IBM's renowned cognitivie computing platform, Watson for Oncology, has been recently adopted by Manipal Hospitals. It is the first hospital in India and the second in the world to equip itseld with the cutting-edge technology. Currently it is vavailable in its six branches.
Watson for Oncology is a part of IBM Watson Health dedicated to develop healthcare through cognitive tools. The new technology consists of a vast data regarding individual, clinical and medical aspects to create a secure cloud-based health-related data sharing hub so that the doctors and researchers can gain a better insight into particular health conditions and come up with advanced cures. The most significant advantage of this cognitive technology is that it helps them identify the best-suited treatment for a particular case.
Till now 15 million pages of medical literature related to cancer treatment and an enviable repository of clinical research findings and insights offered by cancer experts have been uploaded in the system. Doctors from even the remoest part of the world can get their required information from this system in a click.
It can even read and understand natural laguage, including handwritten ones. By this characteristic trait, the Watson for Oncology can analyse a patient;s medical records as well as knows which treatment will be correct based on the patient's conditions.
In short, Watson for Oncology does not replace doctors. It only helps them to identify the best possible treatment based on evidence for their patients. Patients would still get treated by their doctor.
Source: ET Healthworld