At the age of 26, Kevin Choi was diagnosed: changed his life: glaucoma.
Damage to the optic nerve is a progressive ocular disease, and in many cases there is no symptoms until it is too late. By the time the doctor caught it, Choi had lost half of his eyesight.
Engineer by Training – and a former Korean Marine rifleman thought he had a solid handle for his health.
“I was really annoyed that I didn't notice it,” he said.
The 2016 diagnosis has caused him “panic.” But it also caused something big.
That year, Choi worked with a doctor who is Vittole Retinal Surgeon, a South Korean-based health tech startup.
Their mission is to use AI Symptoms appear and catch the disease before causing irreversible harm.
“I'm the one who feels the most worth it,” Choi said.
This technique can screen cardiovascular, kidney, and ocular diseases through non-invasive retinal scans.
Mediwhale's technology is primarily used in Korea, and hospitals in Dubai, Italy and Malaysia also employ it.
Mediwhale said it raised $12 million in September in a Series A2 funding round led by the Korea Development Bank.
Antoine Minine of bi
AI can help with early screening at high speed
Choi believes AI is the most powerful at the earliest stages of care: screening.
AI can help healthcare providers make faster and smarter decisions, he said.
In some conditions, “speed is the most important thing,” Choi said. This applies to “silent killers” such as heart and kidney disease, and progressive conditions like glaucoma. All of these do not show early symptoms, but unidentified can lead to permanent damage.
For patients with chronic conditions such as diabetes and obesity, the interests are even higher. Early complications can lead to dementia, liver disease, heart problems, or renal failure.
The earlier these risks are discovered, the more options the doctor and patient have.
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Choi said that Mediwhale's AI makes triage easier by flagging who is at low risk, who needs monitoring and who should see a doctor right away.
Screening patients at the first point of contact does not require “very deep knowledge,” Choi said. This kind of rapid low-friction risk assessment is where AI shines.
Mediwhale's tools allow patients to bypass traditional procedures that include blood tests, CT scans, and ultrasound to be bypassed when screening cardiovascular and renal risk.
Choi also said that when patients see the risks visualized through retinal scans, they tend to take them more seriously.
Choi said AI will help healthcare providers make faster and smarter decisions. Antoine Minine of bi
AI can't replace doctors
Despite his belief in the power of AI, Choi is clear. It's not a replacement for a doctor.
Patients want to hear the opinions and security of human physicians.
Choi also said that drugs are often more troublesome than clean data sets. AI is “good at solving defined problems”, but lacks the ability to navigate nuances.
“Drugs often require different aspects of decision-making,” he said.
Example: How does a particular treatment affect someone's life? Will they follow? How does their emotional state affect their state? These are all variables that the algorithm still struggles to read, but doctors can pick them up. These insights “are beyond simple data points,” Choi said.
And when a patient is pushed back, hesitant to start a new medication, for example – doctors are trained to understand and guide why.
They “attract quantitative data decisions while navigating patient irrational behavior,” he said.
“These are complex decision-making processes that run far more than simply processing information.”
