Northwestern Medicine has developed an AI tool that automatically measures colonoscopy quality by analyzing procedure footage, according to a study published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology and announced in a Sept. 8 news release.
The tool identifies key moments in each procedure — scope insertion, withdrawal and polyp removal — and tracks metrics including withdrawal time, polyp count and use of guideline-recommended cold snare polypectomy technique.
Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine analyzed nearly 19,000 colonoscopies performed by 55 physicians over an 11-month period. The AI’s withdrawal-time measurements closely matched times recorded manually by nurses, validating the system’s accuracy against the current documentation standard.
Dr. Rajesh Keswani, associate professor of medicine in Feinberg’s division of gastroenterology and hepatology, led the study. Co-authors include Dr. John Pandolfino, Dr. Mozziyar Etemadi, Matthew Wittbrodt, Alex Heller, Kristjana Kristinsdottir and Evandros Kaklamanos.
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