IBM Watson finding its way into real-world image interpretation - MedCity News

A large radiology practice in the Miami area is the test bed for the first real-world application of IBM Watson interpreting medical images. Radiology Associates of South Florida, which has more than 75 physicians and handles about 1 million studies per year, is teaming with Baptist Hospital of Miami to apply Watson-powered "cognitive peer review" to medical imaging in an effort to diagnose aortic stenosis earlier. "We want to identify patients at high risk who may have been missed," said Dr. Ricardo Cury, director of cardiac imaging at Baptist Hospital of Miami and chairman and CEO of Radiology Associates. Watson speeds up the peer review process by assisting cardiologists and sonographers in spotting stenosis cases that otherwise might fall through the cracks, Cury explained at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago late last month. Watson looks for variations in practice, based on quality metrics and image analytics, explained Jon DeVries, global offering manager for IBM Watson Health Imaging.