After conventional methods of detection failed, a team of Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo's Institute of Medical Science used IBM Watson to successfully diagnose a 60 year-old woman where physicians were unable to, according to NDTV.
The patient was initially diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, but treatments for that condition proved ineffective. Watson was able to identify the more rare form of leukemia she suffered from and ultimately provide a different, more successful form of treatment, according to the report.
Artificial intelligence systems like IBM Watson may still be a ways off from being regularly used in hospitals, as they require large amounts of comparative data, according to Engadget. However, when given access to that type of information, AI systems can work quickly — Watson produced the accurate diagnosis for the Japanese patient after comparing her genetic data against a database of 20 million researcher papers in just ten minutes.