SYDNEY, June 27, 2016
/PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) Research in Australia has announced plans to undertake
research with Melanoma Institute Australia to help further advance
the identification of melanoma using cognitive technology. This
planned research builds on IBM's existing research agreement with
MoleMap, which uses advanced visual analytics to analyze more than
40,000 data sets including images and text. IBM Research plans to
analyze dermatological images of skin lesions to help identify
specific clinical patterns in the early stages of
melanoma1. The Australian research aims to help reduce
unnecessary biopsies and help clinicians more accurately understand
skin cancer, which could help to improve patient care.
Despite public awareness programs and efforts to address its
prevalence, Australia has one of
the highest rates of skin cancer, including melanoma, in the world.
Current statistics indicate that two in three Australians will be
diagnosed with skin cancer before the age of 70, yet 95 to 99
percent of all skin cancers are preventable2. Early
diagnosis of skin cancer is critical for survival rates, notably
for melanoma which is considered among the most life threatening.
According to our national cancer statistics someone dies from
melanoma every six hours2.
Using advanced visual analytics IBM Research will conduct
retrospective analysis on de-identified data, which will include
access to more than one million images from 9,000 Australian and
New Zealand patients, as well as
text based clinical notes in an effort to improve the accuracy of
its machine learning algorithms. IBM's cognitive technology would
aim to learn to understand skin cancers such as melanoma, basal
cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma using lower resolution
clinical images, with a goal of similar accuracy to what can be
achieved with dermoscopy images.
Melanoma Institute Australia operates the world's largest
melanoma research and treatment facility, and controls the largest
melanoma research database in the world. Professor Graham Mann, Research Director at Melanoma
Institute Australia explained, "Research that enables the earlier
detection of melanoma is likely to save more lives in the future.
The five-year survival rate for melanoma is only 64 percent once
the disease reaches the lymph nodes. However this rises to 95
percent if detected before then. Diagnosing melanoma with the naked
eye is only about 60 percent accurate, but dermoscopy can lift that
to over 80 percent. Research using automated analysis of images
could provide the next gain in accuracy, especially where
dermoscopy is hard to access."
The planned research with Melanoma Institute Australia follows
on from an initial joint IBM MoleMap investigation in 2015 whereby
IBM Research performed retrospective analysis of complex and
versatile data sets of 40,000 images, dermatology opinion and
diagnosis on each image, spanning three types of skin cancer and
twelve benign disease groups. This formative testing on historical
data suggested an accurate detection of melanoma from 12 various
benign skin diseases of 91 percent on dermoscopy images, and 83
percent on clinical photography images.
"Melanomas are often missed in routine skin checks, as doctors
don't always have the technology or skills to recognize them,
particularly in the early stages. Our aim at MoleMap is to detect
melanoma earlier and more accurately, so partnering with IBM and
using its cognitive capabilities to help drive this forward made
perfect sense for us. We're looking forward to seeing what we can
achieve together to help fight this deadly disease," said
Adrian Bowling, CEO of MoleMap.
Since 1997 MoleMap has seen more than 200,000 patients and assessed
more than 6 million lesions through 50 clinics across New Zealand, Australia and the
United States.
The planned research aims to scale and test this
performance. Melanoma Institute Australia and MoleMap will
help IBM Research to further train and validate the algorithms to
help improve the understanding and identification of early stages
of melanoma, which could help to improve patient care.
Dr. Joanna Batstone, Vice
President and Lab Director, IBM Research – Australia said, "Cognitive computing has the
ability to process vast amounts of complex data including images
and text very quickly, something that isn't possible by current
manual methods. Another major benefit of the self-learning
technology is that it improves as more and more data is fed into
it. This initiative could inform future research and, potentially,
the development of offerings that could have enormous implications
for both the Australian public and the health system."
The news further complements IBM's existing research into skin
cancer image analysis with the world's oldest and largest private
cancer center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
the United States.
About IBM Research – Australia:
For more information about
IBM Research, visit www.ibm.com/labs/australia, or follow
@IBMResearch on Twitter.
About Melanoma Institute Australia
Melanoma Institute
Australia is a non-profit, non-government Australian organization
dedicated to preventing and curing melanoma by pioneering advances
in research and treatment that are making a difference to the lives
of patients today. Find out more at www.melanoma.org.au.
About MoleMap
MoleMap is one of the world's largest
melanoma screening programs having managed the risk of over 200,000
patients across Australia,
New Zealand and the USA. By combining proprietary imaging and
tele-health technologies with a validated clinical procedure that
in turn is linked to a global pool of melanoma experts, MoleMap is
able to offer its customers peace of mind that they will pick up
melanoma at the earliest possible stage.
1 All statements regarding IBM's future direction and
intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and
represents goals and objections only.
2 Skin Cancer in Australia: Our National Cancer, Report on the
Inquiry into Skin Cancer in Australia, House of Representatives, Standing
Committee on Health, March 2015
Contact:
Sandra McMullan
IBM Media Relations
ANZsmullan@au1.ibm.com
61-7-301 38540
Adrienne Sabilia
IBM Media Relations
acsabili@us.ibm.com
914-945-1402
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibm-announces-two-new-partnerships-with-melanoma-institute-australia-and-molemap-to-advance-research-in-melanoma-identification-300290681.html
SOURCE IBM