Incheon Sejong Hospital Introduces AI and Advanced Medical Solutions in Its Health Screening Center

Incheon Sejong Hospital is enhancing national health promotion by incorporating various advanced medical technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), into its health screening center.

According to Incheon Sejong Hospital on the 29th, the hospital has recently introduced a solution called "DeepCatch," which uses AI to automatically analyze CT and X-ray images to predict and diagnose major diseases at an early stage.

DeepCatch utilizes CT images to precisely analyze key body components such as skin, bones, muscles, subcutaneous fat, visceral fat, and internal organs through AI. It comprehensively evaluates the quantity and quality of each component and their correlation with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, providing the results in a report format. Additionally, by visualizing the aorta and heart structure in 3D and performing quantitative analysis using X-ray images, it can screen for major cardiovascular conditions such as aortic aneurysms and cardiomegaly at an early stage.

Previously, in June 2023, Incheon Sejong Hospital adopted a diagnostic program that uses an AI algorithm to quickly detect stroke lesions that are difficult to identify using conventional MRI. The program generates heatmaps to show stroke presence on MRI images, and automatically calculates data such as stroke type, lesion size and volume, severity, and likely causes within seconds for clinicians.

As a result, the hospital is now better able to secure the golden time for stroke treatment. Even tiny lesions that were difficult to identify with the naked eye can now be diagnosed quickly and accurately, allowing for immediate treatment.

In 2023, the hospital also introduced an AI-based brain disease screening program.

This program analyzes conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and dementia, which are difficult to detect through conventional MRI, using AI algorithms.

Parkinson’s disease occurs due to damage in the substantia nigra, a small region in the brain responsible for producing dopamine. The AI program can detect these lesions solely from MRI images.

For Alzheimer’s disease, which is characterized by progressive brain atrophy, the program helps in diagnosis by analyzing overall brain size, cortical thickness, and asymmetry between the left and right hemispheres, and is also useful for tracking brain health over time.

Additionally, Incheon Sejong Hospital has fully adopted AI-assisted endoscopy (ENAD), with no extra charge for the use of AI.

The AI endoscope highlights abnormal lesions in gastric and colonoscopy images using visual markers and alerts, assisting physicians in image interpretation. Clinical results show that using AI improves the adenoma detection rate (ADR) by approximately 6% compared to traditional visual interpretation.

Notably, in 2023, the hospital became the first in Korea to introduce the AI program AiTiALVSD, which can detect heart failure risk using only a simple electrocardiogram (ECG).

AiTiALVSD analyzes simple ECG data to estimate the likelihood of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and presents the result as a score. It was developed by Medical AI Inc., a startup spun off from Sejong Hospital.

According to confirmed clinical trials by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, AiTiALVSD demonstrated an accuracy of 91.9%, significantly surpassing the 72% accuracy of the conventional NT-proBNP blood test for heart failure.

Chairman Park Jin-sik of the Hyewon Medical Foundation, which operates Incheon Sejong Hospital, stated, “The synergy between existing medical expertise and advanced technologies like AI allows for remarkable progress in early disease detection. We will continue to adopt cutting-edge technologies to contribute to public health and become a more accurate and trusted hospital.”