Crescom

(Photo: Artificial intelligence solution for quantitative knee osteoarthritis severity assessment MediAI-OA, published in international journal_ⓒ Crescom Co., Ltd.)

Crescom (CEO Jae Joon Lee), a company specializing in the artificial intelligence automatic analysis of artificial intelligence medical images, announced that the verification results of MediAI-OA, an artificial intelligence software for quantitatively assessing the severity of knee osteoarthritis were published in the SCI-level international academic journal BMS (BioMed Central) Musculoskeletal Disorders.

Knee osteoarthritis is a disease that occurs due to degeneration in the knee joint area. In the case of knee osteoarthritis, it is known that an accurate diagnosis in the early stages is crucial in order to provide appropriate treatment and prevent irreversible disabilities.

For an accurate diagnosis of knee osteoarthritis, it is necessary to determine the severity using the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade, which is widely used worldwide for knee X-ray imaging, and the KL grade is also used as a criterion for whether insurance coverage for knee arthritis treatment in Korea is applied.

Crescom's MediAI-OA is a newly developed artificial intelligence technology that automatically quantifies the rate of joint space narrowing (JSN) and displays the reduction rate as a percentage compared to the normal standard. Additionally, it also detects and analyzes the presence of knee osteophytes. Integrating these analyses, ultimately provides the KL grade of the target knee as a probability.

In this study, prominent professors in the field of knee osteoarthritis in Korea have participated, including Professor Chong-Bum Chang of the Department of Orthopedics at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Professor Seung-Baik Kang at SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center, and Professor Chang-Ho Kang at Korea University Anam Hospital. The study confirmed that MediAI-OA enables a more quantitative and precise tracking of the progression of joint space narrowing. It provides specialists with the JSN ratio, allowing them to monitor the progression of joint space narrowing more accurately. Additionally, it includes the KL grade and osteophytes of knee arthritis for a comprehensive assessment. It has been confirmed to be useful in analyzing the characteristics of knee osteoarthritis diagnosis.

Through these results, it is expected that MediAI-OA will enable reliable evaluations of KL grades in the medical field and reduce the burden of interpretation for specialists in radiology and orthopedic.

MediAI-OA was built in the insurance assessment system at the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service(HIRA) and is currently undergoing approval for manufacturing medical devices by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety(MFDS) with the aim of an official launch in Korea early next year.

Crescom CEO Jae-Joon Lee said, "We will continue to distribute specialized artificial intelligence medical analysis solutions specializing in musculoskeletal diseases, such as MediAI-OA, MediAI-BA for bone age solution, and MediAI-FX for fracture detection solution, to clinical sites. Our goal is to help doctors provide timely, prompt, and effective diagnosis and treatment anytime, anywhere." And he also said, "We will work harder to provide accurate medical analysis services."