‘It’s very helpful’: Physicians using AI in colon cancer screenings

By Bill Schammert

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Artificial intelligence can be a scary term, but don’t tell that to physicians in the Omaha metro. It’s being used in an array of specialties, including gastroenterology.

Dr. Jason Cisler calls it an exciting time.

“Anything we can do to enhance the sensitivity of the test and make it more accurate for screening purposes is helpful,” Cisler said.

Cisler and his fellow physicians at Midwest Gastrointestinal Associates perform dozens of colonoscopies and pre-cancer screenings every week.

“It’s basically an interactive software that uses deep learning tech — that’s what a lot of A.I. is based on — to develop software that’s taught to recognize polyps,” Cisler said.

Running in the background of every single one since 2021 is a technology called G.I. Genius. The technology has been fed millions of images of polyps to help distinguish between a healthy and unhealthy colon.

“Having a technology to help you point it out with the visual identification – is very helpful,” Cisler said.

In real time, as the camera winds through the colon, the G.I. Genius will highlight green boxes around what it identifies as a polyp.

“Across the board, our endoscopists are finding more polyps,” Cisler said.

At their office, they’ve noticed a 7% improvement.

That number is important because, according to Cisler, for every 1% increase, you’re decreasing a person’s rate of interval cancers — cancers found between routine screenings — by another 3%.

Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. and the second-deadliest cancer in both men and women, Cisler said.

It’s AI helping to save lives.

But Cisler said it’ll never replace the patient-doctor relationship.

“It helps as a diagnostic tool, but at the end of the day, we have to make the decision of what to do with the information it’s providing us,” Cisler said.

Colon cancer rates are falling in older Americans, but rising in younger ones. Cisler recommends everybody start screenings at 45 years old.

“If detected at early stages, it’s a very treatable and curable disease with over 90% survival at five years if detected in a timely fashion,” Cisler said.

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