IBM’s Watson supercomputer will help oncologists in the US and Canada decide how to effectively treat some cancer patients, reports BBC News.
The Watson supercomputer will be tested in this area by the end of 2015 in 14 hospitals in North America, incl. Cleveland Clinic, Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha and Yale Cancer Center. From the next year, artificial intelligence may be permanently included in oncological medical clinics.
Cancer geneticist Dr. Lukas Wartman of the McDonnell Genome Institute Washington University in St. Louis says computer assistance is not a whim but a necessity. It is about using powerful computing power to determine the genetic profile of cancer cells in a given patient and to adjust the optimal therapy to it as soon as possible.
Determining neoplastic mutations allows better selection of drugs, especially in the case of the so-called targeted therapy. More and more genetic disorders are known, which in turn requires oncologists to review enormous amounts of data. Doctors stop dealing with it. Sometimes it even takes many weeks, which delays the start of therapy, while the computer is able to do it in just a few minutes – emphasizes Wartman.
Computer science is entering medicine more and more boldly. Ginni Rometty of IBM predicts that important decisions made by people in various fields will increasingly be supported by supercomputers such as Watson. Thanks to this, our life will become better – he assures.