IBM and Hangzhou CognitiveCare today announced 21 hospitals across China plan to adopt Watson for Oncology trained by Memorial Sloan Kettering, a cognitive computing platform for physicians to help them deliver personalized, evidence-based cancer treatment options.
The initial 21-hospital introduction is part of a far-reaching, multi-year partnership through which Hangzhou CognitiveCare will introduce Watson for Oncology to hospitals across China. This is Watson Health’s first partnership in China.
Hangzhou CognitiveCare, which was established to bring cognitive computing to the fight against cancer in China, will provide sales, service and customer support including localization of Watson’s insights for doctors in China.
For example, while Watson for Oncology will initially be available in the English language only, CognitiveCare will provide some translation support to ensure Watson’s treatment insights – such as drug labels and treatment guidelines – are available to customers in appropriate Chinese dialects. Additionally, CognitiveCare will localize dosing based on Chinese medical guidelines.
Watson’s debut in China comes at a time when cancer cases are increasing in the region. Cancer is the leading cause of death among China’s population of 1.4 billion. In 2015 alone there were 4.3 million new cancer cases and more than 2.8 million cancer deaths in China.
It is estimated that the country is experiencing approximately 12,000 new cancer diagnoses each day. Further, doctors face an increasing battle to stay up to date about best practices in treatment given the high volume of new and emerging oncology research.
Watson for Oncology draws from a massive corpus of information, including more than 300 medical journals, more than 200 textbooks, and nearly 15 million pages of text to provide recommendations about different drug options and administration instructions.
Watson also links to peer reviewed studies and clinical guidelines. Its machine-learning capability means it is continually learning over time.
You can learn more about IBM Watson for Oncology here.
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