Sometimes I feel that I spend a lot of time without writing in PH and when I manage to do it, it is a pleasure for me, I am glad to know that many will read this publication and will like the content in some way.

But today's topic is quite serious, during this week I have talked with different people in the workplace and the common factor that they have mentioned is the problems of the gastric system and in particular they mention suffering from some discomfort in the colon, obviously the first thing that What we do is attribute it to our work pace, the engineer is highly productive when he is "engineering" and creating, so breakfast, lunch and dinner can be limited to many cups of coffee and some water, and when he can really eat, junk food is the first option, in no way is this right, we are all aware but it continues and will continue to happen.

When suggesting a colleague to have a gastroscopy and colonoscopy, he felt fear about the procedure and the possible results, which is normal, nobody wants to go through that, and this motivated him to today's post, while we convince the colon to go to a doctor, I will write about what I know so far about the use of Artificial Intelligence in colon cancer detection.

From AI we can extract a few technological applications such as the cameras used in gastroscopies and colonoscopies; and the robotic arms for taking samples that will be submitted to biopsies, we already know this from the analog era to its current development, we also know that they are invasive procedures that require prior preparation of the patient and an analysis of imaging and extracted samples.

Worse if we think of the same invasive procedures with current technology, if we can also think that their effectiveness in detecting cancer, polyps, ulcers, conditions and other conditions is considerable and even greater than before.

I am surprised by what technology brings to us in this opportunity and it is an "endoscopic capsule", just a capsule that the patient must take for "the magic to happen".

The "endoscopic capsule" consists of a simple capsule like the ones we already know as common medications, but it is equipped with an electronic device such as an integrated card capable of going through the stomach tract until it reaches the colorectal tract, gathering information through images and support of "Deep learning" that is transmitted in real time to a computer and even to the patient's own smartphone.

The information collected and processed by this "endoscopic capsule" is based on images that are interpreted, and since "Deep learning" is an intelligence programmed to make judgments, criteria, diagnoses and determine conditions, the data obtained through this study They are so far pretty accurate.

The great advantage is that the uncomfortable procedures that involve the nasogastric tube with a small camera at the end are avoided, the painful sample extraction procedure is avoided, and the use of anesthesia is not necessary, it is only enough to “take the endoscopic capsule”.

Another of the great advantages is that patients, by no longer being afraid of this type of physical examination, will be able to respond to the doctor's call when it is necessary to undergo the corresponding examinations, and in this way the detection of any condition, illness or disease will be earlier.

I can say that this technological advance will be more effective than expected, and early detection of diseases in the digestive system is a great need considering that extreme cases such as stomach and colon cancer are very difficult to treat when the disease has advanced significantly without any timely detection and attention.

And obviously, being an engineer, I also know that this method of diagnosis using an "endoscopic capsule" as an exploratory procedure is not definitive, another identification and diagnosis mechanism will always be necessary, but it is undoubtedly a great advance.

More information on this topic here