IBM and Apple Partner with Bausch + Lomb to Launch Clinical App for Cataract Surgery

On May 5, foreign media reported thatIBMwill utilize andAppleThe company’s corporate partnership involves developing a clinical calculation app for cataract surgeons at Bausch + Lomb, a global eye health company.

The APP will be withIBMcombined with cognitive computing capabilities

In the initial phase, the app will focus on integrating all computational data, patient data, and prior surgical records to enhance the efficiency of surgeons’ workflows. The app was designed with future integration of IBM’s cognitive computing capabilities in mind.

With rapid population growth, the number of cataract patients is also on the rise. Currently, there are 20 million cataract patients worldwide, including 4 million in the United States. The current trend shows an increasing number of patients in need of assistance, while the number of doctors remains relatively limited. It is conceivable that each doctor will face a larger patient load in the coming years. How to improve efficiency has thus become a bottleneck for Bausch + Lomb.

During cataract surgery, surgeons must remove the patient’s cloudy lens and replace it with an artificial intraocular lens (IOL). Because each patient’s eye anatomy is unique, selecting the appropriate IOL requires extensive calculations, most of which are currently performed manually on paper. Bausch + Lomb has developed a calculation device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but it is not integrated with other components of the surgical workflow.

Andy Chang, Senior Vice President of Bausch + Lomb, stated, “What physicians currently do is first use instruments to diagnose patients and acquire ocular biometric data, then print out the results, and finally select the most suitable implant for the patient. Throughout this entire process, they have to perform extensive data calculations. All these calculations are done manually, not automatically. Therefore, our true motivation is to simplify the process and reduce the risk of errors.”

“IBM collaborates closely with other enterprises to provide mobile experiences that transform the way experts across various industries work. We look forward to mobile technology benefiting some of the world’s busiest physicians—cataract surgeons. Bausch + Lomb has identified significant needs within the ophthalmology community, and this app will deliver the data ophthalmologists require directly to their hands, helping them make better, more comprehensive decisions for their patients.”IBM'sAppleMahmoud Nagshineh, General Manager of Corporate Relations, stated.

Chang stated, “If we think from the customer’s perspective and consider mobile solutions from an industry standpoint, we must strive to do better—making it more convenient for our physicians and ultimately benefiting our patients. In this field, we can fundamentally, or at least significantly, improve the way physicians perform cataract surgery.”

Previously, IBM’s Watson Health division announced that it would provide 1 TB of storage space free of charge for three years to anyone conducting research using Apple’s ResearchKit.