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Following is a guest post by Bill Rapp:
With all the focus on making healthcare more efficient, medical imaging procedures like MRIs and CT scans are a natural place to start. That’s why IBM and the Mayo Clinic are working to automate the detection of deadly brain aneurysms.
Traditionally, a patient suspected of having a brain aneurysm due to a stroke, traumatic injury or family history would undergo an invasive test using a catheter, a technique with risks of neurologic complications. To improve detection using a non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging approach, the Mayo Clinic and IBM worked to create automated detection algorithms to help radiologists pinpoint the location of aneurysms in the brain from MRI images.
The new algorithm is 95% effective at identifying likely aneurysms compared with 70% effectiveness for manual interpretation by radiologists. Radiologists still make the final call, but their attention can be focused on the most likely trouble areas, making the reading process faster and more accurate.
The key to this innovation was complete automation of the imaging and detection process, eliminating the need for human guidance to start the detection procedure. All of this must be done in real time with the results delivered to the radiologist in a timely and predictable manner.
This project sets the stage for introducing other automated detection techniques in the future. This framework can be extended to other imaging modalities like CT scans, other body parts such as the liver and kidney and other diseases like cancer. We’re also working on more flexible and affordable ways to deliver this smart technology, for example, through cloud computing.
Fully automated detection, flexibly delivered to the point of care is the future of radiology and other medical procedures and is a great example of smarter healthcare.
Bill Rapp, IBM’s CTO of Healthcare and Life Sciences and co-director of the Medical Imaging Informatics Innovation Center.
On any given day, IBM researchers and scientists are hard at work developing new technologies and applying them in imaginative and innovative ways.
But before many of these innovations see the light of day as market-ready products, they get tested on the front lines as part of a unique program called First-of-a-Kind (or FOAK), which pairs IBM researchers with clients to bring incredible discoveries and possibilities into view . . .
Here’s a video that tells the wonderful tale about how IBM researchers and clients came together to create an innovative solution for a hospital based on clever stream computing software.
As the FOAK projects are proving, it is the dynamic nature of this close interaction with IBM clients and the changing forces of the real world that drives our innovation and brings it to market at an ever-quickening pace.
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George Faulkner in
As you may have noticed from the last post, IBM’s Sam Palmisano visited the Chatham House stage in London today having delivered a speech titled ‘Welcome to the Decade of Smart.’ Throughout tonight (and over the coming days) we will be posting content and links to images and video from the event here, as they become available.
From the post-event materials being distributed:
On January 12, 2010, Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officers, addressed business and civic leaders at Chatham House in London. In his remarks, he described how forward-thinking leaders in business, government and civil society around the world are capturing the potential of smarter systems to achieve economic growth, near-term efficiency, sustainable development and societal progress.
Links:
Launch a video of the speech: Sam Palmisano at Chatham House
Launch a video of the Q&A from Chatham House: Q&A from Chatham House
Today, Steve Lohr of the New York Times published a brief article about the speech that takes a look at the past year of Smarter Planet work from IBM.
Paul Glader of the Wall Street Journal published an article today as well that examines aspects of IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative.
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Adam Christensen in
Buildings that know when they need to be fixed before something breaks; sensors that tell the fire department details of a fire before they receive the emergency phone call; smart water and sewage systems that filter and recycle water. . . . .
It’s that time of year here at IBM – when we look to the future and make five predictions of technological trends that will change the way we live in the next five years. Given the current attention to making our cities smarter, for this year’s we have focused on five innovations that will change our cities in the next five years.
Importantly, the list is intended to serve as a discussion point to discuss – and debate – the prospects for our cities and how progress can be made.
If there’s one common thread in all of the advances we see in the coming years, it’s the ability to monitor our environment with sensors and the application of analytics – complex algorithms baked into software – to make decisions based on all of that data. In reality, it’s what we’ve been talking about for the past year here on this blog, but we are just now beginning to see these efforts implemented at the city level to really change how cities work.
Analytics will predict the patterns of how diseases will spread, will enable buildings to evaluate the relationships between their systems and provide real-time information to management, will enable city smart grids to draw on clean energy during peak and off peak hours, find water leaks and more efficient ways to move water, and predict emergencies before they happen to limit their impact.
While these are predictions for the future, in each case the innovation is rooted in work we are just beginning to see pop up with some of our city clients or in our labs today. We’ll spend some time over the next few weeks to go deeper into each one of these topics, sharing what’s happening now and exploring opportunities for the future.
But in the meantime, and without further ado, below is this year’s “Next 5 in 5”:
- Cities will have healthier immune systems
Given their population density, cities will remain hotbeds of communicable diseases. But in the future, public health officials will know precisely when, where and how diseases are spreading – even which neighborhoods will be affected next. Scientists will give city officials, hospitals, schools and workplaces the tools to better detect, track, prepare for and prevent infections, such as the H1N1 virus or seasonal influenza. We will see a “health Internet” emerge, where anonymous medical information, contained in electronic health records, will be securely shared to curtail the spread of disease and keep people healthier. - City buildings will sense and respond like living organisms
As people move into city buildings at record rates, buildings will be built smartly. Today, many of the systems that constitute a building – heat, water, sewage, electricity, etc. – are managed independently. In the future, the technology that manages facilities will operate like a living organism that can sense and respond quickly, in order to protect citizens, save resources and reduce carbon emissions. Thousands of sensors inside buildings will monitor everything from motion and temperature to humidity, occupancy and light. The building won’t just coexist with nature – it will harness it. This system will enable repairs before something breaks, emergency units to respond quickly with the necessary resources, and consumers and business owners to monitor their energy consumption and carbon emission in real-time and take action to reduce them. Some buildings are already showing signs of intelligence by reducing energy use, improving operational efficiency, and improving comfort and safety for occupants. - Cars and city buses will run on empty
For the first time, the “E” on gas gauges will mean “enough.” Increasingly, cars and city buses no longer will rely on fossil fuels. Vehicles will begin to run on new battery technology that won’t need to be recharged for days or months at a time, depending on how often you drive. IBM scientists and partners are working to design new batteries that will make it possible for electric vehicles to travel 300 to 500 miles on a single charge, up from 50 to 100 miles currently. Also, smart grids in cities could enable cars to be charged in public places and use renewable energy, such as wind power, for charging so they no longer rely on coal-powered plants. This will lower emissions as well as minimize noise pollution. (see the Battery 500 and Bornholm electric vehicle posts for hints at what is to come) - Smarter systems will quench cities’ thirst for water and save energy
Today, one in five people lack access to safe drinking water, and municipalities lose an alarming amount of precious water — up to 50 percent through leaky infrastructure. On top of that, human demand for water is expected to increase sixfold in the next 50 years. To deal with this challenge, cities will install smarter water systems to reduce water waste by up to 50 percent. Cities also will install smart sewer systems that not only prevent run-off pollution in rivers and lakes, but purify water to make it drinkable. Advanced water purification technologies will help cities recycle and reuse water locally, reducing energy used to transport water by up to 20 percent. Interactive meters and sensors will be integrated into water and energy systems, providing you with real time, accurate information about your water consumption so you will be able to make better decisions about how and when you use this valuable resource. - Cities will respond to a crisis — even before receiving an emergency phone call
Cities will be able to reduce and even prevent emergencies, such as crime and disasters. Law enforcement agencies will turn to mathematics and analytics to analyze the right information at the right time, so that public servants can take proactive measures to head off crime. Fire departments will begin using software to potentially prevent fires from happening in the first place. Even today, scientists are beginning to look at past fires, smoke patterns and climate fluctuations to developing models that predict wildfires, to prevent fires and speed public evacuations when they happen.
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Tim Washer in
in silico modeling creates images of liver inflammation and cancer that are similar to what might be seen under the microscope.
At the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, researchers are using IBM technology to open up new dimensions in biological modeling. With the help of an IBM Shared University Research (SUR) Award and an IBM supercomputer, Pitt is using leading-edge in silico biological research, which uses computer simulations to explore biological pathways and test therapeutic interventions, tissue engineering, cell therapies and artificial organs and biodevices. The results of such research could significantly reduce the cost of new drug development and shorten the treatment evaluation process – getting treatments to the market faster and cheaper. These modeling techniques are similar to those used to generate the fantasy creatures of other worlds in movies, such as “Lord of the Rings” and the “Star Trek” series. So instead of creating an imaginary character to fill out a battle scene, Pitt scientists are applying computational techniques to simulate, for example, inflamed liver cells morphing into cancer. That allows them to see not only how tumors develop, but how drugs or other interventions could affect disease progression.
For example, the Pitt research team has simulated liver tissue to study how a chronic hepatitis infection can lead to liver cancer, lung tissues to study viral infection and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and skin to study how patients with spinal cord injuries develop pressure ulcers. This type of advanced modeling can help researchers better understand basic biological processes and allows them to screen drugs and determine their impact on the body to uncover the best interventions for a broad range of diseases.
For more info, read an interview with Dr. Yoram Vodovotz in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Photo credit: University of Pittsburgh Center for Inflammation and Regenerative Modeling
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By Susan Noack
Technology today helps hospitals, doctors and nurses alike improve how they care for patients and makes it easier to focus on the quality of care patients receive. New device monitoring, sensors, electronic medical records ….they all help caregivers in their daily routines by providing better information.
However, let’s be clear: technology alone does not improve quality. It is the people involved in the care processes that have the most significant impact. In order to improve quality, we need the type of consistent and objective data that can become the key driver behind helping entire health care teams collaborate, improve processes and make faster decisions. Without data, you have no way to measure, monitor, and improve.
We’re working with many hospitals truly focused on improving how they treat patients, helping people get well quicker while reducing costs. But in order to do that, hospitals must first be able to give their people better information – delivering new insights into their data.
For example, a hospital trying to reduce the number of central line infections may try to get an accurate view of the problem by looking at all their data: Which patients are getting infections? When are infection rates higher? Which units and shifts are involved? Are there any adjunct procedures linked to the problem? By putting a process in place to capture data and agree that it is accurate, and looking at the data sideways, crossways and upside down through analytics, doctors and nurses can begin to agree upon what actions to take to solve the problem. That’s what health analytics is all about.
As health care becomes even more complex, the best hospitals are determining how they can tap all their information and look deep into it to better understand how to make care more effective, how to keep patients healthy and spot critical trends before they become problems.
Susan Noack is Global Industry Director Healthcare for IBM Cognos
Among the many highlights of the Smarter Cities summit we hosted in New York City October 1 and 2, Dr. Denis Cortese’s presentation ranks among the top. As the CEO of the highly esteemed Mayo Clinic, Dr. Cortese has a unique perspective on the state of health care in the United States. Given the prominence of the issue in public debate, I wish there were some way to mandate that every citizen watch his very lucid, very pragmatic 18-minute conversation on how to design a better health care system. You can see the whole thing here by clicking the image below (it will launch a player based on your browser’s preference).
Dr. Denis Cortese, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic Great Expectations for U.S. Health care
Length: 18:08
On Friday, Irving Wladawsky-Berger published his own lengthy post in response to Dr. Cortese’s presentation:
Dr. Cortese then discussed some of the most important new concepts that should be part of any future healthcare system. The first is personalized medicine. How can you translate new discoveries into incremental value for each individual patient? This involves not just major research advances such as genomics medicine, but also the ability to reach everyone in cases like the H1N1 virus, where untreated people can compromise the health of the whole community.
The second major concept involves the science and engineering of healthcare delivery. Our country invests a lot in medical research, a great portion of which is funded by the National Institute of Health. However, there are no major academic programs focusing on healthcare delivery, the very core of any healthcare system.
We have been trying to build such programs at MIT, and so have other institutions like Georgia Tech and Arizona State University. There is great interest on the part of faculty and students but little funding so far to help organize the efforts. The funding available from the Department of Health and Human Services for such programs is miniscule compared to the funds available for medical research.
We also have to figure out how to measure the value created by the healthcare system we are designing. Value for each patient must be defined in terms of better outcomes, better quality and better service divided by the cost of providing care for that patient. It must be concrete and measurable, otherwise you don’t know how well your system is performing and whether you are getting adequate returns for the money you are spending.
If you can spare the 18 minutes, please take some time to watch the video, then read Irving’s post, explaining more of the framework Dr. Cortese outlined in his presentation.
Growing up in the Boston area, it’s easy to forget that some of the world’s finest hospitals and medical centers reside in our backyard. From pharmaceuticals and medical devices to diagnostics and biotechnology, Massachusetts is a global leader in the life sciences, thanks to the region’s world-class academic institutions and medical centers, our talented workforce, and our industry-sector leading companies.
With two of the top hospitals in the nation within miles of my home and work, expert healthcare is easy to find. Brigham & Women’s Hospital, number 10 on the annual America’s Best Hospitals rankings, is recognized around the world for its outstanding reputation in biomedical research.
At Brigham and Women’s Hospital, medical experts are using a “Radiology Theatre” to “make rounds” on a patient — no matter where the doctors are located. Using the Radiology Theater, teams of medical experts can simultaneously discuss and review patients’ MRI, CT scans and other medical test data using a Web browser.
The theatre allows teams of medical experts to discuss, tag and share information simultaneously, rather than paging through stacks of papers, calling physicians to discuss scan results and then charting the results. This collaborative consultation brings together the personal data, the experts and the clinical data in one physical, visual theatre.
Developed by IBM, the Radiology Theater has the potential to change the way radiologists communicate with patients and other health-care professionals.
In this video, Dr. Francine Jacobson, thoracic radiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, discusses how an implementation of Brigham & Women’s “Radiology Theatre” will lead to smarter patients and doctors, who will make more informed decisions, and smarter communities, which will drive improvements in healthcare.
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Adam Christensen in
Below are links to full videos from every session of the New York City Smarter Cities event, in order of the agenda. (These are streaming videos, so click the image and it will launch the default player of your browser).
DAY ONE
Sam Palmisano, IBM CEO
Building a Smarter Planet, City by City
Length: 23:28
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor, New York City
Special Address
Length: 24:25
A conversation with Sam Palmisano and Michael Bloomberg, moderated by Dr. Laura Tyson, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley
Length: 18:14
Ivan Seidenberg, CEO, Verizon Communications
Smarter Cities, Smarter People: Enabling citizens through innovative network technology
Length: 11:17
Melody Barnes, Director, White House Domestic Policy
Partnering for Smarter Cities: The Federal Role in Supporting Local Innovation
Length: 11:30
A conversation with Melody Barnes, Sam Palmisano, Ivan Seidenberg, moderated by Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, Partnership for New York City.
Length: 30:26
Dr. Denis Cortese, President and CEO, Mayo Clinic
Great Expectations for U.S. Healthcare
Length: 18:08
A conversation with Dr. Denis Cortese and Garrick Utley, president, The Levin Institute, The State University of New York
Length: 22:37
DAY TWO:
Ginni Rometty, senior vice president, IBM
Building a Smarter City
Length: 21:14
Joseph Hogan, CEO, ABB
A Smarter City Needs Smart Power
Length: 14:17
A conversation with Ginni Rometty and Joseph Hogan
Length: 19:18
Culture in the Smarter City. Charlie Rose, Editor and Anchor, Charlie Rose, with Roger Goodell, Commissioner, NFL; Rocco Landesman, Chairman, National Endowment for the Arts; Dr. Reynold Levy, president, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; Glenn Lowry, director, The Museum of Modern Art.
Length: 53:03
Seizing the Opportunity. A panel of mayors, moderated by David Gergen, Harvard University and senior political analyst, CNN, with Mayor Shirley Franklin, Atlanta; Mayor Phil Gordon, Phoenix; Mayor Patrick McCrory, Charlotte; and Mayor Chuck Reed, San Jose.
Length: 47:18
Dr. Fareed Zakaria, editor, Newsweek International
The Leadership Challenge
Length: 10:44
A conversation with Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Sam Palmisano, moderated by Dr. Fareed Zakaria
Length: 35:39
We try on this blog to stay fairly grounded in technological topics that are affecting the way we live and work today. Theorizing too much on what might be possible in 20 years can sometimes get in the way of what we can actually accomplish today. That said, this is worth the digression. IBM Research announced a fascinating project today with significant implications in how we conduct personalized medicine in the future. I’ll let the researchers behind the science tell the story themselves in the video above. But I’ll posit this one question. Considering what only a few years ago cost $3 billion might soon cost only $1000, what role could inexpensive individual genome sequencing have on personalized medicine?
(Stay tuned in the near future for more on this topic – in particular, the how privacy needs to play a central role in these personal technological advances.)
