PENTAX Medical, a division of the HOYA Group which is a global med-tech company based in Tokyo, Japan, has cleared CE mark for DISCOVERY™, an innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted polyp detector designed to support endoscopists in finding potential polyps during a colorectal examination.

DISCOVERY™ is the outcome of a close cooperation between PENTAX Medical research center located in Augsburg, Germany, and expert clinical partners from six of the leading medical institutions across the world. For this next generation development, a total of more than 120,000 files from approximately 300 clinical cases were used for the software training. By this, DISCOVERY™ is able to assist with the detection of potential polyps in real time.

The system is built in a flat monitor to provide a high usability as it can be used with any of PENTAX Medical video endoscopy systems to highlight potential polyps. The menu is self-explaining and uses an intuitive touchscreen interface.

"The benefits for the customers are outstanding. Our vision was to bring Artificial Intelligence into the operating room in the most user-friendly way. We wanted to give doctors the possibility to use this exciting new technology to strive for a better clinical outcome and maximize the patient care", Mr. Wolfgang Mayer, Managing Director. R & D, PENTAX Medical Augsburg mentioned.

PENTAX Medical is committed to continuously exploit the use of Artificial Intelligence in additional medical fields. By gradually enhancing the product line up, PENTAX Medical has dedicated themselves to leverage AI for the further support of customers and patients.

Prof Timo Rath, Professor of Endoscopy and Molecular Imaging, University of Erlangen, Nuremberg, Germany mentioned, "As endoscopists one of our major tasks is to reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer. I'm very confident that the DISCOVERY^™ will translate into increasing our own Adenoma Detection Rate and therewith will contribute to reduce colorectal cancer mortality". 

PENTAX Medical plan to launch in the first markets in spring 2020.