UCLA startup develops AI-based tool that could reduce unnecessary spine surgeries - Tech Transfer e-News - Tech Transfer Central

A startup from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) is developing an AI-based tool that analyzes spine images to inform patients whether or not they need surgery. Based on research conducted by UCLA neurosurgeon Dr. Luke Macyszyn, the startup Theseus AI aims to address the costly medical problem of unnecessary spine surgeries. Studies show that between 20 and 40 percent of spine surgeries fail to relieve pain, and there are more than 250,000 performed each year. "This is somewhat personal for me in that my own father had spine surgery twice," says Sam Elhag, CEO of Theseus AI. "To this date, it's uncertain as to whether or not it all made sense." Elhag launched Theseus to make the interpretation of spine MRIs less subjective.