Empowered Patient Podcast Fast MRI Enhanced by AI Driving Full-Body High-Quality Affordable Scans for Cancer with Dr. Carol DerSarkissian Ezra
Dr. Carol DerSarkissian, Medical Director at Ezra, is bringing AI-enhanced MRI technology to a broader market to help detect cancer earlier in vulnerable and asymptomatic populations. Using Ezra Flash and a high-speed MRI protocol, MRIs are performed quickly and enhanced to provide high-quality images at the limits of the current standard of care for review by expert radiologists. The Ezra Flash scan is a full body scan now priced at $1,350, with a goal of $500.
Carol elaborates, "The goal is early detection, which is one of our best tools in fighting cancer. Early cancer detection has about an 80% survival rate, compared to less than 20% for late-stage cancer. These statistics are from the American Cancer Society. Yet 50% of cancers are still detected at a late stage. There is a need. At Ezra, we're the first company to leverage artificial intelligence globally, AI across all three key components of the cancer screening process: one, imaging, two, analysis, and three, reporting and making it available directly to consumers."
"Right now, the Ezra scan is not covered by insurance. However, as we're moving towards making it a faster, shorter scan, that will help the insurance companies cover it. In terms of AI and mammograms, when computer-assisted detection came out, that was an AI with a smaller database. Initially, it wasn't covered by insurance, but then they saw the utility of it, and it was covered by insurance. It is a direction we're moving in as more and more data and more and more evidence is accumulated."
#CancerDetection #ProactiveScreening #AIinHealthcare #CancerScreening #FullBodyScan #WholeBodyScan #MRI #MRIScreening