Computer Vision News - June 2021

Dr. Mehran Anvari is Professor of Surgery and Chair in Surgical Innovation at McMaster University. He is also the Scientific Director and CEO of the Centre of Excellence in Canada for Commercialization of Medical Robotics. Dr. Maria Victoria Sainz de Cea is a Data Scientist at IBM Watson Health. They speak to us about a partnership that could revolutionize the world of surgical robotics. Dr. Anvari’s Centre develops precise robotic capabilities that can navigate in a variety of imaging modalities, including MRI. The technology can accurately navigate to the site of any abnormality, however small within the body, so long as the system detecting it can provide it with the correct coordinates. His group have been working with a global team from Merge Healthcare , part of IBM Watson Health in Canada, to develop AI platforms that connect with the Centre’s robotics to build a truly autonomous medical robot which can accurately detect, locate, and intervene. “Imaging analysis is very fast now,” Dr. Anvari explains. “The systems we’re building will significantly improve on current practices, reducing time even further IBM Watson Health 34 between analysis and diagnosis. AI can analyze images in a matter of seconds andwe’reworkingonplatforms that can add histopathology in minutes . They consider not only the usual diagnosis but look at patients’ outcomes and the decision-making which led to that outcome.” Where surgeons make decisions based on personal experience of perhaps hundreds of previous patient interactions, thesesystemsusemachine learning to base decisions on analysis of millions of interactions from around the world. They are constantly evolving and enhance patient treatment by taking surgical intelligence to a higher level than what one surgeon or even a group of surgeons could achieve. The team are on the cusp of a huge breakthrough, building tools for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer at a much earlier stage . Proof of principle testing was Maria Victoria Sainz de Cea Mehran Anvari