HCM City (VNS/VNA) — The Ministry of Health has chosen threehospitals to pilot the IBM Watson for Oncology, an artificialintelligence (AI)-driven clinical decision support system.

The hospitals are HCM City Oncology Hospital, National K(Cancer) Hospital in Hanoi, and Phu Tho Province General Hospital.

The IBM Watson for Oncology system is used at 230 hospitals in 13 countries including the US, China, India,the Republic of Korea and Thailand, according to the HCM City Department ofHealth.

IBM Watson operates with the professional expertise ofexperts from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre, which specialises incancer research and treatment in the US.

The system contains more than 100 million medical records, 30 billion photos,15 million medical quotes and more than 40 million research materials.

It helps doctors quickly identify key information in apatient’s medical record, surface relevant evidence, and explore treatmentoptions. The system, which helps doctors offer protocols for optimal treatmentof each patient, is used for 13 kinds of cancer.

Dr Pham Xuan Dung, the head of the HCM City OncologyHospital, said: “The system improves effectiveness in treatment at thehospital,” which uses it for breast and colorectal cancer cases.

Dr Vo Duc Hieu, head of the hospital’s division for professional training, saidthe system had been used in 103 breast cancer cases and 126 colorectal cancercases at the hospital.

The degree of similarity between clinical protocols prescribed by the systemand the hospital’s own protocols was 80.3 percent.

“The system is used to treat most stages of breast and colorectalcancers,” he added.

It also helps doctors learn about the latest new treatment protocols, andlimits shortcomings in treatment, according to the hospital’s council ofexperts. Chemotherapy and endocrine protocols are included in the system.

However, the database for the system in the US is in English and has not beentranslated into Vietnamese.

“So the system cannot replace doctors who make decisions for treatment in realsituations,” the hospital’s council of experts said.

Hieu said the system often prescribed targeted drugs for HER2-positive breastcancer. These drugs work by targeting HER2 proteins or markers on or withincancer cells that promote cell growth.   

HER2, a human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 gene, can play a role in thedevelopment of breast cancer.

“Most breast cancer patients treated at the hospital do not have finances thatfit this system,” Hieu said. Several new drugs, for example, are not availablein the country and their health insurance does not cover this system.

The IBM Watson Oncology system prescribes fewer radiotherapy sessions than thehospital’s existing protocols. “The hospital needs to upgrade itsfacilities and equipment to be able to effectively apply the system,” Dungsaid.

"In addition, doctors and other health staff need to be trained so theycan make a decision on which protocol to choose."

The hospital has asked the Ministry of Health to set prices on the use of AIfor counseling and treatment and determine the percentage of health insurancecoverage.

AI is now being used for researching electronic medical records in the healthsector, and the country’s database is updated once a month. 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer’s 2018 GLOBOCAN report foundthat new cancer cases worldwide had risen to 18.1 million in 2018, including9.6 million deaths.

Cancers of the lung, breast, colorectal, prostate and stomach were the mostcommon.
Speaking at a conference held late last year,Dr Nguyen Trieu Vu, head of the Thu Duc District Hospital’s oncologydepartment, said Vietnam had 164,000 new cancer cases each year, with 114,000 fatalitiesannually.-VNS/VNA