Lung Watcher

Globally, each year, more people die from lung cancer than from colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined. It is one of the 3 types of cancer of highest incidence, with smoking being the largest risk factor for developing this disease. 

The Valle de Aburrá region has a population of around 4 million people and the highest incidence of lung cancer in Colombia, along with high smoking rates. Here, we have found what we call the “paradox of opportunity”: although health insurance coverage is almost 100% and the incidence is the highest in the country, there is a lack of screening programs for early detection of lung cancer, which results in ⅔ of the patients being diagnosed with lung cancer when they are already in the advanced stages of the disease, where their chances for survival are the lowest. For patients diagnosed with locally advanced cancer, the survival rate is 28%, while for patients with advanced cancer, it is only 4%. 

LungWatcher is a screening program that uses Artificial Intelligence for the early detection of lung cancer. This app identifies high-risk patients through a Risk Calculator that will reach the Antioquian population through a massive campaign. According to the risk and inclusion criteria, the patient is enrolled in a screening program which consists of patients getting an annual low-dose chest CT scan, where images are analyzed by quantitative imaging software. 

If a patient’s Lung-RADS indicator is higher than 4, the patient gets a PET-CT scan and a minimally invasive local biopsy to assess their diagnosis more closely.

If lung cancer is confirmed after the PET-CT and biopsy, the patient enters the follow-up and treatment adherence digital component of Lung Watcher. 

If no disease is detected, the high-risk patients continue getting an annual low dose chest CT scan. In addition, both low-risk and high risk patients are enrolled into a smoking cessation Virtual Reality program and diagnosed lung cancer patients are monitored digitally.

In a nutshell, LungWatcher brings together screening, monitoring, treatment adherence and smoking cessation programs in a single digital app, powered by data and A.I. 

Lung cancer is one of the cancer types with highest incidence in the region. Because there are no comprehensive screening programs for the high-risk population in Antioquia, Colombia, this platform will benefit the entire population's health. 

We aim to decrease the percentage of cases diagnosed at an advanced stage, discovering more cases when they can be treated and before they turn critical, while improving survival rates for patients diagnosed with lung cancer. 

Our solution also benefits patients' health by improving adherence to treatment, while also providing valuable information to the health providers about the treatment and its actual effects when followed accordingly. 

It can also benefit insurance companies, due to the fact that it is in their best interest to screen for serious diseases and treat patients as soon as possible.

Auna ideas is a healthtech-focused innovation hub with high influence that has crafted this solution based on two of our core values: innovation and empathy. We have partnered with important stakeholders, global and regional, like AWS and the Regional Health and Social Protection Secretary, a governmental entity that aims at improving healthcare and population health for the Antioquian Region. These entities are interested in participating in a project like LungWatcher due to the impact it could have on public health.  

Our team comprises medical doctors, biomedical engineers, and tech specialists who have ample experience developing and scaling health tech products and services to the Latin-American market. Therefore, we feel prepared for the challenge and are convinced that our solution could be deployed if we gather the necessary resources and support.

We are looking for academic, scientific, and technological partners who will work with us on this high-impact solution, which could be deployed in different countries and for different types of cancer. We are interested in joining the MIT Solve network of impact-minded leaders, as well as receiving strategic advice, mentorship, guidance, and evaluation support from them.

Our solution is innovative because it introduces a comprehensive digital screening program for lung cancer, currently unavailable in Colombia. We combine screening, a smoking cessation program, patient monitoring, and treatment adherence in a unique, patient-centric platform, which will help reduce the mortality rates of lung cancer, increasing prevention closely as a massive public health policy. We incorporate technologies used worldwide to create a more efficient, patient-centric platform. Existing alternatives worldwide consist of regular screening programs provided by insurance companies; however, there is no adequate opportunity to access this type of service. LungWatcher engages the patient in a screening program, automating the schedule and creating a complete data set for prevention and follow-up. This kind of solution allows different stakeholders to close the loop of care.

We estimate four months to develop the software and do the required systems integrations.  By September 2022, we hope to launch the first patient recruitment program. The following six months will consist of the MVP deployment, in which we hope to reach around 3-4k patients.

In 2023, we aim to ally with more hospitals, clinics, and insurance companies to provide patients with more options to get their imaging examinations and finance them.  We aim to extend this solution to other cities and countries in Latin America with similar problems and sell our platform as a service for insurance companies in the following years. 

To achieve these goals, we consider measuring the following key indicators:

• Number of patients who assessed their risk of having lung cancer through the Risk Calculator.

• Number of patients enrolled in the screening program.

• Percentage of patients that attend their annual chest CTs.

• Number of patients enrolled in the smoking cessation Virtual Reality program.

• Number of patients with a successful outcome on the smoking cessation program six months after enrollment

• Percentage of adults in designated population smoking daily.

• Number of patients enrolled in the treatment monitoring component.

• Percentage of lung cancer patients diagnosed in early stages. 

We know that the population in this region of Colombia is in high need of a supporting healthcare system that will offer cancer screening programs. The desired end state would be a population with an early lung cancer diagnosis and immediate treatment and monitoring to support patients in their journey.  

The inputs or levers in our system are the technological platform, the availability of hospitals for the scans, and the medical staff to conduct these scans and evaluate the results. The program's cost is another lever, but it will not be in our control during the pilot project. Once the pilot project is successful, we might be able to influence insurance plans to cover our screening program.

The outputs to these levers are a closely monitored population for lung cancer so that if it appears, it can be treated in its early stages. Another output would be a self-sustainable model. We can offer this platform massively to the population while also benefiting health systems and hospitals that offer our program, engaging patients with them early. Finally, another output might relate to public health, lowering the mortality rate of lung cancer in this region.  

The system will have short-term effects or outcomes and longer-term effects. Short-term outcomes might include an increase in the number of people diagnosed with early-stage lung cancer and, as a result, faster access to treatment. This outcome could be measured very easily if we had a baseline measurement. Long-term outcomes might be a healthier population with lower mortality rates for lung cancer in this area. 

Finally, the technological platform could have a long-term impact on data for patient adherence and results for treatments for diseases like lung cancer since our solution will incorporate a monitoring component for patients diagnosed with lung cancer. 

LungWatcher incorporates Artificial Intelligence and Health Data into a screening and patient monitoring program. Our Risk Calculator considers the patient's habits, age, sex, and other basic parameters to provide an accurate risk assessment.

For patients that want to quit smoking, we will be integrating a Virtual Reality Immersive program for smoking cessation. This program, clinically validated and created by licensed psychologists, guides them to control their habits.

Patients enrolled in our screening program will perform annual chest CT examinations; these images will be uploaded to our platform and analyzed with Artificial Intelligence by the quantitative imaging software and validated by expert radiologists in chest imaging.

Our Artificial Intelligence engine classifies the results following the Lung-RADS indicator; if this indicator is higher than 4, the patient is recommended to get a PET-CT scan and minimally invasive local biopsy to assess their diagnosis more closely.

These scans can also be loaded onto our platform, where the doctor can register the treatment recommended for the patient.

According to the type of treatment, the recommendations and patient follow-up questions vary, and with the quantitative imaging software, we can detect tumor shrinkage automatically. All of this, combined with the patient monitoring component, will help the patient adhere to the treatment and the physician to evaluate the results more accurately. 

We incorporate diversity into our work with our interdisciplinary team, composed of people of diverse backgrounds, including medical doctors as well as engineers, with the common goal of improving healthcare by creating human-centered solutions through open innovation. Auna Ideas is an equal employment opportunity employer, where team members are selected based on merit and qualifications instead of sex, race, age, religion, or other, providing people of all backgrounds equal participation in our projects. 

LungWatcher is a solution with a high impact on public health. Our software-based solution offers a technological approach for screening programs that will be sold as a service to public and private hospitals and health organizations, which will offer their patients more options for preventing disease, leading to better outcomes in their health.  

Our value proposition software includes an Artificial Intelligence engine and a health data layer that helps to differentiate our model from traditional screening programs. Additionally, our technology helps to reduce medical labor and increase patient adherence to screening and monitoring programs.

Our software-based solution offers a technological approach for screening programs and will be sold as a service to public and private hospitals and health organizations, which will offer their patients more options for preventing disease, leading to better outcomes in their health. Therefore, the number of health systems and organizations that make use of our platform is directly related to the number of people with access to lung cancer screening programs and better prevention for this disease.

We have not received any funding yet.