Today, IBM also announced that Watson for Oncology is now available to support the multi-disciplinary care of prostate cancer patients. In Watson for Oncology’s ongoing training with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Watson has now been trained and released to help support physicians in their treatment of breast, lung, colorectal, cervical, ovarian, gastric and prostate cancers. By the end of the year, the technology will be available to support at least 12 cancer types, representing 80 percent of the global incidence of cancer.

“We are proud of MSK’s role training Watson for Oncology, and putting an evidence-based, cognitive, clinical decision support tool in the hands of physicians around the world,” said Mark G. Kris, MD, the William and Joy Ruane Chair in Thoracic Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering. “By coupling the power of Watson with the knowledge MSK physicians have gleaned from decades of experience treating cancers, we can help physicians probe the subtleties of each person’s illness, better understand the ever-growing body of oncology data, and make evidence-based treatment decisions.”


A Growing Body of Evidence for Watson
Data on Watson at ASCO 2017 builds on earlier studies that have documented the evolution of the technology and demonstrated that Watson can support treatment decisions and research breakthroughs. For example:

• A 2016 study found Watson for Oncology matched the recommendations of Manipal’s multi-disciplinary tumor board in 90% of breast cancer cases.
• A 2016 ASCO study at the Victoria Comprehensive Cancer Center in Australia examined Watson’s natural language processing capabilities.
• A 2015 ASCO study examined the recommendations of Watson for Oncology on historical patient cases at MSK.
• A 2014 ASCO study demonstrated that Watson for Oncology was able to achieve up to 100% precision in matching MSK training data.
• A 2014 Baylor College of Medicine study found Watson for Drug Discovery helped identify 6 new proteins to target in p53 cancer research in a matter of weeks.
• A 2015 study found Watson for Genomics helped clinicians analyze whole genome sequencing and uncover actionable insights in minutes.

Watson Adoption to Support Oncology Care
Today IBM announced 9 new adopters of Watson oncology offerings, which are now being used or implemented at more than 55 hospitals and health organizations around the globe. Doctors in India, China, Thailand, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Bangladesh, Spain, Slovakia, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Canada and the U.S. are now using or currently implementing the system to provide information to augment their decision making. Stories from early adopters reveal how Watson can provide hope and greater confidence in treatment decisions.

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