USA – Medtronic, together with its partners, has expanded its Health Equity Assistance Program for colon cancer screening in medically underserved communities across the US.
As part of the expanded program, Medtronic is increasing the number of GI Genius units to be distributed from 50 to 133 systems, which are being installed across 62 facilities.
The Health Equity Assistance Program was launched by Medtronic and the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy in February 2022, according to a news release.
Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia was the first to receive its donated GI Genius units last month following the launch of the program in February 2022.
Medtronic supplied the new units with support from Amazon’s Health Equity Initiative, a US$40 million program offering Amazon promotional credit and technical services to address global health disparities in underserved and underrepresented communities.
Geoff Martha, Medtronic chairman and chief executive officer said: “Equity in healthcare begins with ensuring access for all to life-transforming therapies.
It’s exciting to see how our new collaboration with AWS can help clinicians detect colon cancer early among some of the highest risk individuals in our country.”
As part of the expanded program, Medtronic is increasing the number of GI Genius units to be distributed from 50 to 133 systems, which are being installed across 62 facilities.
Gastroenterologists at Grady Memorial Hospital perform more than 7,000 colon cancer screening procedures each year among a predominantly Black community, Medtronic said.
Accounting for 80% of the specialty’s patient population, Black adults are disproportionately burdened by colon cancer, at greater risk of diagnosis, worse outcome and death.
Medtronic gastrointestinal business chief medical officer Austin Chiang said: “This initiative is so important because we know that almost half of all cases of post-colonoscopy colon cancer may be attributed to not catching polyps during the index colonoscopy.
“We have seen the impact that AI-assisted colonoscopies can have, and this study unequivocally demonstrates that this technology helps physicians better detect polyps during colonoscopies.
“The impact of missed polyps could ultimately be the difference between life and death when we consider that 90% of patients with colon cancer can beat it when it’s caught early.”
The US FDA authorized Medtronic’s GI Genius intelligent endoscopy module last year in April.
The GI Genius intelligent endoscopy module is an advanced computer-aided solution that helps physicians to detect colorectal polyps in real-time during colonoscopy.
Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the system automatically detects colorectal polyps in different shapes and sizes, to help diagnose and prevent colorectal cancer.
A study published earlier this year found that the use of GI Genius in conjunction with colonoscopy significantly decreases the miss rate (2x) of colorectal polyps and adenomas compared to standard colonoscopy.
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