Medtronic wins VA contract to install AI-powered endoscopy units

Dive Brief:

Medtronic has received a contract to install almost 100 more artificial intelligence-powered endoscopy units for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the company said Monday.
The three-year contract expands Medtronic’s work with the VA to cover the installation of additional GI Genius colonoscopy modules at medical centers across the U.S.
GI Genius provides real-time computer-aided polyp detection to support colonoscopies. The AI analyzes images captured during colorectal cancer screening and flags potential polyps.

Dive Insight:

Medtronic trained and validated GI Genius using videos of histologically confirmed polyps. The company confirmed the potential of the technology in a randomized trial that reported results in 2020. Detection of adenomas, benign growths that can turn cancerous, was higher in procedures that used the AI.

The Food and Drug Administration authorized GI Genius in 2021.

The VA agreed to install 115 GI Genius units in 2022. Medtronic said in Monday’s announcement that its work with the department now covers more than 360 GI Genius units. The company has installed the modules at more than 140 VA facilities in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

The investment in the units reflects the scale of the colorectal screening operation overseen by the VA, which carries out around 250,000 colonoscopies a year. In 2019, the VA said it diagnoses 4,000 cases of colon cancer a year.

Traditional colonoscopies can miss cancers and adenomas. A retrospective study of more than 700,000 patients published in 2022 linked higher adenoma detection rates to significantly lower risks of colorectal cancer and death. The median adenoma detection rate in that study was 28.3%. Medtronic’s randomized trial linked GI Genius to a detection rate of 54.8%, compared to 40.4% in the control group.

The AI-powered endoscopy unit is part of a broader push into AI at Medtronic. Last week, the company disclosed a study that is using Tempus’ Next platform to find patients who are eligible for interventions such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement.