At RSNA 2017 there was a remarkable uptick in the presence of artificial intelligence. From new companies specializing in it, to established companies embracing it, to virtually everyone at the show talking about it.

HealthCare Business News checked in with Elad Walach, who's company, Aidoc, was one of those newcomers with a special understanding of the potential AI has to disrupt and reinvent the way we think about radiology.

HCB News: It seems like Aidoc really burst on the scene at last year's RSNA meeting - can you tell us about the company's origins?

Elad Walach: RSNA 2017 was an amazing event for AI technology in general, and specifically for Aidoc. It felt to us like the turning point from general interest in the concept of AI, to actual assessments of the various AI solutions out there and how they can provide value to radiologists. We had just celebrated earning our CE Mark to operate in Europe, and it was a great opportunity to showcase our commercial head & c-spine AI solution and demonstrate its ability to streamline the workflow. It was so encouraging seeing all our challenging work pay off and create such traction.

Since founding Aidoc in 2016, we have been on a mission to revolutionize radiology by injecting AI into the radiology workflow to make the radiologists' work easier and more efficient. We're witnessing an extraordinary trend in radiology now. While the number of scans is increasing each year – with an 82% rise in STAT scans - the number of radiologists across the industry is nearly stagnant. In this trend we saw an opportunity to harness deep learning capabilities to address the radiologists' pain points and help their day-to-day. Almost two years on, we are seeing the impact of our technology helping radiologists be at their best, and doing so more efficiently!

HCBNews: RSNA 2017 could be called, "The year of AI." What is Aidoc bringing to radiology that other AI companies are not?

EW:It was incredible to see how many people are trying to advance this technology with such passion and expertise.

We believe that the adoption of an AI solution requires significant and frequent value creation to the radiologists, which means addressing a major share of their workload. To do so, we have developed a novel AI technology that is unique in its comprehensive coverage of the anatomical area. This level of comprehensiveness allows our solution to be applicable in most scans of that anatomical area and detect the various critical findings which might appear in the study. Pinpointing the findings in the image allows our solution to highlight the abnormal cases and optimize the worklist – dramatically reducing turnaround time for the cases which matter most.

We've also put usability in focus by creating a solution that seamlessly integrates with the existing software, streamlining the radiologists' current workflow without requiring them to change their habits.

HCB News: Your deep learning solution currently has CE Mark and FDA approval is anticipated this year. What is the regulatory pathway like for artificial intelligence technology?

EW: We were pleasantly surprised by the regulatory agencies' embracement of AI and commitment to providing a supportive regulatory process which includes an open communication channel. In addition to the typical software assessment, the regulatory pathway set up for AI companies includes an empirical validation of the solution's capabilities.

HCB News: How do you foresee the tech Goliaths, (Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook...) tapping into the vast potential for deep learning in radiology, if at all?

EW: Radiology is a multi-billion dollar market, so the financial incentive is there. We're definitely seeing early signs of the tech Goliaths exploring ways to enter the healthcare market, and rightly so. They realize that just like AI is disrupting so many other industries, it will help revolutionize healthcare as well. However, due to their cross-industry strategy and limited domain expertise in medical specialties, the tech Goliaths' will focus on infrastructural technologies applicable to the whole healthcare system such as cloud computing. That's good news for companies like ours as it will facilitate an even quicker adoption of AI solutions across the specific medical specialties with radiology being a central one.

HCB News: Aside from regulatory clearances, what kind of news can we expect from Aidoc in 2018?

EW: Aidoc expects 2018 to be the year in which the clinical adoption of our technology will prove once and for all that AI is a lot more than an intriguing concept, it's the most impactful technology to radiologists since the creation of digital imaging.

In February we launched the first AI-powered full-body solution for CT analysis to assist radiologists in identifying medical findings throughout the entire human body including the head, c-spine, chest and abdomen, extending the clinical value of AI in daily workloads with an imaging tool that that is not relatively specialized and limited in application.