AI precision medicine solution Dr. Answer 2.0 shines at HIMSS 2024

Dr. Answer 2.0, an AI-powered precision medicine solution developed as Korea’s national R&D project, garnered special attention at the 2024 HIMSS European Health Conference & Exhibition from May 29-31 in Rome, Italy, according to Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, the leading hospital of the project. 

Dr. Answer 2.0, one of the Korean government-led “Digital New Deal” projects, is designed to diagnose various diseases based on individuals’ health data. Led by SNUBH, the project involves 30 hospitals and 19 IT companies. 

The Dr. Answer 2.0 initiative aims to develop 24 pieces of AI software for 12 priority diseases, including pneumonia, liver disease, skin disease, depression, diabetes, hypertension, and liver cancer. 

These AI tools provide a range of functions, from personalized disease prediction to diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis management.

The HIMSS European Health Conference & Exhibition, organized by the U.S. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), is the world's largest and most prestigious international event for the healthcare IT industry. This global exhibition, held in various regions worldwide, showcases health exhibits and presentations by leading healthcare experts.

SNUBH said it ran an exhibition booth for Dr. Answer to showcase its nine AI software solutions related to depression, hypertension, liver cancer, skin diseases, and prostate hyperplasia. 

The depression prediction software forecasts the occurrence of depression based on interviews between patients and clinicians. It converts qualitative information, such as the patient's emotions and interview content, into quantitative data to measure the degree of depression and predict it in advance.

The exhibition booth also introduced software capable of analyzing daily blood pressure to predict hypertension and related complications. In addition to collecting and analyzing patients' daily blood pressure data and predicting future blood pressure and treatment outcomes, the Dr. Answer solution assesses the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases which are major complications of hypertension.

The software for liver cancer analyzes test results and imaging data from patients with chronic hepatitis B to predict their risk of developing liver cancer. Additionally, it evaluates data from patients who have undergone radical surgery for liver cancer to predict their risk of recurrence.

In addition, the Dr. Answer 2.0 booth demonstrated a variety of innovative software solutions, including hair density analysis software for establishing hair loss treatment plans, skin cancer differential diagnosis software by site, prostate hyperplasia diagnosis aid software, prostate hyperplasia prognosis prediction software, and surgery patient identification software.

“The fight against diseases has become more complicated in the wake of the pandemic, leading to a stronger demand for AI healthcare solutions,” said Professor Baek Rong-min, head of the Dr. Answer project unit at SNUBH. “Dr. Answer 2.0, which combines AI technology with health data, will become a new future model for digital healthcare. It supports the entire life cycle of healthcare, including not only treatment but also prediction, analysis, diagnosis, and prognosis management of diseases.”