Artificial intelligence

An artificial intelligence revolution

Advances in healthcare technology are powering personalized medicine — in real time.

^{Brooke manages her condition using a Medtronic device.}

For millions of people around the world, managing a complex and challenging health condition can be a struggle. Not only do diseases like cancer, hypertension, and diabetes exact heavy personal tolls, they also contribute to soaring global healthcare costs.

But it doesn’t have to stay this way.

Through developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, medical devices are advancing chronic disease management by empowering clinicians to personalize medicine like never before. These technologies provide revelatory insights into individual patients, in real time.

Technology that adapts to your lifestyle

Think how easy it is to order an item on Amazon. You click a few buttons and a package arrives the next day. Patients expect healthcare to deliver similar benefits that technology brings to other parts of their lives. That’s why we’re accelerating the development of life-transforming technologies that can help patients manage their conditions. By harnessing the power of AI, data analytics, and sensors, our medical devices are helping clinicians create individualized treatment plans to achieve better outcomes for more people in more places. From the world’s first hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system to robotic-assisted surgery, these devices are ushering in a new era in patient care.

It’s not sci-fi, it’s AI

Artificial intelligence plays a major role in our daily lives. It does everything from dictate content in our social media feeds to enable digital assistants like Siri and Alexa. And now, AI is becoming an integral part of healthcare because of advances in computing and sensing technologies, the expansion of available data, and the creation of better algorithms. As we continue to unlock the continuous data our devices and therapies generate, AI and machine learning are increasingly important tools at Medtronic. That's why we're adding innovative AI technologies to our research and design capabilities. Already, AI plays a pivotal role in the company's robotic-assisted surgery platforms, colonoscopy and endoscopy systems, and insulin pumps. Recently, we launched the only FDA cleared “smart” insulin pen that integrates glucose sensor data, putting the power of AI to work for patients with type 1 diabetes who rely on multiple daily injections. The future of healthcare has arrived.

GI Genius screen

How a Medtronic “Genius” is fighting cancer

Colorectal cancer is highly treatable if it’s detected early. But that’s the problem; it’s not always easy to catch. Enter the GI Genius™ intelligent endoscopy module, the only commercially available computer-aided detection system using AI to identify colorectal polyps during a colonoscopy. The system works by scanning every visual frame of the procedure in real time and alerting physicians to the presence of lesions — including small, flat polyps that can easily go undetected by the human eye. In other words, it helps detect the undetected. And to increase access to the screening technology for people in underserved communities across the United States, the Medtronic Health Equity Assistance Program is working with the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy with support from Amazon Web Services to give more patients a better chance of survival. “The crisis of health inequities cannot be solved without expanding access to healthcare technologies that put people first,” explains Medtronic Chairman and CEO Geoff Martha.

Big data closes gaps in diabetes care

For patients with type 1 diabetes, a “one size fits all” approach to treatment doesn’t really work given the highly variable way people metabolize food. For years, clinicians struggled to personalize treatments to avoid the extreme sugar highs and lows associated with diabetes. Then Medtronic launched the world’s first hybrid closed-loop insulin delivery system, a game-changing technology that puts people first by delivering insulin based on continuous glucose monitoring. It is one of our smart devices capable of analyzing continuous streams of data and quickly making necessary adjustments.

So how do our devices “know” how the body will react to certain therapies? By combining computer models and real-world data, our engineers are building virtual representations, or “digital twins,” of some devices to predict how they will respond in the human body under various circumstances.

With the introduction of artificial intelligence applied to our medical devices, the possibility for improving patient lives has reached an entirely new level. We are experiencing where the impossible is becoming possible right now.”

–Bob White, Executive Vice President and President, Medical Surgical Portfolio at Medtronic

Real-time response

By measuring things like blood oxygen saturation, respiration, and heart rate, sensors can help clinicians understand how the body is functioning at any given time. Sensing technology and solutions with machine pattern recognition, such as continuous glucose monitoring and cardiac pacing, can promote rapid and accurate readings, which aid in early detection. In some of our implantable devices, sensors are used without human intervention, collecting data to adjust performance to each patient's needs. For example, our smallest pacemaker — the world's smallest, in fact — features sensing algorithms to detect irregular cardiac rhythms.

Technology fuels personalized medicine

No two patients are ever the same, even if they have the same illness. Everyone deserves personalized treatment. Artificial intelligence, sensing technology, and data analytics can help streamline clinical decision making to improve patient outcomes.

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