IRVINE, Calif., June 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — After months of interface development and testing at the University of California Irvine (UCI), Docbot, a medical informatics company, officially announced today its suite of artificial intelligence-driven applications for colonoscopy procedures. Collectively called Qualoscopy, the applications are designed to assist gastroenterologists in real-time.

According to the Center for Disease Control, about 15 million colonoscopies were performed in the United States alone in 2012. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International. Gastroenterologists are facing major challenges relating to pay performance and quality metrics that must be reported to Medicare. Physicians often find themselves spending more time doing paperwork than seeing patients.

“Qualoscopy is a game changer,” said Dr. William Karnes, Director of Colonoscopy Quality at UC Irvine and co-founder of Docbot. “It leverages our massive colonoscopy database at UC Irvine to apply artificial intelligence to tasks of polyp detection, optical pathology and documenting quality measures such as prep score, cecal intubation, adenoma detection rate and withdrawal time.”

Qualoscopy auto-documents procedure reports and integrates with electronic health records (EHRs). Its mission is preventing colorectal cancer by improving colonoscopy efficacy and providing precise documentation. Dr. Karnes added, “There’s nothing a good physician wants more than to provide the highest level of care for their patients and avoid redundant paperwork. Qualoscopy was designed from the ground up to make this a reality for all colonoscopists.”

Up to 90% of colorectal cancers are preventable with good quality colonoscopies.  Most “interval cancers,” those occurring between recommended colonoscopy, are due to missed polyps or incompletely removed polyps.  People who have had their colonoscopy performed by a colonoscopist with a high polyp detection rate have the lowest rates of colorectal cancer.

Docbot’s algorithms provide real-time feedback during colonoscopy.  According to Docbot CEO Andrew Ninh, the algorithms are ready for clinical validation. He said, “Our first priority is to conduct multicenter studies to demonstrate that Qualoscopy improves polyp detection and accurately predicts polyp pathology independent of clinical setting, scope manufacturer, light source or patient population.”

Final results and recommendations after colonoscopy depend on pathology, often delayed 1-3 weeks.  This creates patient anxiety and disconnects with the EHR, often leaving the primary care physician (PCP) in the dark. Real-time prediction of polyp pathology means real-time surveillance interval recommendations and automated updates to the PCP and the EHR. 

“UC Irvine is a leading institution when it comes to innovation and we’ve partnered with Docbot to create a Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence research in medicine,” said Dr. Jason Samarasena, Associate Professor of Medicine and advisor to Docbot. “Within Gastroenterology, I believe AI will change the way we do endoscopy. We have already seen tremendous results with Colonoscopy enhancement, but the potential for using AI in more clinical applications such as Barrett’s Esophagus, Early Gastric Cancer and Endoscopic Ultrasound is what’s truly exciting to me.”

Docbot aims to commercialize a fully functional AI system by September 2018. Until then, Docbot is conducting a public beta with physician groups from several other academic medical centers, ambulatory surgery centers and acute care hospitals.

Founded in 2014, Docbot offers intuitive and reliable solutions for reducing data entry. It is a physician-centered platform designed by doctors, for doctors. Docbot is constantly at work searching for more ways to merge technology and medical knowledge in order to create accessible and scalable means to bring health to people.

About Docbot

Headquartered in California, Docbot, Inc. is a medical informatics company that understands the need for intuitive software design and is committed to creating software that empowers physicians to safely and efficiently deliver better care for their patients. Docbot, Inc. develops artificial intelligence-driven applications for clinical decision support, aggregated patient information, and population health analytics for physicians and specialists. For more information, visit https://www.docbot.co/ and https://www.qualoscopy.com

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SOURCE Docbot