IBM predicts brain aneurysms

IBM and its long-time research partners at the Mayo Clinic are using predictive analytics to increase the speed and accuracy of detecting deadly brain aneurysms and have achieved successful detection rates of 95%, up from 70% via manual interpretation, reports InformationWeek.

Bill Rapp, chief technology officer of healthcare and life sciences for IBM, said IBM and Mayo hope to use the same approach for other radiology detection tests such as the diagnosis of cancer or vessel anomalies in other parts of the body.

As IBM's aggressive expansion of its business and predictive analytics tools and capabilities has been going on for the past few years, the discussion of the value generated by such software has been largely focused on business results: carrying less inventory, predicting which customers might be ready to switch suppliers, improving logistics, and more.

Epic Systems has unveiled an iPhone app for secure, mobile access to electronic medical records, states Flesh and Stone.

Called Haiku, the app is a free download on iTunes for registered users of Epic's Summer 2009 EMR release, but users also must work for an organisation that licenses Haiku.

It was reported several months ago that Epic was testing an iPhone app at Stanford Hospital & Clinics, but neither Epic nor Apple would comment.

Philips has announced a 1% decline in comparable sales in its healthcare sector despite strong growth in emerging markets, says E-Health Europe.

The company reported sales of EUR2.4 billion (R25.6 billion) in Q4 2009, compared to EUR2.6 billion (R27.7 billion) in Q4 2008. However, the company's earnings before interest, tax and amortisation increased from EUR343 million (R3.6 billion) in Q4 2008 to EUR452 million (R4.8 billion) in Q4 2009.

Philips said that higher orders of imaging systems, clinical care systems, and healthcare informatics were driven by international markets, while declines in its North American market were less severe than in previous quarters.