that the market for AI in healthcare applications is expected to grow at a CAGR of 42% until 2021. The healthcare industry is ripe for disruption, which Microsoft and IBM are exploiting through their offerings.

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