NVIDIA And Johnson & Johnson MedTech Partner To Scale AI For Surgery!

The health of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry is performing at peak levels, especially for industry leader, NVIDIA.

The company recently breached the $2 trillion market capitalization ceiling. Where it took 24 years to reach $1 trillion, the company reached the second trillion in just 270 days! All this was courtesy of the generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) boom the world is enjoying.

However, that’s not the only industry NVIDIA is looking to revolutionize with its AI capabilities. Recently, we reported that the company was bringing GenAI to the robotics industry through its Project GR00T (Generalist Robot 00 Technology).

Now, the company is looking to improve and enhance the healthcare industry through its tie-up with Johnson & Johnson MedTech.

So, what did the two companies reveal and what improvements will their tie-up bring to the healthcare industry? Let’s explore!
 

What Did NVIDIA And Johnson & Johnson MedTech Announce?

 

• In a press release made by Johnson & Johnson MedTech on its website, the company announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with NVIDIA to accelerate and scale AI for Johnson & Johnson MedTech’s extensive surgical technologies portfolio.

• This includes supporting increased access to real-time analysis of AI algorithms for surgical decision-making, education and collaboration, along with its global availability across the connected operating room (OR).

• This will be done with the help of NVIDIA Clara, which is NVIDIA’s suite of computing platforms, software and services that powers AI solutions for healthcare and life sciences, from imaging and instruments to genomics and drug discovery.

• According to NVIDIA’s announcement of the same partnership, “J&J MedTech is working with NVIDIA to test how industrial-grade edge AI capabilities purpose-built for medical environments could benefit surgery.”

 

How Does This Help Surgical Procedures?

 

• While AI is already being used to connect, analyze and offer predictions based on OR data, the move will enhance AI’s ability to boost OR efficiency and decision-making before, during and after surgical procedures.

• Currently, J&J MedTech helps train over 140,000 healthcare professionals every year through educational programs and can be found in 80% of ORs across the world.

• Essentially, J&J MedTech will blend its surgical digital ecosystem with NVIDIA’s powerful AI solutions to “accelerate the infrastructure needed to deploy AI-powered software applications for surgery.”

• The move will facilitate fast, secure and real-time AI deployment through J&J MedTech’s digital surgery ecosystem.

• J&J MedTech believes that NVIDIA-accelerated edge analytics powered by device, patient and other surgical data can create highly effective AI applications. One example mentions removing personally identifiable information (PII) from surgical videos.

• The long game includes surgeons interacting with chatbots to learn patient medical history or best practices for handling complicated situations. Another model could use video feeds to understand when surgeries are almost complete, to notify other surgical teams awaiting OR availability.

 

What Did Stakeholders Say?

 

• Tim Schmid, EVP and Worldwide Chairman, MedTech, Johnson & Johnson, said, “Johnson & Johnson MedTech is advancing healthcare toward a future that’s more connected and personalized.”

• [Contd.] “This future will be increasingly enabled by digital technologies that deliver efficiency, inform decision-making, and extend surgical training and education. Our deep heritage in healthcare and digital ecosystem in surgery and NVIDIA’s AI platforms hold enormous potential to create a more connected surgical experience.”

• Shan Jegatheeswaran, VP and Global Head of Digital, MedTech, Johnson & Johnson, said, “One of the major challenges in scaling AI for surgery is the closed design of surgical technologies.”

• [Contd.] “Bringing advanced edge computing hardware and software to the OR enables scalability of innovation and new AI-powered solutions for clinical decision-making, education and training, and collaboration – with the ultimate goal of advancing patient care.”

• Jegatheeswaran added, “Surgical technologies will get more intelligent over time, bringing the power of advanced analytics to surgeons and hospitals ... A collection of AI models could act like driver-assistance technology for surgeons, amplifying their ability to deliver care while reducing cognitive load.”

Do you think other healthcare providers will consider making similar moves and tie-up with NVIDIA or other AI companies?

Let us know in the comments below!