This is actually very good to compile cancer data and we can certainly learn from it.  The process will take a while as the data has to be fed in.  When used for diagnosis knowledge, patient input, drugs, and so forth this is great.  Even big data has the same issues though as what we have used for years and that is being assured of what data you load as it’s still a machine.  At the end of 2011 it was also announced that on the west coast that Cedar Sinai was going to explore the system for the same or similar purposes. 

Wellpoint to Bankroll Use of IBM Watson at Cedar Sinai Medical Center to Research Cancer Data/Information To Provide Guidance for Physiciansimage

For research this is great but hold your breath before bringing in the coding and billing portions of all of this as that’s where caution is needed.  If you read the news today how many stories, and there are tons of them with coding, billing and reimbursement thus if one leaves the work of Watson to research and clinical areas without that mess, we might have some good intellectual break throughs.  I commented on that a while back as when you have multiple layers of new code running through the machine does what it learns and is taught and you run close of getting to a bottomless pit at times, but again for research and clinical use this is a good deal. 

Machine Learning Software Working Behind the Scenes Should Move With Caution in Healthcare-Writing the Unreadable With Rogue Algorithms With No Human Intervention

As the article states it’s going to be a while before the Watson processes are going to be available for use and data integrity along with credibility is going to be key in the preparation.  On the other side of the coin though in the financial areas, something for consumers to be aware of with big data as nobody checks the math of banks and a lot of the big investment firms so more place to hide code to enable desired results more so than accurate results as we know what happens when money is involved.  The SEC certainly is going to need some “big data” capabilities soon or as consumers we are sunk.     

IBM Watson Going to Work At Citigroup on Wall Street–Congress Didn’t See Big Data As A Tool (Hadoop Framework) When They Had Their Chance…For Consumers The Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Chapter 22

When left to it’s own, and not regulated and audited, we get what I have written about below with formulas running a muck and hurting consumers.  BD

Attack of the Killer Algorithms–Digest & Links for All Chapters–See How the Math and Crafty Formulas Today Running on Servers 24/7 Make Life Impacting Decisions About You

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — The medical training of IBM’s speedy Watson computer will continue with a residency at a renowned Manhattan cancer hospital.

IBM and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center said Thursday that they will add the latest in oncology research — and the hospital’s accumulated experience — to Watson’s vast knowledge base, and keep updating it.

Watson will be fed textbooks, medical journals and — with permission — individual medical records. Then it will be tested with more and more complicated cancer scenarios and assessed with the help of an advisory panel, Kohn said. It’s expected to speedily suggest diagnoses and recommend treatments, ranking several alternatives.

Watson can even be instructed about individual patient preferences, Kohn said. When evaluating treatments, for example, it could take into account that a patient feels strongly about not losing her hair.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ibms-famed-watson-computer-to-be-trained-in-cancer-to-diagnose-treat-patients-at-ny-hospital/2012/03/22/gIQA2RPtSS_story.html

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