ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Carestream Health announced a partnership with Israel-based Zebra Medical Vision, a company that is surging ahead in the area of Deep Learning and the automated analysis of diagnostic images.

Zebra Medical has developed algorithms that can diagnose scans for problems in the area of bone health and fatty liver, and soon expects to release systems for the heart, lungs and the brain. Its solutions are already being used by centres in the United States to screen for osteoporosis and other ailments.

For its part, Carestream has set up pilot projects with Zebra Medical in France and California; the projects are further testing the technology.

Zebra Medical’s algorithms can be included in studies when patients have X-rays for various problems. “Why not run an algorithm for osteoporosis at the same time,” commented Cristine Kao (pictured), Carestream’s global marketing director. “You can then treat the patient and prevent him or her from suffering a serious injury in the future.”

Carestream is adding the Zebra software to its Clinical Collaboration Platform to help healthcare providers manage high-risk patients by targeting conditions such as osteoporotic fractures, high coronary calcium levels, emphysema and fatty liver tissue. Zebra software also can be used as a real-time assistant to help radiologists avoid missed diagnoses and increase consistency.

“Our goal is to equip healthcare providers with imaging analytics that can expedite early detection to help improve patient care. A holistic approach to analytics is the only way to achieve value-based imaging,” said Ludovic D’Aprea, Carestream’s general manager for healthcare information solutions. “That’s why we incorporated Zebra’s image-based analytics into Carestream’s existing real-time business dashboard and dose monitoring solutions.”

“We are enthusiastic about this global reseller agreement since many national government healthcare programs, large integrated health delivery networks and value-based health organizations currently use Carestream’s enterprise imaging platform. Adding Zebra analytics software to Carestream’s Clinical Collaboration Platform can bring immediate value to these providers,” said Elad Benjamin, CEO of Zebra Medical Vision.

Carestream Health has a separate project using Deep Learning in dictation and transcription, to catch errors in text reports. The project is being conducted at the University of Virginia, and it’s able to find mistakes and contradictions in reports that may lead to confusion.