Bausch & Lomb, IBM Develop App To Assist Cataract Surgeons
Bausch & Lomb is working with IBM to develop a mobile app that will manage electronic patient data before, during, and after cataract surgery. The app is expected to help surgeons streamline their operating rooms and make more informed decisions regarding replacement artificial lenses.
Conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure, or excessive sun exposure, can cause the eye’s lens to cloud up over time, forming a cataract on the surface of the eye that can be corrected surgically by replacing the lens with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). To plan and perform these surgeries, doctors must analyze months, if not years, of patient data and up-to-the-minute clinical research manually.
The app proposed by Bausch & Lomb and IBM would collect and house the patient’s data and use IBM’s machine learning and Watson’s analytics capabilities to make the app cognitive. By analyzing the patient’s data — including corneal measurements and lifestyle information — the app will provide personalized IOL options and intuitive feedback that could be brought into the operating room on an iPad or iPhone, according to a press release.
“Bausch & Lomb has identified a significant need in the ophthalmic community and the new app we create will equip ophthalmologists with the data they need at their fingertips to help them make more informed decisions for their patients,” said Mahmoud Nagshineh, GM of the Apple partnership at IBM.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that cataracts are responsible for 51 percent of the world’s blind population. As advances in medicine extend life expectancy, the number of patients with cataracts is expected to increase. According to the National Eye Institute, the number of Americans with cataracts will double from 24 million to 50 million by 2050.
A pilot program that will test the app is set to launch in late 2016, according to the press release.
In recent years, IBM has teamed up with powerful players in the med tech industry — including Novo Nordisk and Medtronic — to broaden its foothold in the healthcare analytics business, currently growing at an exponential rate. According to Terrel Marks, global apple partnership lead, healthcare and life sciences at IBM, healthcare data is doubling every two years, which gives clinicians unprecedented access and insight into the most challenging health conditions.
“Through our partnership with Apple, we have an entire suite of apps for nurses and doctors to streamline workflow…Watson technologies are helping clinicians sift through structured and unstructured information from clinical data, genomics, and medical literature to help deliver evidence-based, personalized care,” said Marks in an interview with Computer World.
Bausch & Lomb is a subsidiary of Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which purchased the eye business in 2013 for $8.7 billion. Recent turmoil for Valeant has led some to question if it might be looking to sell Bausch & Lomb to offset some of its debt, according to Bloomberg.