Konyang University Hospital said Thursday the concordance rate of gastric cancer with IBM “Watson for Oncology” stood at only 50 percent, suggesting that doctors’ treatment techniques are ahead of Watson in gastric cancer.

According to a news release from the hospital, Konyang has applied Watson to 279 cancer patients since its introduction in April. The total breaks down into 142 cases of breast cancer, 37 cases of lung cancer, 63 cases of colorectal and rectal cancer, 20 cases of ovarian and uterine cancer, 12 cases of gastric cancer, and five cases of prostate and bladder cancer.

Overall, it recorded more than 90 percent concordance rate between the treatment plan of the primary care physician and the patients' reliability, and treatment satisfaction was high.

On the other hand, however, the concordance rate of stomach cancer was found to be 50 percent, which is more prevalent in Korea than in the West, indicating the medical data that Watson learned focus on the U.S. and other Western countries.

Konyang University Hospital has found the concordance rate of gastric cancer with IBM “Watson for Oncology” stands at only 50 percent, suggesting that doctors’ treatment techniques excel Watson in this tumor, which is more prevalent among Koreans than Westerners.

Although Watson's medical accuracy and efficacy have not yet been proven causing concerns among some medical workers, it is clear that Watson provides optimal treatment based on vast medical evidence increases the confidence in medical staff and patients, the hospital said.

The artificial intelligence healthcare field is expected to be the key to propose a solution to aging, which is the most significant issue in the healthcare field. It can improve the quality of medical care, lower the cost, and lower the threshold of medical institutions to strengthen the publicity, it emphasized.

However, there remains the task of improving and developing the current Watson according to the characteristics of each country.

“Just as nurses are doing what doctors did in the past, Watson can diagnose the patient's disease more precisely and optimally treat it," said Yoon Dae-sung_윤대성, director of the Cancer Center of Konyang University Hospital. "It is the role of the physician to train Watson, and the physician is also responsible for moral judgment based on love for the patient."

Kim Jong-yeop_김종엽, public relations chief of Konyang University Hospital, also said, “The goal is not to stay in the introduction of Watson but to develop advanced artificial intelligence healthcare technology and to protect the patient's life.”

Konyang University Hospital is also planning to open a second hospital that can provide precision medical services utilizing robot surgery and artificial intelligence by 2020, he added.

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