IBM's Watson Detected Rare Leukemia In Just 10 Minutes

The supercomputer swiftly cross-referenced a patient's genetic data to make a diagnosis that would have taken a human doctor weeks. In a world where big data is fast transforming healthcare across the globe, PCs could not only assist GPs, but eventually, replace them. Now, it appears that IBM's supercomputer Watson has greatly speeded up the diagnosis of a rare form of leukemia in a patient, and in doing so, may have saved her life. In January 2015, the patient was admitted to a hospital affiliated to the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science in Japan. Doctors initially diagnosed her with acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer.