In an unidentified building in Los Angeles on a cloudy day decryption You’re invited to take a closer look at a technology that claims to use artificial intelligence to help doctors better identify cancer cells in the body. The technology is being developed by New York-based medical technology company Ezra, which provided hands-on experience with the Ezra MRI scanner.
With prevalent diseases like cancer becoming more widespread every year, Ezra says he’s targeting a narrower but more important customer base. Early detection of cancer is critical to treating and surviving the devastating disease, and Ezra says it’s helping with this. Using full-body scans and artificial intelligence, diagnosis and treatment can be performed more easily and quickly.
“(Early detection) makes a big difference for every patient and makes a big difference to the healthcare system,” said Dr. Daniel Sodickson, Ezra’s medical advisor. decryption. “It has been shown that detecting cancer early increases the five-year survival rate for cancer from an average of 20% to 80%. So in numbers, that’s a billion lives saved.”
Sodickson says the key to early detection is a full-body scan, rather than focusing on just one part of the body or symptoms. According to Ezra, scanner It targets several important areas including the brain, thyroid, uterus, prostate, lungs, liver, and kidneys.
The closest Ezra facility to me was on the busy corner of Wilshire Blvd and Robertson in the heart of Beverly Hills. The first thing that caught my attention when I walked into the office where the scan took place was how brightly lit and incredibly busy the place was on a Monday morning. While waiting for my 9:30 a.m. appointment, I looked around the office and saw that it was filled with people of all ages, from children to the elderly.
“There are a lot of people who are claustrophobic and cannot lie down in a standard MRI machine,” said one technician.
“(Ezra) is a compilation of the best established tests for each body part,” Sodickson continued. “There is actually something called active surveillance. This is a new and evolving paradigm in healthcare. For example, if you are at risk for prostate or breast cancer, we will return to see you every year to check how you are doing. And making sure the risk hasn’t changed,” he said.
Ezra explained that he documents each examination for each body part and organizes them one by one afterwards. But while the Erza scan comprehensively scans the body, Sodickson acknowledged that the machine does not comprehensively scan the spiral column.
“That’s partly because spinal cord tumors are not the most common tumors,” Sodickson said. “So it’s a time budget. “The longer you keep it in the scanner, the more inconvenient it becomes and the more expensive it becomes.”
I put on a gown and lay down on the bed where I was entered into the MRI scanner. “I was placed inside the MRI machine with a brace on my head, soft padding on my chest, and padding to elevate my feet for faster speeds.”ezra flash” scan.
For the next 30 minutes I heard buzzing, thumping, and whistling sounds, and I tried to stay still. The location was not inconvenient. Standard model (inner diameter 60cm)It helped me not feel claustrophobic.
The worst but necessary part of the experience was that the collar of the gown was up to my neck and I couldn’t move. This was very annoying. During the experience, I meditated and spoke any mantras I could remember to keep my mind calm while the pounding, chirping, and buzzing continued. I tried to remember to breathe and not think about time.
While I lay in the tube, time stood still. 30 minutes felt like hours. But finally it was all over and I got out of the machine to wait for the negative results.
A week after the scan, I received an email from Ezra saying the results had been processed and uploaded to my Ezra account. The Ezra Flash report indicates where the scan found items that should be reviewed at a follow-up appointment with your doctor.
The report includes a “Risk Score” dropdown that describes the severity level of each section from 1 (no follow-up required) to 5 (urgent action required).
I have to be honest. The words “potential cancer” made me think twice and I was starting to get worried, so I read more closely and ran the report through ChatGPT to explain what all the medical jargon meant. There is still cause for concern, but knowing that the spots can be benign gives me hope that this issue was more discreet than anything else.
But follow-up appointments will definitely be made.
Once the report has been processed, Ezra also provides customers with the ability to download the report and view it as a PDF or as a digital file that can be reviewed by a medical professional. The most interesting aspect of the report is that it is a digital report that includes a 360-degree shot of the scanned area and allows you to adjust the depth of the image.
Along with MRI scans, Ezra leverages artificial intelligence to create scans that are higher quality, faster, and less expensive.
“The way we increase speed is that we can actually use less data than we would normally need,” Sodickson said. “Using AI to get a perfect, clear MRI scan or MRI image can help remove lint, like wiping clean a shower door, and restore it to full quality in less time.”
The company said Ezra AI was trained on large sets of images from thousands of healthy patients and those suffering from a variety of diseases, and the results were evaluated by radiologists.
According to Ezra, its proprietary AI model, Ezra Flash, takes approximately 30 minutes to complete a full-body MRI scan. Ezra Reporter AI with Ezra Flash creates digestible translations of radiology reports to help healthcare professionals and patients understand results.
“The only people who have access to your scanned information are Ezra’s medical and clinical operations teams,” an Ezra spokesperson said in an email. “Ezra is subject to HIPAA and all applicable confidentiality and security regulations. Ezra may delete your information upon request in accordance with our Privacy Policy.”
Consumer-oriented AI models like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT have enabled patients and their families to use the technology to decipher complex medical terminology and jargon. Otherwise, it can become confusing and prevent families from being able to properly advocate for their sick loved ones. .
At the Healthy Longevity Global Innovator Summit held every October, Peter LeeThe Microsoft Vice President of Corporate Research and Incubations detailed how his family decided to use ChatGPT to care for his aging father.
“GPT’s ability to provide us with guidance kept temperatures down and actually maintained family harmony,” Lee said. “What I’ve always been interested in is empowering people to live longer, empowering themselves and the people who care for us as we age. That’s why I have so much hope.”
With the advent of artificial intelligence, medical professionals have been leveraging this technology to detect and diagnose difficult diseases such as: covid-19, parkinson’s diseaseand cancer.
New in October study Published in international journals nature We have introduced an AI-based concept called Sturgeon that aims to change surgeons’ approach to diagnosing and removing central nervous system (CNS) tumors.
“The problem (sturgeon researchers) are trying to solve is that surgeons do not have real-time or rapid knowledge of tumor diagnosis during surgery.” AS Gabriel ZadaA neurosurgeon at USC Keck Medicine said: decryption.
Dr. Zada added that Keck and other medical and academic institutions are increasingly turning to AI, with AI tools being used across the board before, during and after surgery.
“The complexity of the surgery does not change. The risks don’t necessarily change,” Zada said. “But I can imagine that if you get information that enhances the surgical approach, if you have additional information that changes what you do, you could one day make it safer.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.
