Bayer moves to accelerate and improve diagnosis with new radiology platform in Australia

Sydney, Tuesday August 1st, 2023 – Diagnoses for patients will soon happen at an accelerated pace and with improved detection thanks to a new integrated AI platform, Calantic Digital Solutions, developed by global life science company, Bayer.

 

Described as a ‘second pair of eyes’, Calantic Digital Solutions is a cloud-hosted platform that gives radiologists scalable access to tools and AI applications to support workflow prioritization, detection and quantification while cutting down their manual workload– potentially saving radiologists time and optimising the use of existing resources.

 

Professor Paul Parizel, radiologist at Royal Perth Hospital, and inaugural David Hartley Chair of Radiology at the University of Western Australia, welcomed the launch of Calantic Digital Solutions, saying that this technology has great potential to enhance medical imaging and comes at a time when Australia’s ageing population and changing lifestyles are leading to an increase in chronic diseases.1

 

“The role of radiologists to help patients get timely and accurate answers about their health has never been so important,” Professor Parizel said.

 

“This has led to acute pressures on radiologists who face ever-expanding workloads. A US study has shown us that the average radiologist interpreting CT or MRI examinations must interpret one image, every 3-4 seconds, in an 8-hour workday, to meet workload demands.2 This is immense and would be no different here in Australia.”

 

In fact, the expanding roles of medical imaging and increasing after-hours demand is contributing to burnout for almost half (49%) of radiologists.3 To add to the challenge there is also a shortage of radiologists in Australia. According to a 2020 report by The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, AI is an important factor capable of mitigating against this undersupply of clinical radiologists in Australia in the longer term.1 A European Society of Radiology (ESR) study also found that there was a general favourable attitude towards AI from radiologists, who unanimously want to be involved in its development in medical imaging.4

 

“AI-enabled radiology that effectively combines human and artificial intelligence is a promising and exciting opportunity for the delivery of better healthcare. AI opens new horizons and will support radiologists to handle the growing amounts of data, with value-adding and quantitative insights. This ultimately leads to accelerated and improved diagnosis, and better health outcomes for patients,” Professor Parizel said.

 

As a life science company with heritage in both therapeutic and diagnostic innovations, Bayer is building on its deep medical understanding across a multitude of diseases, to drive innovation in medical imaging. Calantic Digital Solutions, developed with inputs from radiologists for radiologists, will initially focus on thoracic and neurological diseases in X-Ray, CT and MRI (breast and cardiovascular diseases are planned to be added following local regulatory approval).

 

“Bayer is proud to play a role in helping to support healthcare professionals so that they can make better, well-informed decisions at critical steps within a patient’s journey,” said Michael Grimm, Country Group Head of Radiology at Bayer in ANZ and South Asia.

 

“Calantic Digital Solutions is our newest commitment to addressing the rising demand for health solutions, including supporting radiologists with new tools to enhance speed and accuracy of diagnoses. This launch represents a major step forward for Bayer, from being a product provider to a solution provider. We remain invested in local research and development in medical imaging as we continue to focus on delivering state-of-the art disease-oriented solutions for radiologists and for the benefit of Australian patients.”

 

Calantic Digital Solutions is currently being trialled at Macquarie Medical Imaging at Macquarie University Hospital in New South Wales. It was first launched in the US and parts of Europe late last year, and in Japan in April 2023.

 

Media Contacts:

 

Amy Ma, Communications Business Partner at Bayer - 0497 863 707, amy.ma2@bayer.com

 

About Calantic Digital Solutions

 

Developed with inputs from radiologists for radiologists, Calantic Digital Solutions takes previous fragmented and unrelated app solutions and orchestrates them into a single convenient interface. Through a disease management design approach, Calantic Digital Solutions offers AI application for specific conditions and pathology to align with how healthcare providers manage illnesses.

 

  • It currently hosts a number of 3rd party applications to aid in both detection and quantification as well as worklist prioritisation for Thoracic and Neuro disease states in X-Ray, CT and MRI (breast and cardiovascular disease are planned to be added following regulatory approval, as applicable).
  • Calantic Digital Solutions automates some of radiologists’ time-consuming tasks, saving them time and potentially reducing workloads. Some of these automations include:
    • Minimising the need to support different AI imaging applications by providing access to all installed AI applications through a single common user interface.
    • Within the Calantic Digital Solutions platform, AI is used to flag potential findings and automate tedious tasks such as lesion measurements where radiologists currently must measure manually with a digital ruler. The radiologist can then accept or reject AI findings, with only accepted findings saved to the record.
    • Helps to triage patients who may need urgent diagnosis and treatment by flagging and communicating suspected positive findings of key pathologies.
    • Other available AI Applications will automate the current manual process of labelling and volumetric quantification of segmented brain structures from a set of computed tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images in the assessment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
  • There are many radiology applications approved for radiologists to use - this platform brings multiple applications together (orchestrated with Bayer’s expertise) into one single interface.

 

About Bayer in Australia
Bayer is a global life science company with expertise in healthcare and agriculture. The company has had a presence in Australia since 1925 and has a long-term commitment to the health and nutrition of all Australians and New Zealanders. As people live longer and the population continues to grow locally and beyond, Bayer is one of the few companies that takes a comprehensive view of these issues. Guided by our purpose – Science for a better life – we apply our global scientific expertise in healthcare and agriculture to deliver innovations locally to help people and the planet thrive.

 

For further information visit www.bayer.com.au.

 

Radiology at Bayer 
Bayer is a life science company with heritage in both therapeutic and diagnostic innovations that has entered the new Radiology AI platform market – building on its deep medical understanding across a multitude of diseases. The company has a long history in radiology, dating back 100 years. It is also one of the largest manufacturers of contrast injectors in the world and has been producing them since 1964.

 

Bayer’s Radiology portfolio includes contrast media for computed tomography (CT), X-Ray, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), devices for their precise administration, and informatics solutions. The company is strongly committed to research and development, which includes leveraging artificial intelligence and driving innovation in medical imaging. Its ambition is to assist healthcare professionals in making informed decisions at critical steps within a patient’s journey, from diagnosis to care.

 

According to TGA regulations, currently, the third party applications that are integrated to the Bayer Calantic Digital Solution platform are sponsored by each Australian Sponsor appointed by the third party manufacturer, while the Calantic Viewer is sponsored by Imaxeon Pty Ltd which is a Bayer subsidiary.

 

More information about Calantic Digital Solutions can be found here.

 

More information about AI in radiology can be found here.

 

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

 

Bayer Australia Ltd, ABN 22 000 1 38 714, 875 Pacific Highway, Pymble NSW 2073. 
Ph: (02) 9391 6000. Date of Preparation: July / COR-CALA-AU-0005-1

 

References

  1. The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists. 2020 Clinical Radiology Workforce Census Australia. https://www.ranzcr.com/college/document-library/2020-clinical-radiology-workforce-census-report-australia

  2. McDonald RJ et al. The effects of changes in utilization and technological advancements of cross-sectional imaging on radiologist workload (2015). Acad. Radiol. 2015; 22(9):1191-1198.  doi: 10.1016/j.acra.2015.05.007.

  3. Medscape Radiologist Lifestyle, Happiness & Burnout Report (2022). https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2022-lifestyle-radiologist-6014784#1

  4. European Society of Radiology (ESR). Impact of artificial intelligence on radiology: a EuroAIM survey among members of the European Society of Radiology. Insights Imaging. 2019; 10(1): 105.