As of: February 26, 2024, 7:34 p.m
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Discovers the smallest polyps: Dr.
Jochen Dresel (r.) explains the new AI-supported endoscopy device to Max Wagner (l.) and Urban Schaidhauf from the “Otto Hellmeier Foundation”.
© Vroni Mahnkopf
The Weilheim hospital has an innovative examination instrument: a colonoscopy device supported by artificial intelligence that detects the smallest precancerous lesions of colon cancer.
It has been in use since January - and has already been superior to the eyes of the medical profession many times over.
Weilheim
– Dr.
Jochen Dresel has been flirting with such a device for a long time.
But the hospital GmbH's tight finances left no room for maneuver.
This is what the chief physician and head of the Weilheim Gastroenterological Center says when presenting the new endoscopy device.
“That’s why it was great when the offer from the Otto Hellmeier Foundation came,” remembers the doctor.
They completely financed the new 35,000 euro device for colonoscopies - and thus made a generous gift to the Weilheim hospital.
Generous gift for the hospital
How valuable it is, explained Dr.
Dresel representatives of the foundation at the demonstration in the hospital.
The endoscopy device has a decisive advantage over common devices: it looks and thinks for itself, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI).
While the examining doctor scans the intestine from top to bottom with the camera tube, the AI compares over 50,000 images of polyps stored as files - they can develop into colon cancer - with the live image.
If the live image and the diagnostic image match, a message appears on the examination screen.
Now the doctor can take a closer look - and, if necessary, remove the polyp straight away.
Of course, experienced doctors like the Weilheimer discovered most polyps even without AI, says Dresel.
“But it’s only human that even the smallest findings are overlooked.” We’re talking about polyps three to four millimeters in size.
Tiny, but potentially dangerous because they can develop into colon cancer.
The detection rate of these mini polyps is over 20 percent higher thanks to AI, says Dresel.
It was only shortly before the presentation that the new system discovered a polyp during a colonoscopy, which Dresel was able to remove.
He wouldn't have seen it with the naked eye.
Often invisible to the naked eye
It is no coincidence that Weilheim now has such an innovative device.
“Due to the restructuring within the GmbH, our focus is increasingly in Weilheim,” said Dresel.
And here we have a “supply mandate with university standards”.
There is currently no clinic in the wider area that has such an examination tool, said press spokeswoman Petra Hunger.
“It’s great for Weilheim that we can offer something like this.”
Of course, this is especially great for the patients.
Anyone can register for an endoscopy at the Weilheim Hospital; it is not reserved for women and men who are already in the hospital.
However: “The dates are currently in May,” says Dresel.
If it were possible to acquire more endoscopy nurses, appointments could be offered more quickly.
Every patient who comes to the Weilheim hospital for an endoscopy is examined with the new device.
“When he comes,” says Dresel.
And adds emphatically: “Because you have to go for colon cancer screening!”
Vroni Mahnkopf