I saw this headline the other day: “A boy saw 17 doctors over 3 years for chronic pain. ChatGPT found the diagnosis” (Source: Today.com). After a frustrating three-year journey trying unsuccessfully to diagnose a series of mysterious symptoms for her son, the boy’s mother turned to AI.
“I went line by line of everything that was in his (MRI notes) and plugged it into ChatGPT,” she says. The story goes on to say, “She eventually found tethered cord syndrome and joined a Facebook group for families of children with it. Their stories sounded like Alex's. She scheduled an appointment with a new neurosurgeon and told her she suspected Alex had tethered cord syndrome,” which the doctor confirmed.
This example points to the potential of AI in the digital healthcare era. To be clear, AI can’t replace the expertise, training, or clinical judgement of physicians. The biggest advancements in modern healthcare happen when new technologies are placed in the hands of skilled physicians to improve the speed or accuracy of decision making, and AI is no exception.
One example from Medtronic is the GI Genius™ Intelligent Endoscopy Module, our computer-aided polyp detection system powered by AI. Colorectal lesions, including polyps and adenomas, are precursors to colorectal cancer — the #2 deadliest cancer worldwide. Almost 1 in 20 adults will be diagnosed with colon cancer in their lifetime; however, with early detection, 90% will beat it (Source: data on file).
GI Genius works with a clinic’s endoscopy/colonoscopy system. Harnessing deep learning algorithms and real-time data it assists physicians in detecting polyps during the procedure through enhanced visualization. It’s been shown to have a 99.7% sensitivity rate, less than 1% false positives, and performs real-time analysis 82% faster than the endoscopist (Source: data on file). The first U.S. trial showed a 50% reduction in missed colorectal polyps when GI Genius was used, as compared to standard colonoscopy methods (Source: data on file).
The potential for AI in healthcare goes beyond diagnostics. Our company is advancing research in areas like personalization of care with implanted technologies that can tailor therapy delivery in real time for complex conditions like diabetes, chronic pain, and Parkinson’s disease. We’re also exploring AI to improve telemedicine and remote monitoring as well as predictive analytics to reduce hospital readmissions.
Our mission to improve lives obligates us to harness AI to advance these areas, which includes training physicians to support safe and responsible adoption. I said AI won’t replace physicians, but some believe physicians who embrace AI will eventually replace those who don’t. That said, if patients aren’t ready to accept AI in their care, these advancements won’t reach their potential.
Consumer perceptions tend to be a blend of optimism and caution. A large share of U.S. adults think the use of AI would reduce the number of medical mistakes (40% vs. 27%). An even larger share says the problem of racial and ethnic bias and unfair treatment in healthcare would get better (51%) than worse (15%) if AI was used more. That said, six-in-ten say they would feel uncomfortable if their doctor relied on AI to do things like diagnose disease and recommend treatments (Source: Pew Research Center, 2023).
As Chief Communications Officer, I’ve described my role as helping companies build trust, which is especially important in these early stages of major, systemic innovations like AI.
To accelerate adoption, my first responsibility is to make sure our organization has current skills (via hiring, training, data/analytics capabilities, agency relationships) and modern brand experiences (developing/delivering targeted content to make it easy for people to find and understand what they’re looking for).
But it also requires transparency and balance. Yes, we need to make the general public aware of the benefits of these breakthroughs while clearing up misinformation and misconceptions. But in our enthusiasm, it’s important to avoid the risk of overselling — balancing exciting claims with an honest assessment of potential risks and treatment alternatives.
This is an exciting time to be in healthcare technology, and AI has brought an equal dose of opportunity and challenge. While I can’t sit here today and predict where this will go, I know we have a responsibility to get it right for Alex’s mom and the millions of patients and caregivers like her seeking more control and better outcomes.
Torod Neptune is Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of Medtronic, the world’s largest healthcare technology company. Torod is a member of the company’s Executive Committee, directs the company’s corporate marketing, communications, and ‘business in society’ initiatives, and oversees the Medtronic Foundation and Medtronic’s social business enterprise, Medtronic Labs. He is a member of the USC Center for PR board of advisers.