With gastrointestinal cancers expected to double globally by 2050, driven largely by pancreatic cancer diagnosis and colorectal cancer deaths, CRC is also showing up more frequently in younger populations, adding to the strain.
Adults younger than 65 now account for 45% of all newly diagnosed colorectal cancer cases in the U.S., up from 27% in 1995, according to the American Cancer Society’s “Colorectal Cancer Statistics, 2026” report published March 2 in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.
In response, clinicians, researchers, healthcare leaders and GI innovators are embracing new technologies to enhance the precision and efficiency of diagnostic procedures, such as colonoscopies and endoscopies, to catch and treat disease earlier and at a lower cost.
One of these technologies comes from Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, who in July 2025, launched a study at Chicago-based Rush University Medical Center to determine the viability of connecting Medtronic’s GI Genius endoscopy module with Apple Vision Pro.
“They converted the Apple Vision Pro into the clinical cockpit of endoscopy,” Irving Waxman, MD, James R. Lowenstine, professor and chief of the division of digestive diseases and nutrition at Rush told Becker’s. Dr. Waxman led the study, which tested the software’s compatibility with three Rush hospitals and one ASC.
The technology not only improves adenoma and polyp detection rates, but also allows the endoscopist to annotate their procedures in real-time. It can also more accurately locate polyps within the colon and allow physicians to measure the size of any detected abnormalities and evaluate quality metrics for procedure preparation. Fifteen patients took part in this initial usability study and the findings will now be shared with the FDA.
“There were no issues, no safety issues, no complications, and there was no fatigue or anything related from putting the device on,” Dr. Waxman said. “It didn’t add any time, and it was really a seamless experience.”
Given the increasing reach and severity of CRC and other GI diseases in the U.S., any improvement in accuracy can translate into lives saved, he added.
Studies have shown that utilizing this AI module, you actually detect up to 15% more of adenoma,” he said. “Now, when you take into account that an increase of 1% in detection of an adenoma decreases, the chances of developing colon cancer in the interval between the follow-up colonoscopy by 3%. That’s a huge impact.”
The new technology will also be crucial for training the next generation of gastroenterologists and endoscopists in a way that utilizes real-time data and allows instructors to be more hands-on in their instruction.
“You’re merging two different technologies into one,” Dr. Waxman said. “The really interesting thing about this technology is that you’re really bringing everything into your visual field in a way that we have not been able to do before.”
The collaboration has opened the door for a vast range of further innovations and applications across GI care — all while saving crucial minutes during procedures.
“It’s a brave new world for us. I think the opportunities are endless of how things are going to be potentially improved,” Dr. Waxman said, the key being the goggles’ ability to link with other technologies and data to bring vital information into the visual field.
“If I’m going to remove something, and I bring an image on a CAT scan where I’m going to do, for example, [an injection into] a tumor to destroy it, I know exactly the morphology. [I have] a 3D image that I can be seeing when I’m doing my tumor destruction,” he said. “I think it’s incredible where this is going to go in our field.”
